Low Light Help

[spootz01]

Hey guys,

I have been given a task at very late notice to shoot a night soccer game tomorrow night and my current gear set up is the text book definition of not for low light sports.

A bit of background so you know where I'm at.
My gear list is in my signature. (I do have a flash but i'd rather not use it)
I have looked into hiring a 70-200 f2.8 but being in Adelaide and at this short notice it just isn't possible for a reasonable cost (this isn't a paid gig).
I don't know of anyone in Adelaide who would be willing to lend me one.

So i turn to the extensive knowledge base of AP for help. What tips do you guys have for low light sports photography with relatively simple gear. Any help would be extremely appreciated.

Thank you all in advance,

S.

[John King]

Ramp your ISO to 6,400 or more. If my E-M1 will handle this, I'm sure your 600D will .

Shoot RAW.

Use 16 bit and aRGB for PP the RAWs.

Don't get in a knot about noise - most of it is monitor artifacts anyway (won't show in print ... ).

E-M1, ISO 12,800 - the noise doesn't show worth a damn at A4 sized print:


Have fun ... .

[ameerat42]

Hmm! Knowing nothing about the importance of the gig, except that it's not paid...

Well, have a look at what they've done on this page. Note that the excerpts shown
below the main picture are part of the Martini bottle label. Put the 600D in the selection
box.

From what I can see, ISO3200 would be ABsolute MAX.

Good luck, where luck = "light"

[Warbler]

Hail Mary.... Sorry, but your gear is not going to do the job. ISO 3200 is not going to cut it. Shooting buildings at night using a slow shutter speed is not like shooting an action sport. You're going to need a minimum of 1/400th and even then you'll get plenty of motion blur in the limbs. You can try some artistic slow-shutter stuff, but you can't do them all like that. The 50mm 1.8 will get you shutter speed, but you're only going to be able to shoot sideline action with that FL. I've got no good news for you. Perhaps you should have declined.

[MissionMan]

What is out of your price range? The Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 is optically very close to the Canon and Nikon equivalents and almost a third of the price if you get the one without VR. You can also extend it with a 1.4x converter at some point to get extra range and still have f/4.

[Warbler]

Even with F2.8 lenses, your 600D isn't going to be good enough. You'll find people using ISO up to 12800, and in some cases more with 2.8 lenses.

[spootz01]

What is out of your price range? The Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 is optically very close to the Canon and Nikon equivalents and almost a third of the price if you get the one without VR. You can also extend it with a 1.4x converter at some point to get extra range and still have f/4.

The Tamron is certainly on the shopping list, as is the 7DII, but they just aren't financially viable right now.

Hail Mary.... Sorry, but your gear is not going to do the job. ISO 3200 is not going to cut it. Shooting buildings at night using a slow shutter speed is not like shooting an action sport. You're going to need a minimum of 1/400th and even then you'll get plenty of motion blur in the limbs. You can try some artistic slow-shutter stuff, but you can't do them all like that. The 50mm 1.8 will get you shutter speed, but you're only going to be able to shoot sideline action with that FL. I've got no good news for you. Perhaps you should have declined.

I suppose i should have given a bit more background on the job itself, It is for my local ladies soccer team. My Fiance plays for them and so asked me to get some night game shots (it's their only one) for their end of season stuff. So i think some of the grain will go largely unnoticed.

My main issue is that i am too hard on myself and want to get the best possible shots at all times.

[Warbler]

So i think some of the grain will go largely unnoticed.

I agree about the grain, but the blur won't go unnoticed.

[spootz01]

I agree about the grain, but the blur won't go unnoticed.

yeah that's very true. Might have to stick with sideline stuff with the Nifty Fifty

[Warbler]

You may be lucky and find some bright spots under the lights. I gather it's a suburban ground, not Adelaide Oval. Try to shoot the light rather than get all of the action. No doubt the WB will be all over the shop too. You might want to start your WB down around 3200 or lower.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh and if you're shooting against a dark background, set your exposure compensation to minus 2/3 stop, or you'll blow out whatever highlights you get.

[spootz01]

Oh and if you're shooting against a dark background, set your exposure compensation to minus 2/3 stop, or you'll blow out whatever highlights you get.

I shoot with spot metering most of the time, so i imagine that wouldn't impact me much, although shooting evaluative might be better considering the conditions. Thoughts?

[Warbler]

Yes, or you could shoot manual and underexpose by 2/3rds.....lol. There's more than one way to skin a cat. I don't tend to use spot-metering much. Sometimes the spot can drift onto something that makes the exposure totally different to all the others you have. I try to get them all looking as close to each other as possible, because I batch edit my RAW files. Do what works for you. I wasn't sure the 600D had a spot meter. The earlier XXd models didn't. I've been digging around for some soccer images I took about three years ago, but I can only find the watermarked ones. There were taken around this time of evening before it got dark and I was shooting ISO3200 and getting 1/1250th at f2.8. I remember giving it away when the lights took over as they were crap. Good luck with your assignment tomorrow.

[sufran]

I would also pick a few spots to shoot from, rather than trying to follow the game so much e.g. position yourself for ball throws, goal action, and as has been suggested, identify the brightest parts of the field. With just a 50, you would need to get very close to have something usable (rather than tiny figures on a big field). F2.8 is difficult. I had some success using a 135/2 (in case that lens is easier to borrow, but I wouldn't hire it), some dramatic shots due to the lighting, but not really great sports photography.

[spootz01]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I've decided I'm going to bite the bullet and hire a 70-200 for the weekend (I've got a volleyball game I'm shooting tomorrow but that is outside). Wish me luck and hopefully between that and the 50mm 1.8 I should be able to get some decent shots. Ill post them once I have edited the keepers.

Wish me luck

[mikew09]

Albeit I havent read through all the posts I will just speak from experience. Aperture and shutter speed will be your enemy here. I do a lot of low light shots at mini pony events and a good majority are undercover arena's, which surprisingly are generally very poorly lit especially when you consider such events as Nationals in Tamworth shot under a fully enclosed arena.

So your key goal is to capture the action subjects in nice sharp shots. I mostly shot with a 5d3 but are still using my old and trusty 70-200 L f4 non is which to be honest, although a fantastic lens, is dismall in low light.

You will need to maintain a shutter speed over say 1/800 and no doubt at the widest aperture - you only option really is to use ISO as your shutter speed setting.
I expect you may be looking at ISO of maybe 2500 - 4000 for action but will drop back to maybe 1600 ISO for non action.

I used to shot with a 50D may two yrs back and honestly, struggled to get what I would consider descent noise level shots.

There is no magic spell to fix your delima with the gear you have at hand. You will get some descent shots. try an minimise the movement by such things as reducing the angle you are shooting a moving player at and maybe some panning may help although I never really found this a great success - Tripod where you can also. I used a mono-pod on my 50D at times to assist. Take as much advantage as possible of the lights and avoid to much dark or shadow areas with the subjects as this will only make it hard to reduce noise and increase detail.
It can be done with some success but it is challenging. Having said that, it is also a great exercise in experience for shooting using ISO as a shutter control also.

And most of all, hone your noise reduction skills in post processing as I think you will need them.

There is some element of guess work in my comments as I do not have experience with the 600D but I have a fair grasp on noise and crop sensors being my 400D and 50D past bodies.

Good luck, if nothing else, enjoy the experience and learn from it.
Hope this helps

[spootz01]

LIVE UPDATE 1: the f2.8 is helping but I'm still pushing 3200 iso and the lighting is horendous

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

[spootz01]

Pic for reference

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

[ameerat42]

If they're like this, keep it up.
Well exposed and no noise to talk about really.
Can't see any exif anywhere.

[Mark L]

Pic for reference

One of the better photos I've seen of a sideline. Hang on, looks like I've developed double vision.
As Mike mentioned , PPing NR could be important.

[spootz01]

Yeah I think I got a few... should make the cost of hire worth it... I'll post once I've developed

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk