Express Action Sports

do you think it’s a requirement or just a marketing tool?

It’s like autofocus and autometering. The greatest photographers in history didn’t realize they had lousy cameras and took magnificent pictures anyway!

I love the VR (vibration reduction) in my Nikon 18-200mm lens. And I recently bought an HP point & shoot for a relative that had built in IS. After all, she’s 80+ and isn’t the steadiest when taking pictures.

If you’re taking action shots, it’s a plus. If you’re taking portraits or scenics, it’s not. Here’s some sports photos I took WITHOUT any stabilization, except for using good photographer’s techniques.
http://www.spmsportspage.com/images/college/football/2007/California-45-Tennessee-31-09-01-2007/DSC_0065_GHYoung.html
http://www.spmsportspage.com/images/college/football/2007/California-42-Louisiana-Tech-12-09-15-2007/DSC_8135_GHYoung.html

That being said, I would still look for it, just as an added feature. Many wouldn’t live without it.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/image-stabilization.htm

I hope you find this helpful.

Photography is my passion. I know Im only in seventh grade but hey, anyone can do it. I’m completely in love with it and it is definitely something I want to do when I get older. How to I pursue my career right now? Any tips?

I’d say your best bet would be to figure out what kind of photography you want to do. Nature? Portrait? Action Sports?

Then you should start to develop your craft and build a portfolio of your best prints. As you go you may have different portfolios for different photographic genres. That way you will have something to show prospective clients or employers.

I like the other idea, If you have a local paper, if you can take good sports photos of your high school football, baseball whatever., or find out when the mayor is dedicating a sidewalk or some such thing, takes photos and see if the paper could use them. They might laugh at you at first, but in any type of "art" you’re going to face a lot of critics and rejection. So might as well get used to it.

Another thing, I’m sure your middle school will have a yearbook. Take pictures of a lot of school related stuff and events. Like dances or bake sales or whatever. Take pictures of the girl’s gymnastic team, wrestling matches, whatever. Try to get on the Yearbook staff in Middle school and in High School. Take all the photography classes offered in school.

That should help you along quite well

Trying to take photos of my sons basketball game. There is enough light to take without a flash but on auto setting, images are blurry. When i set to manual mode and a fast shutter speed there doesn’t appear to be enough light. Wondering if I need a bigger flash or different settings.

David Hobby from the Baltimore Sun has a great short description of a simple technique including two flash units and remote triggers here.
There is another great source for sports in general by Jerry Lodriguss, see here for more.

In principle you want a shutter speed shorter than 1/200. Use a fast lens, get close to the action. Set your white balance to custom and use a grey card to take a shot that allows the camera to evaluate the white balance. This saves endless time tweaking it later.

My main area of intrest is taking action shots and sports photos. Can anyone help or give me some suggestions to what I should be looking at? I’m planning to buy, but I don’t have an unlimited amount of funds, if you know what I mean. As a matter of fact, I’m kind of strapped. Any suggestions on the best deal with greatest performance?

The main things you want to look for in cameras for sports photography are;
Frames per second – lower end Nikons and Canons have around 2-5 FPS. It all depends on what you need for the speed.
Lens selection – You may be strapped for cash now, but what about a year from now? You want to get a camera that has a huge selection of compatible lenses so next year you can get that 600mm lens if you want.
Zoom or telephoto lens – These are nessecary in sports photography! Personally, I’d go for the zoom as it’s more versital.
A steady tripod – stay away from those aluminum pieces of junk. You will need something that isn’t going to break anytime soon. The more you zoom with a camera, the more chance for camera shake. I got a great carbon fiber one from amvona on ebay $40. (don’t buy direct from their website.)

I don’t know what your actual cash situation is but if I needed to stay on a tight budget, I would go for this setup:
Nikon D40 – $533.28 from Amazon
Nikon 70-300mm zoom lens – $483.54 Amazon
Amvona carbon fiber tripod – Around $40 from ebay.
SanDisk 2 GB, Extreme III SD card – $34.99 on sale at Adorama

If you have a little more in your budget, I would upgrade the camera body to a D80 or D200. The D300 was just announced so the D200 price should drop quite a bit (most likely in October or November)

If you’re more of a Canon type, you can find similar setups in the same price range from them as well.

Good Luck!

I just got a new Nikon this past weekend, and I’m new to photography. I just want a few helpful tips for using this camera.
Also, I’m familiar with the portrait setting and most of the others, but when taking action or sports photos how should i adjust the settings?
Any help would be nice, thanks.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/n55.htm

http://www.nikon-image.com/eng/news_release/2002/f55.htm

http://www.shutterbug.net/equipmentreviews/35mm_cameras/0802sb_nikon/

Enjoy

I have a Canon EOS Digital Rebel with an 18-55 mm lens. I want to get a lens that will get me closer to the action for sports photos for example. I also will be using it for landscapes and other outdoor photos.

Your 18-55mm lens is a zoom lens, all it means is that the lens has a variable focal length between X and Y.

A telephoto lens is one that is greater focal length than the "normal" lens for a particular type of camera. On a 35mm, that is anything more than 50mm. On a 645 or 6X6, that is anything greater than an 80mm.

On your Digital Rebel with the 1.6x crop factor, it is anything greater than about 35mm. Your 18-55 is actually a short telephoto, with an equivalent field of view of approximately 29-88mm as compared to a 35mm camera.

What you can get to fulfill your need varies mostly with your budget. The Canon 75-300 III is the least expensive method to get a lot more reach, but is also the worst option. Better, yet still fairly low cost, is the Sigma 70-300 APO. Make sure it is the APO version, there are several.

Upping the budget a little, there is the Canon 55-250 IS, supposed to be a pretty good lens.

For another step up in price, there is the Canon 70-300 IS, which is an image stabilized version of the lens, but is a much better lens to begin with. For only a little more, you can get the Canon 70-200 f/4 L, a constant aperture zoom. Anything with an L in the name is a good lens. Even the 28-300 IS, even though it costs $2,300.

i was wondering are there any good websites where i can find some cool Action Sports photos

try with one of the websites listed here: http://geocities.com/stockphotoadvisor/

A hobby of mine is to take pictures of soccer and hockey games. I would like a really good quality camera that could get right up close in the action with no blurriness or anything like that. I usually see people taking pictures with those big black cameras. What are those for? What is the pricing? Where would I go to purchase it? Can it be used on vacation or are they specifically just for sports?

The "big black cameras" you’re referring to are called Digital SLR Cameras.

A Digital SLR would be your best option for sports action photos for these reasons:

1. Super fast focus when compared to Intermediate and Compact Cameras.

2. High ISO Capabilities which allow you to take high action photos in low light conditions, while still producing a clean, noise free images. Intermediate and compact cameras struggle the most with fast action photography in low light conditions.

3. Digital SLR’s also have Shallow Depth of Field compared to intermediate and compact cameras, which allow you to have an image where the Soccer player is in full focus, but the background is blurry. Here’s an example: http://www.blavish.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/top-ten-highest-paid-soccer-players-football.jpg

You can find entry level Digital SLR’s online at Amazon for under $500: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CBKJGG/?tag=amazon-digital-cameras-20

And yes, Digital SLR’s are perfect for any occasion, wether you are traveling or taking photos at a birthday party.

Hope that Helps 🙂

Best Regards,
Dusty

The Fuji Guys are out in the field again to show you how to get the best action photography shots when you are outside trying to capture fast-moving subjects with your camera.

Duration : 0:6:35

Read more…

I am a very active person. Lot’s of marathons, triathlons, etc. I would like to have a camera that takes great pics that is light and for on the go. I do not know much, but i would like quality that is a smaller camera and durable. Price range i would like to keep under $100 because it will take a lot of abuse.

Resolution (megapixels) has nothing to do with action photos. Resolution doesnt distinguish action from still.

Many advanced point n shoots have long zooms and "Action" or "Sports" modes which work decently. Some have manual control options which would help. You get more control and features in bridge cameras and even more in DSLRs.

The problem is the more sophisticated the camera the more youll need to learn. Your question tells me you know very little right now. No camera is going to automatically take great photos until you know how to use it.

You need to add more info to your question to get any meaningful recommendations. Whats your price range? Do you want sophisticated or simple? Do you want a pocket camera or something large? Many cameras will take sports photos so you need to narrow down the choices a bit.