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Tennis shots with a D70

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Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

Hi,

I'm planning to take some photo's at the Queens tournament this week
and hoping for a few tips as I've never photographed a sporting event
before.
My kit will be D70 with the standard lens plus a 70-300 zoom and a
monopod.

I'm not sure what iso speed I should go for or if I should use the
tracking focus.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Steve

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Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

In article <1118066818.464498.101000@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,
"Steve" <steve@exrom.co.uk> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm planning to take some photo's at the Queens tournament this week
> and hoping for a few tips as I've never photographed a sporting event
> before.
> My kit will be D70 with the standard lens plus a 70-300 zoom and a
> monopod.
>
> I'm not sure what iso speed I should go for or if I should use the
> tracking focus.
>
> Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Cheers
>
> Steve

This has some useful tips:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/sports.htm

--Chuan

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

On Mon, 06 Jun 2005 07:06:58 -0700, Steve wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm planning to take some photo's at the Queens tournament this week and
> hoping for a few tips as I've never photographed a sporting event before.
> My kit will be D70 with the standard lens plus a 70-300 zoom and a
> monopod.
>
> I'm not sure what iso speed I should go for or if I should use the
> tracking focus.
>
> Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Cheers
>
> Steve

Haven't shot tennis before, but I think it's much of a muchness with most
sports - speed and timing.

I have used the D70 on ISO 640 with good results before. In fact even at
ISO 1000 you can get pretty decent pictures (despite what the gaggle of
anti-Nikon people say). You would do better with a Nikon D70 set to ISO
800 than you would with ISO 800 colour film.

Experiment with different focussing techniques but make sure you check the
sharpness by using the LCD preview screen and zoom function.

Are you shooting from the stands or do you have a courtside position? If
the latter is the case shoot as wide as you can to blur the background and
cause a separation of the subject from the crowd. If you're up in the
stands that shouldn't be a problem.

--
email: drop rods and insert surfaces

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

In article <1118066818.464498.101000@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,
steve@exrom.co.uk says...
>
>Hi,
>
>I'm planning to take some photo's at the Queens tournament this week
>and hoping for a few tips as I've never photographed a sporting event
>before.
>My kit will be D70 with the standard lens plus a 70-300 zoom and a
>monopod.
>
>I'm not sure what iso speed I should go for or if I should use the
>tracking focus.
>
>Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Cheers
>
>Steve

IIRC Queen's Club is played outdoors, so light should not be that big a
problem - direction of, and quality might be issues, but quantity should not
be too big a factor. As you will want most of the action shots to have shallow
DOF, you should be able to get a good shutter speed at ISO200-400.

Do you "know" tennis? Not to be "smart," but most folk make the mistake of
trying to follow all of the action and then capture that defining moment.
Makes your neck very sore. Instead, plan your shots and concentrate on one
player at a time. Do they rush the net on serve? Set up for that area around
the T and let them come to you. Depending on where you can station yourself,
the 70-300 should be fine, unless you want frame-filling closeups of
perspiration on a brow. For that sort of shot, really long AND fast will be
better for your lens.

From the net post, I used to shoot the ATP Tour (back when it was Volvo) using
500mm on 35mm film cameras. Even though many of these events in the South US
were indoors, and the 500 was fixed f/8, I shot ISO 400 pushed +1/f with good
results. Even when the 400mm f/3.5s hit the market, I averaged about 30% more
good shots per roll, than the newspaper guys, who would try and follow a
player all over the court. Planning your shots will save you a ton of 1s & 0s!
Also, play around with slow shutter speeds, say on serves, etc. to get the
blur. Again, IIRC, Queen's Club has dark netting behind the service lines, and
this will help you isolate your subject. Do a bit of metering beforehand, and
set your camera on manual, changing the exposure, only when the light changes,
or you want something different.

Good luck,
Hunt

Reply to hunt

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

"Steve" <steve@exrom.co.uk> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I'm planning to take some photo's at the Queens tournament this week
>and hoping for a few tips as I've never photographed a sporting event
>before.
>My kit will be D70 with the standard lens plus a 70-300 zoom and a
>monopod.
>
>I'm not sure what iso speed I should go for or if I should use the
>tracking focus.
>
>Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

I understand that press passes at The Queen's Club are strictly
limited, so working photographers and their clients are unlikely to
want to see people shooting from the stands.

If you don't have prior permission to shoot pictures at The Queen's
Club, you may find that you and your photo gear are refused entry.

You should check with the organisers:

Tel: 020 7385 3421

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

Thanks for all the excellent advice.
I played around with a few settings and although I didn't get any
spectacular shots I had a good day out and will use what I have as a
learning experience for my next opportunity.

I was in the stands of court number one which lets you get very close;
no one said anything to me.
To be honest the only time there where any pro photographers at court
side was when Rusedski lost!

Thanks again,

Steve

Reply to steve

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

"Steve" <steve@exrom.co.uk> wrote:

>Thanks for all the excellent advice.
>I played around with a few settings and although I didn't get any
>spectacular shots I had a good day out and will use what I have as a
>learning experience for my next opportunity.
>
>I was in the stands of court number one which lets you get very close;
>no one said anything to me.
>To be honest the only time there where any pro photographers at court
>side was when Rusedski lost!

In the past I have had better luck at Eastbourne, which is a much less
formal setting. However, in the last couple of years, the Stella
Artois tournament seems to have supplanted Eastbourne as the premier
pre-Wimbledon grass warm-up.

I'm glad you enjoyed yourself! :-)

Reply to Anonymous

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