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Archive 2015 · Track and Field Shooting tips

  
 
BobnJake
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Track and Field Shooting tips


I have a friend of mine getting into shooting his daughter's track and field meets at college. Do you know if there are any good "primers" out there on shooing/setup tips. His equipment is a Canon 7D, using my 300 f2.8

Thanks, Bob



Feb 17, 2015 at 09:22 PM
Gerry Szarek
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Track and Field Shooting tips


I have never found any primers but will give my 2 cents in a world of nickels all based on HS meets.

Cross country races try to photograph the kids in the shade, this the best you are going to do in the harsh sun light. I also try to get the mass start.

Indoor track, the sprint and hurdle events stand towards the finish line, for distance runs best shits are at the finish line if the race is close. Note light tends to be bad. My 7d on a 70-200f4 struggles with the AF even with ISO maxed out. Good luck!



Feb 17, 2015 at 09:30 PM
cocodrillo
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Track and Field Shooting tips


Stay low and watch your backgrounds. Shoot wide open. Those are the basics. Specifics depend on what your friend's daughter is competing in. Shot put is different than hurdles, which is different than the 1500, and so on.

The other thing is to be very aware of where you are. There is a lot of stuff going on all the time. Shooting track can be a lot like playing in traffic. Also, never ever hit the shutter when the starter's gun is up. If you do it during the start to the 100m someone might feed you the camera.



Feb 18, 2015 at 04:36 AM
thebmrust
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Track and Field Shooting tips


Really, the only rules we need to know.
1) Stay low and watch your backgrounds. Shoot wide open.
2) be very aware of where you are.
cocodrillo nailed it!



Feb 18, 2015 at 05:36 AM
BobnJake
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Track and Field Shooting tips


Thanks everyone


Feb 18, 2015 at 06:27 AM
pjbuehner
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Track and Field Shooting tips


I will add a few.
-Always be aware of your surroundings. Track meets are chaotic and if you are not careful, it is easy to walk into a running lane for some event taking place. That will be a quick way to ruin an athletes day and for the shooter to not be invited back.
-In some indoor track venues, it is such a dungeon that panning can be a better option. For example, while a straight on shot of hurdlers coming right at you is a classic image, AF and IQ might work better with a wider angle lens and with the shooter off to the side. Lots of examples where this can work.
-a 300 2.8 will often be way too long for indoor track. It will be great for the throws (be really careful here. An out of bounds shot can ruin a photographer's day very quickly.) but tough for others. I bring a lot of lenses but find the 135 F2.0, 200 2.0, and 85 1.8 get used very often.

Good luck.



Feb 20, 2015 at 10:39 AM
BobnJake
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Track and Field Shooting tips


PJ, some good points. Thanks for taking the time to reply back,sine I'll consider lending him some oft other lenses and not the 300

I have the 135 and the 85 f1.8. He's using the 70-200, I think if he bumps up
The ISO to get more SS he might be ok

Thanks again



Feb 20, 2015 at 02:16 PM
timgangloff
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Track and Field Shooting tips


I use the 70-200 and 300/400 for track and field. Every once and a while I shoot something wide like the 24-70, but that is pretty rare. A lot of parents make do with a kit lens or a cheaper consumer zoom lens, but if you want to make images that stand out, shoot with longer, big aperture lenses.

Like it has been metioned, watch backgrounds. There is almost always a way to shoot at an angle to get a better view and again, with longer glass, you can blur out some of the junk.

The track meet wil go from beautiful sun to terrible light near the end of the meet. Later in the evening as the sun goes down, you will have the stadium lighting, which is primarily aimed at the football field, and not at the track. This is why where having long glass with big apertures will help. And even then, it can be a crap shoot.

A couple of my images from last season or so:

Track Meet 2

Track Meet 1

Also, you did not say what level of access he has. With high school and middle school, you might have unlimited access, but depending on the college, your access might be much more limited, just like it HS Football is pretty much unlimited, but college is more limited.



Feb 20, 2015 at 04:08 PM
BobnJake
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Track and Field Shooting tips


Thanks Tim, nice shots. Thanks for sharing
It's a small college and he has unlimited access so that's not a problem. His last time out he had some nice shots using my 70-200f2.8 on his 7D, had ISO of 3200 only giving him a SS of 1/160 to maybe 1/250 so he had good focus on the face but blurred hands, etc
I'm going to give him my 135f 2 and also my 300f2.8 but that might be too long
I'm hoping maybe just cranking the ISO
Up will get the SS higher to get rid of the blurred hands etc
Thanks again for taking the time to reply




Feb 20, 2015 at 04:41 PM
pat.kane
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Track and Field Shooting tips


There are some good pointers in this thread on a different forum
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=872149




Feb 20, 2015 at 05:38 PM
BobnJake
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Track and Field Shooting tips


Pat, good link
Thanks.



Feb 20, 2015 at 05:55 PM
pat.kane
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Track and Field Shooting tips


Here's an even better link, which I looked for earlier but couldn't find:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1361902



Feb 20, 2015 at 08:17 PM
BobnJake
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Track and Field Shooting tips


Pat, Thanks again


Feb 20, 2015 at 09:34 PM





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