Spot Meter Sports Has Moved

There's a new and improved site for the same great youth sports photos and photo tips. And the new site is www.LensExtender.com. The content on Spot Meter Sports will remain for now. But please go to www.LensExtender.com to access even more timely youth sports photo advice and pictures. Add www.LensExtender.com to your bookmarks. Add www.LensExtender.com to your blog news reader. If you have a blog of your own, please add www.LensExtender.com to your blog, or change your link to Spot Meter Sports to www.LensExtender.com. I've even taken some of the most popular posts from this site and added them to www.LensExtender.com to make sure www.LensExtender.com has good content in the beginning. I'm truly sorry for any inconvenience. Thanks for your understanding.

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Behind the Net Soccer Photography

Here's a great post from Taylor-pics highlighting the need to change your sports photography perspective. I love the photo in this post.

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High Noon Photography in Bright Sunlight

Nikon D300, Nikon 300mm f/2.8 lens, 1/4000 shutter speed, f/2.8 aperture, ISO 250 It can be tough to get good contrast sports photos when the sun is high overhead. Remember to always, always, always use your lens hood to get as much stray light off of the lens as possible (in fact it's a good idea to use the lens hood attached all of the time). Try playing with you exposure if you can't seem to get shadow detail in faces or faces are over-exposed (I don't worry too much about white uniforms being over-exposed). Remember to position the sun as much away from the lens as possible. I normally shoot outdoor sports using my Nikon D300's auto ISO mode. But sometimes I shoot brightly lit days in Aperture mode with the ISO cranked down to 200. As you can see in the above photo, the ISO was at 250 with the shutter speed all the way up to 1/4000 seconds.

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Take Your Photos in the Rain

If you ever get an opportunity to shoot sports in the rain, do it. You might get a little wet. And you'll definitely need a way to keep your equipment dry. But the sports photos are worth it as you can tell from these soccer photos shot in Louisville Kentucky last weekend. I use the AquaTech lens and camera waterproof cover when I take photos in the rain. It's specifically designed to cover my Nikon 300mm f/2.8 lens attached to my Nikon D300 camera. While this camera / lens setup is attached to a monopod, I also hold a golf sized umbrella to stay as dry as possible. I sort of look like this when I shoot this way (that's not me in the photo).

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8 Frames per Second

I still can't get myself to hold that shutter release button down and just fire away when the action is occurring on the field. Maybe subconsciously I think about all of those photos I'll have to review just to find the one that pops (like the one above). But why have the capability of shooting at 8 frames per second, if you don't use it (My D300 with the vertical grip attached shoots at 8 fps).

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Spring Soccer Begins - Outdoors

These photos were taken at a tournament in Rockford Illinois last week. Given that this was my first time shooting outdoors since last fall, I once again tried using my Nikon 1.4x extender mounted to my Nikon 300mm f/2.8 lens. If you recall, last year I felt that I got too many soft photos when using the 300mm lens connected to the extender. This time, however, more of my shots were tack sharp with the extender. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe it's due to the brightness of the day that allows the lens to auto focus faster. For each of these shots the camera / lens setup was mounted to a monopod. The shots were taken in manual mode (1/3200 shutter speed, f/4.0 aperture, using the Auto ISO setting on my Nikon D300 camera body).

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Photograph the Hustle Plays

Shot in manual mode; ISO 2000, f/2.5 aperture, 1/640 shutter speed, with 85mm f/1.8 Nikon lens attached to D300 camera Coaches reward hustle. And so should photographers. There's nothing like capturing the pure hustle action in sports. The basketball photo above really needs no explanation. Both kids are clearly intent on obtaining "the rock" (the basketball) before the other guy.

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Photographing Scorers and Defenders

Nikon D300, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens, ISO 1000, 1/1250 shutter speed, f/2.8 aperture, in manual mode using Auto ISO Some of the best action in sports is that of an offensive player trying to score while a defender is trying to stop her. For sports photography, there's no guessing what the action is all about. As in this photo, it's very clear. Always, always, always attempt to capture this kind of action with your sports photography.

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Photographing Good Hair Helps your Sports Images

Some kids have the perfect hair for sports photography. Their hair actually accentuates the action. I generally find this with boys with longer hair because they usually don't tie their hair down into pony tails.

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Photograph the Free Throw

The free throw is probably the easiest hoops action you capture. Don't forget this.

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Black & White Basketball Photos

Black & White Defense

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Photographing Indoor Soccer

This indoor soccer post is probably useful for hockey as well. The above two photos were taken at the Detroit Ignition's indoor facility, Compuware Arena. This is a rather well lit arena. Even with the good lighting, these photos were taken at ISO 3200 using Nikon's D300 with a 70-200 f/2.8 VR lens attached. The D300 was set to manual mode. Aperture f/2.8, shutter speed 1/640s, +3.0 exposure compensation.

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Soccer Turf

I'm not a big believer in photographing backs of athletes. But I'm always amazed at how fast shutter speeds can capture detail that you can only see in this kind of picture. I love the image of the turf being kicked up at the orange line.

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High ISO - A Requirement for Indoor Sports Photography

Shot with Nikon D300, 85mm f/1.8 lens, ISO 1600, aperture: f/2.2, shutter speed: 1/1000 sec Shot with Nikon D300, 85mm f/1.8 lens, ISO 2000, aperture: f/2.2, shutter speed: 1/1000 sec There's no getting around it. If you're shooting sports indoors without flash, cranking up the ISO is a requirement. Both of the basketball photos above were shot in manual mode with my Nikon D300 and 85mm f/1.8 lens. The camera settings for the two photos were almost exactly the same. The high school gym in the top photo is one of the better lit gyms I've been in. Notice the slightly lower ISO setting used in the top photo (1600) compared to the bottom photo (2000), which was taken in a gym with worse lighting. I realize many people don't like to raise the ISO due to the grainy pictures high ISOs induce. But I'm not sure there's any other way to get properly exposed indoor sports photos with shutter speeds fast enough to stop the action.

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Canon Profits are Way Down

According to Silicon Alley Insider, even the growing popularity of Canon's digital SLRs can't prevent their profits from tanking during the global recession. I wonder what Nikon's profits are like.

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