These are from my older boys' U14 and U16 rec soccer games (the entire league, u14 and up, all wear the same shirts). Learning to catch the action, then find a decent image in the shots has been a fun challenge. There is really no post-processing here other than de-tilting (as I can't seem to hold my camera straight while shooting this fast) and cropping down to the action.

I'm an avid player myself (33 years), coach (10 years), and ref (7 years). Shooting the games has been a great benefit for the coaches as I am finally keeping my mouth shut on the sidelines (the coaching habit is a hard one to break).

I know some could be sharper but I'm still learning the trick of catching the movement and making it sharp. These kids are pretty fast. I'm shooting in burst mode with autofocus set to continuous but even at that they seem to move faster than the camera. I shot in Sensitivity Priority at 800 ISO and let the camera do the rest as the sun would go behind an occassional cloud and I didn't want to have to keep adjusting and miss stuff. According to the exif data most shots look like they were at f8 or 9.5 and between1/500 and 1/1500 sec, based on what the sun was doing. I was using a 70-300 zoom but if I zoomed in too much the players would easily move out of the frame while I was trying to catch them. I'm sure some of the loss of sharpness is due to the extreme cropping. None of the images were sized up though.

For those of you that do this sort of shooting, what would be a better mode to use to increase my chances of sharper images? I'm just sort of winging it here and this is definitely something I would like to get better at.

We're blue
Thanks and enjoy.

U14

U14

U14 - goal

U16 - this kid is a fantastic keeper, and if he wants, he can punt the ball clear to the opposite keeper

U16 - foul in progress

U16

[cardinal43]

Well done! These look to have been shot on 234 South (Independent Hill?). I'm a former soccer coach (MASA 6 years) and ref for 12 years doing MASA, travel, and HS.

[mel]

Thanks!

Yep that's the place. If you were with MASA we probably know all the same people. Our league merged with yours.

[timbo13]

Mel, these are nice shots. those big kids do move fast! I was coaching last year (U10) and if my son decides to stick with soccer this fall I will be doing it again so no photography. I'll have to teach my wife to use my camera.

Tim

[mel]

Mel, these are nice shots. those big kids do move fast! I was coaching last year (U10) and if my son decides to stick with soccer this fall I will be doing it again so no photography. I'll have to teach my wife to use my camera.

Tim

Thanks! They do move fast.
Yeah I think I'm done coaching, for several reasons really, but mainly because I'm becoming addicted to shooting the games instead. Besides, everyone in my family knows that if they touch my camera there will be pain.

[JCSullivan]

Mel, you gone one step more than I have as I have not built-up the courage to shoot soccer. My signature file tells MY story in respect of sports.

Shooting soccer just cannot be easy especially if you're following the game or having someone you know playing on the pitch.

When watching UEFA or Serie A televised games I ALWAYS keep an eye on the photographers and notice:

1. The HUGE lenses available to them
2. There almost always is a camera behind the net with, from the looks of things remote antennas
3. I think the photographers present at games are choosy in what they shoot

Having been a coach, player and especially a ref, you know most of the action before (if that's possible in soccer) it happens. Do some testing at a game where the boys are NOT playing. Stick to a spot behind the net close to the corner. In that way you are aiming at either the box or the corner - people are not moving left-to-right but towards or away from you with minimal movement of the camera. Limit yourself to that area and remember you don't have the glass others do.

Please remember I have NOT done this but it sure has given me a lot of ideas whilst answering your questions.

Note on foul-in-progress: who is committing the foul? Is that for shirt-holding??
Image #2 - your son presumably, reminds me of AC Milan's Kaka.

[mel]

Mel, you gone one step more than I have as I have not built-up the courage to shoot soccer. My signature file tells MY story in respect of sports.

Shooting soccer just cannot be easy especially if you're following the game or having someone you know playing on the pitch.

When watching UEFA or Serie A televised games I ALWAYS keep an eye on the photographers and notice:

1. The HUGE lenses available to them
2. There almost always is a camera behind the net with, from the looks of things remote antennas
3. I think the photographers present at games are choosy in what they shoot

Having been a coach, player and especially a ref, you know most of the action before (if that's possible in soccer) it happens. Do some testing at a game where the boys are NOT playing. Stick to a spot behind the net close to the corner. In that way you are aiming at either the box or the corner - people are not moving left-to-right but towards or away from you with minimal movement of the camera. Limit yourself to that area and remember you don't have the glass others do.

Please remember I have NOT done this but it sure has given me a lot of ideas whilst answering your questions.

Note on foul-in-progress: who is committing the foul? Is that for shirt-holding??
Image #2 - your son presumably, reminds me of AC Milan's Kaka.

White shirted kid is committing the foul but he actually nailed our player in the chest with his elbow as he came down. I doubt the ref saw what I caught but the result was the same: Direct kick for us.

My son is in image #2 but he's not the one with the ball. He's the one walking (for shame!) in the background. My other son (u16) isn't in here. I'd post one but I'm at work and the internet is misbehaving. He's on my flickr page, u16 folder, the one with the long blond hair, sometimes ponytailed, sometimes in his face.

I usually do park myself at one end or the other but the refs want everyone between the 18s and no one behind the goal line. As a ref I try not to disregard the rules. Tempting as it may be...

I shoot pretty much everything through the games and do a LOT of deleting later. Shooting the games has been almost as much fun as playing. Not quite, but almost. Knowing the game has been a definite advantage in terms of being able to anticipate the action.

Thanks for the thoughts. I would LOVE to get my hands on one of those huge lenses.

[monochrome]

If you think soccer is fast, you should try shooting lacrosse. Taking a position behind the goal requires a REALLY long lens because the ball is as hard as a hockey puck and travels over 100 mph, and you want to be WAY behind the goal.

If you are not paying attention you DO get beaned.

Mel, you gone one step more than I have as I have not built-up the courage to shoot soccer. My signature file tells MY story in respect of sports.

Shooting soccer just cannot be easy especially if you're following the game or having someone you know playing on the pitch.

Nice shots Mel, but then I would be happy to actually get the ball or a whole body in the frame. LOL
Now you just need to practice to get better.
Then there is one final skill to learn; the dance that brings the clouds that make the perfect lighting conditions.
Gary

Hey JC, now that you mention your sig file; I used to like Italian football back in the seventies and early eighties but then their salaries sky rocketed and all that diving and pretending to be hurt crap started. Now I only watch the World Cup (it's good to see the emerging nations giving it their all) and kids in the park.
You know what they say about Italy? Opera has it's Divas and Football has it's Divers.
Gary

[mel]

If you think soccer is fast, you should try shooting lacrosse. Taking a position behind the goal requires a REALLY long lens because the ball is as hard as a hockey puck and travels over 100 mph, and you want to be WAY behind the goal.

If you are not paying attention you DO get beaned.

Lacrosse? You mean this game here with the funny sticks? Around here people shorten it to LAX which to this west-coast transplant means Los Angeles International Airport.

It looks like a fun and fascinating game and I'd love to try playing it sometime but they make the girls wear skirts and I'm sorry, this girl does not do sports that require skirts. Besides, there are no old-lady leagues for this game.

[mel]

Nice shots Mel, but then I would be happy to actually get the ball or a whole body in the frame. LOL
Now you just need to practice to get better.
Then there is one final skill to learn; the dance that brings the clouds that make the perfect lighting conditions.
Gary

Thanks. The benefit of shooting wide and cropping. I missed a lot trying to zoom in too close. Do I want to bring the clouds or do I want to make them go away? They require different dances you know.

Hey JC, now that you mention your sig file; I used to like Italian football back in the seventies and early eighties but then their salaries sky rocketed and all that diving and pretending to be hurt crap started. Now I only watch the World Cup (it's good to see the emerging nations giving it their all) and kids in the park.
You know what they say about Italy? Opera has it's Divas and Football has it's Divers.
Gary

Uh oh. Now it begins . . .

[Jodokast96]

One thing I wouldn't do is shoot in Sv mode. You pretty much want your shutter speed to be as fast as possible at all times and Sv may not give it to you. Shoot either Tv or (my preferred choice) TAv. I prefer TAv because it lets me set my shutter as fast as I need it to, my aperture where I want it to give me either shallow DOF at a larger setting or maximum sharpness at a smaller one, and the ISO takes care of itself. I also tend to use center-weighted metering. With so much movement, spot-metering will sometimes get a reading from a shadow or highlight area of the uniform and blow the rest of the shot. As for the lens, I'm using a 70-300 as well, but even only shooting U9-U10, I found it short. Adding a 1.4x TC let's me pick a corner and cover almost the entire field, and while the AF hunts quite a bit more initially, once it's locked on AF-C performance is fine as long as I can keep the focus point on the kids.

[mel]

One thing I wouldn't do is shoot in Sv mode. You pretty much want your shutter speed to be as fast as possible at all times and Sv may not give it to you. Shoot either Tv or (my preferred choice) TAv. I prefer TAv because it lets me set my shutter as fast as I need it to, my aperture where I want it to give me either shallow DOF at a larger setting or maximum sharpness at a smaller one, and the ISO takes care of itself. I also tend to use center-weighted metering. With so much movement, spot-metering will sometimes get a reading from a shadow or highlight area of the uniform and blow the rest of the shot. As for the lens, I'm using a 70-300 as well, but even only shooting U9-U10, I found it short. Adding a 1.4x TC let's me pick a corner and cover almost the entire field, and while the AF hunts quite a bit more initially, once it's locked on AF-C performance is fine as long as I can keep the focus point on the kids.

Thank you!! I'll try TAv this weekend and see if I get better results (if we have games - forecast says rain). I'm still learning the ins and outs of this camera and how all the different settings work. I did have the metering on center-weighted though.

Thanks again for the tip.

Thanks. The benefit of shooting wide and cropping. I missed a lot trying to zoom in too close. Do I want to bring the clouds or do I want to make them go away? They require different dances you know.

I prefer the clouds, easier than bright sunlight.
Gayr