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12-29-2014, 10:35 PM   #1
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Field Hockey - Tips please

I have been asked to photograph two field hockey matches in the next two weeks and I would like some general pointers and tips, as I have not photographed field hockey before.

I will be shooting with a K 5II and I have the following lenses to consider:

- Pentax F 50mm f/1.7 prime
- Pentax smc FA f/4.5 300mm prime
- Pentax DA f/3.5 18-135mm WR zoom
- Pentax DA f/4 55-300mm zoom

Both matches are outdoors, one at 2pm and the other at 6pm. Sunset in Durban will be at about 7pm. It is our rainy season now, so there is a chance of overcast conditions and/or rain.

My instinct is to go with the 55-300mm zoom, for flexibility and reach, although the maximum aperture is not ideal.

What would be the best place to position myself, or should I move up and down the sidelines? I will have media accreditation, so that won't be a problem.

12-29-2014, 11:49 PM   #2
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I learned to shoot girls lacrosse this year and it was a fine challenge and a lot of fun. My skills coming from shooting soccer for many years were able to transition quite well, but I still had to learn the flow of the game, how bodies are dispersed, and a few rules so I knew what were important moments. Lacrosse and field hockey are similar conceptually and are played on pitches of similar dimensions, so I feel OK providing some advice about a sport I've never photographed.

If you can shoot team practices for your own practice it would help you develop some rhythms and pace in your shooting. It's great for learning to anticipate the action. You want to shoot ahead of the action, and not trail behind. You also want to get fairly low to the ground and not shoot "down" on the players.

Common sports photography rules apply: getting the ball in the frame is really important, as it capturing the intensity of the players' emotions--all the while while freezing action and maximizing the available light. Not very easy for mortals like myself. What made it tougher than soccer was that the lacrosse ball was so damn small, so the margin of error in getting a keeper was much thinner.

Like soccer, I'd recommend you position yourself in line with the goal but closer to the corner of the pitch. That way you can shoot at the faces of offensive players or sideways shots of the goalkeeper. I'd also recommend you move around depending on the light, and depending on what your shooting goals are. I generally try to capture shots of all the players, which means working the sidelines. While it is tempting to try to cover all the action, I'd concentrate on a few areas of the pitch, or on individual players or positions for chunks of time. This allows you to use your longer lenses at more effective distances. The goal is to fill your frame at least halfway with bodies.

I usually shoot with a wide-range superzoom, so would suggest bringing the 55-300mm, especially for close-in action, especially if you are not bringing a second camera with a wide angle zoom that you can quickly switch between. That said, several of my favorite lacrosse shots this year were taken with a 400mm f4 (Canon DO) lens that had great AF and beautiful rendering. I just adjusted my shooting style to the tool. If your 300mm FA prime focuses significantly faster than the zoom, then use it. AF response matters a lot with fast team sports.

I would aim for a minimum shutter speed of 1/750 with 1/1500 preferred. Also be very aware of the backgrounds. Most sports backgrounds are near terrible and bring down otherwise good shots. I aim to shoot as wide open as possible to maximize the separation of the subject from the background. This also facilitates faster shutter speeds. Outdoors in the grey US Pacific Northwest I start at ISO 800 and feel fine moving up to 6400 or higher (using a 5DMK3).

Dave from Baltimore has a lot of experience shooting his talented daughter playing field hockey. I'm hoping he contributes to this thread.

M
12-30-2014, 01:08 AM   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by Miguel Quote
That said, several of my favorite lacrosse shots this year were taken with a 400mm f4 (Canon DO) lens that had great AF and beautiful rendering. I just adjusted my shooting style to the tool. If your 300mm FA prime focuses significantly faster than the zoom, then use it. AF response matters a lot with fast team sports.
The FA*300 focuses quickly on the K-5 II. In fact Neville, I think I recommended the lens to you when you were considering purchasing one, and you got it within SA for a reasonable price, IIRC. You'll definitely want to take it. Whatever fits in the frame is what you get, but that will turn out to be some interesting stuff. Just compose within the FOV it gives you. It's much more likely to capture a feeling of drama than the DA55-300. Try shooting anywhere between f/4.5 and f/5.6 or so. I typically shoot action at f/5 on my F*300, but then I find shots where I accidentally changed the aperture to wide-open at f/4.5, and they're still almost as good.

The DA18-135 is said to focus rather quickly as well (I don't have one), but you won't get anywhere near the subject isolation with it. So try it, but if you shoot with it exclusively you'll end up missing your best shots.

---------- Post added 12-30-14 at 12:23 AM ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by Miguel Quote
Most sports backgrounds are near terrible and bring down otherwise good shots. I aim to shoot as wide open as possible to maximize the separation of the subject from the background. This also facilitates faster shutter speeds. Outdoors in the grey US Pacific Northwest I start at ISO 800 and feel fine moving up to 6400 or higher (using a 5DMK3).
The FA*300 is the only lens you have which will virtually eliminate this problem, in many cases (depends on how close the players are). Don't be afraid to get some shots where the players not only fill the frame, but also ones where perhaps only their upper body fits in the frame. Play around with both portrait and landscape. And remember, if you're not missing some of your shots, then you're not getting any great ones either! So don't settle for a bunch of perfectly focused shots that never get close enough to the action.

As for ISO, you've probably already found that your K-5 II does fine at ISO 5000, and can often be acceptable at ISO 10000 (I find these ISOs are noticeably better than ISO 6400 and 12800, respectively). A little noise in your photo is better than a photo with unwanted motion blur, which will ruin it.

Last edited by DSims; 12-30-2014 at 01:31 AM.
12-30-2014, 01:43 AM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by DSims Quote
The FA*300 focuses quickly on the K-5 II. In fact Neville, I think I recommended the lens to you when you were considering purchasing one, and you got it within SA for a reasonable price, IIRC.
Quite correct - and I absolutely love this lens!

QuoteOriginally posted by DSims Quote
You'll definitely want to take it. Whatever fits in the frame is what you get, but that will turn out to be some interesting stuff. Just compose within the FOV it gives you. It's much more likely to capture a feeling of drama than the DA55-300.
I agree with you that the IQ with the 300mm prime will be far superior than the 55-300mm zoom, but my hesitation in using the 300mm prime is that my opportunity for shots will be greatly reduced.

If I am sitting near the side lines I will probably only get shots on the far side of the field, and some about half a field-length away. Unless I position myself some distance from the field, but then I run the risk of obstacles getting in the way. I could also sit in the stands, looking down, but I prefer to get low down shots...

Perhaps I need to run some tests at a practice match beforehand?

12-30-2014, 02:13 AM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by Neville Quote
I agree with you that the IQ with the 300mm prime will be far superior than the 55-300mm zoom, but my hesitation in using the 300mm prime is that my opportunity for shots will be greatly reduced.

If I am sitting near the side lines I will probably only get shots on the far side of the field, and some about half a field-length away. Unless I position myself some distance from the field, but then I run the risk of obstacles getting in the way. I could also sit in the stands, looking down, but I prefer to get low down shots...

Perhaps I need to run some tests at a practice match beforehand?
I'd recommend going to a practice match or two for any sport - especially when it's new to you.

If no one's expecting you to turn in a certain number of OK shots to them, then take some chances to get a few really good ones. A practice match will be a great opportunity to experiment some.

You might want to go back and review some of Ron Hendrick's field hockey shots as well. I know the DA*300 was one of his key lenses, although he uses other lenses too. Both he and I discovered that the screw-drive *300s you and I have focus faster/better than the DA*300, but he still got many good results from it. https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/115-pentax-k-5/115277-k-5-sports-photogra...ml#post2101415

Whatever you do, find some way to get the camera to focus on a specific player within a group, not just the general scene. This is especially important with a longer lens like your FA*300. It will make for more interesting photos. I try to follow the general rule where the athlete is moving into the frame, with more open space ahead of him than behind. Unless of course I'm trying to show how he's outrun a competitor - then he can be leading the way out of the frame. Maybe you'll discover a good variation on this for field hockey. See if manually selecting one of the corner AF points works for you, and use AF-C. Some people like to hold the rear AF button for AF-C when following a player, not rely on the half-shutter press. Experiment with AF settings and see what works for you. Since I'm big on composition, and I rarely crop (or PP at all) for action or events, I almost never use center point AF. But it might still be the ticket for you, so see what works with your lenses.

I just shoot JPEG in these situations - I've heard many pro sports photographers do the same (although many also probably do more cropping and PP than me on their best photos). Not only does this relieve you of the burden of PP, but you can avoid swapping memory cards at many events. Plus it allows you to shoot whenever you need to with no buffering. When you're done you can simply cull and post. And if uploading is slow, you can shoot just one- or two-star quality JPEGs. I use one-star, and no one ever notices the degradation - not even me, usually! Just don't lower the resolution from 16MP, which is more noticeable. Let the photo hosting service lower your resolution if need be, but don't do it yourself (unless through PP). However, I think these days people appreciate seeing photos soon after the event, rather than days later seeing how you made them all look 20 or 30% better with PP. It's actually better for both you and the audience to streamline the process.

Last edited by DSims; 12-30-2014 at 02:59 AM.
01-04-2015, 05:50 AM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by DSims Quote
I'd recommend going to a practice match or two for any sport - especially when it's new to you.
I followed your advice and went to the field where the matches will be played (international test series between South Africa and Austria), and saw the South African team having a practice session, so I took some shots with my 300mm F/4.5 prime.

The first half of the shots were of the players practising shooting at goal and the second half of the shots were of a match practice session, so I got some tackling shots.













































































































































































































































01-05-2015, 12:13 AM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by Neville Quote
I followed your advice and went to the field where the matches will be played (international test series between South Africa and Austria), and saw the South African team having a practice session, so I took some shots with my 300mm F/4.5 prime.

The first half of the shots were of the players practising shooting at goal and the second half of the shots were of a match practice session, so I got some tackling shots.
Very nice! They all look good, and more than a few are really choice!

01-05-2015, 11:09 PM   #8
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Last night I shot the first of the four test matches. Overall, I am happy with the outcome, except towards the second half of the match when the sun went down and the floodlights came on - my rig battled with the low light and focusing was problematic.

Some of the pre-match photos were taken with my 50mm f/1.7 prime and the rest were taken with my 300mm f/4.5 prime.

I took over 1,000 photos, and managed to cull them down to 230 photos!

The photos can be viewed on Google Drive by clicking on this link.
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