More football Shelton vs. Yelm

Well, the home team lost again, but they did not get skunked this time, I captured both of the touchdowns.   At the start of the game I experimented with 75 point focus and focus priority over release priority.  I only tried these settings because my camera manual recommends them for football.

Even before the anthem was over 75 point focus proved to be useless so I switched back to single focus point.  Focus priority caused me to miss the kick off when the shutter would not release even though it was focused.  So I'm back to release priority as well.

It was fun to try new settings anyway.  None of my my pictures from this went into the paper as the paper had a reporter there taking pictures with a nice f /4 lens.

Touchdown Yelm

Touchdown Shelton!

When the home team plays the #2 ranked team in the state.

It's harder to get good shots of your home team when they are skunked.  Loving my D500 anyway.

With my D500 I can shoot in shutter priority and auto-ISO all night long and still get all excellent exposures. I think the anti-flicker tech is a large part of it. Also I accidentally a shot with pattern instead of spot metering and I got away with it just barely.  Spot metering can be problematic when the camera gets pointed at the ceiling lights in baskeball games, but that is not a problem with stadium lights.   ev +3 almost always, sometimes ev+7.   

Tonight I will try 75 point focus, I have also set my camera to focus priority over release priority.  So much to learn about my new camera.

My side camera caught a bunch of blurry shots.  I'm working to try to find out what the problem is.  I think I need to hold it more steady, I've also tweaked the focus settings a little bit.  I was thinking it was a problem with the lens and camera in the dark, but I now think I can make it work with a bit of tweaking.

side line shots ƒ/2.8

 

160.0 mm

1/250

 

6400

ƒ/2.8 

 200.0 mm

1/1000 

 2500 for daylight shots

ƒ/2.8 

 200.0 mm

1/750 

 12800  for darkest field shots 

ƒ/2.8

 

160.0 mm

1/250

 

6400

ƒ/2.8

 

200.0 mm

1/750

 

12800

Fall Football

Fall sports have started.  I finally got to test out my D500 under the flickering lights at North Mason.  I am quite pleased with it.  I shot most of the game at 1/1000.  Near the end I dropped down to 1/750 due to what I was seeing in my histogram.  My lens was my trusty old 70-200mm f/ 2.8.  My other camera was my D7100 with a 17-55 f/2.8 Sigma.  I wanted to shoot that combination from the hip, but it just would not focus in the dark.  For the post game celebration I put the Sigma lens on my D500 and that took care of the focusing issues.

 I really want another D500 as my second camera body now. 

The next two days after this game I was sore from running up and down the field and kneeling to take photos.  This surprised me as I am in very good hiking condition.

1/750, ISO 128,00 f/2.8

Game clinching touchdown

ƒ/2.8 

 200.0 mm

1/750 

 12800

ƒ/2.8

 

200.0 mm

1/1000

 

3600

ƒ/2.8

 

200.0 mm

1/1000

 

12800

ƒ/2.8

 

130.0 mm

1/1000

 

12800

Early season daylight is so nice

Shot with d500 and Sigma lens with a flash

Shot with d500 and Sigma lens with a flash

ƒ/2.8 

 17.0 mm

1/750

 

5000

Shot with d500 and Sigma lens with a flash

Quiet Summer

I've had a very quiet summer, but fall sports are just around the corner.

August 3rd B-16-17

August 3rd A-1

For this event the lights kept changing, so I had to change my camera settings a lot.  I mostly trust my D500 to set the ISO for me and that helps a lot.  I tried to get some fancy dances shots with streaming lights and a flash to freeze the motion, I'm not sure what that effect is called.  It is something that Alice Wheeler did a lot of  while photographing bands.

Moss photo essay and Varsity Photo Wrap up.

Grad Walk Farmers Market

My first Grad Walk, it was a really whirl wind but lots of fun.  My flash battery went dead half way through, but it did not matter much with my D500 and its high ISO abilities.

This track team was great to work with.  They posed themselves just like this.

Bluegrass in the Forest, Waves of Perfection

Bluegrass in the forest was a blast.  Went a little bit on all three days to capture the light and the bands the way I wanted to.  Snuck upstairs on Sunday when less people were around to make an issue out of it.

Waves of Perfection did not go as well for me this year.  The venue was changed, the new venue had almost no appeal and the light was dark and inconsistent.  My photos of the event were printed in black and white and that's fine with me.

B18-19 May 25

B-4 May 25 

Three front page photos out of four

On a roll with front page photos this month.  Festival season has started and a staffer is about to leave, so that means more work for me.  Team sports photos are just about done.

Lucky here.  

Went to this on my own and then sold it.

The long lens felt bulky and cumbersome here, so moslty used the shorter lens.

Track teams know how to have fun

May Day March, Sports, and a Fire Drill

May 4 A-27

May 4 B-4

May 4 B-6

May 4 Center Spread B-17

March for Science

April 27 no.17 A-1

April 27 no. 17 A-16

Apr 27 page B-4

Apr 27  B-17

Apr 27 B-16

Apr 27  B-1

Spring Sports

I have not been given any spring sports assignments, but I did go out and take these pictures while doing varsity photos: