MBank International Tennis - & lesson learned

[Honest Gaza]

Well folks, as promised...that's why it's Honest Gaza, I ventured out to the MediBank International to try and capture the real tennis players of the world.

Lesson Learned :
While training for this event (me, not the players), I had had a lot of success with very fast shutter speeds whereby I could clearly capture the ball in flight. So this is what I tried to achieve at the Pro-event. Unfortunately, my obsession with trying to achieve these fast shutter speeds, clearly made me take some wrong decisions with these captures. When my camera told me that I did not have the available Aperture to get the Shutter Speed I wanted....I simply bumped up the ISO.

(I can see the experts already shaking their heads....no, no, no :o ).

You can imagine I was pretty disappointed when I got home and observed the graininess of the photos :( . Anyway, I ran the more grainier photos through Neat Image and as a result, these are the ones that don't show the EXIF info in the samples below........just assume the Shutter Speed was quick and the ISO GINORMOUS :D

- This man was up against Gasquet and no matter what shot he hit, it just wasn't good enough
18995


- Awesome groundstrokes from this man
18996


- The World No.2. The crowd waited many hours for this man to appear on Centre Court. Imagine how pissed we were when he retired injured during the first set.
18997


- Running Forehand
18998


- The Maestro....a style you wouldn't teach any of your kids...but brilliant to watch
18999


.......and just a taste of things to come
19000



....and she's only just warming up here

[cdifoto]

I'll take the Huntuchova. :)


These shots all look good to me. I don't worry about a little noise.

[cwphoto]

I'll take the Huntuchova. :)


These shots all look good to me. I don't worry about a little noise.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Not bad for a cripple - actually, bloody good for any mug. :D

[Honest Gaza]

Thanks for the vote of confidence CDI & CW....but the "shrunken" images don't do justice to how obvious the grain was :p

Girlie shots coming up soon :D

[cwphoto]

I notice you are at f/7.1 and 1/3,200s. How about backing off to 1/2,000s and f/5.6 to gain a stop of noise?

Would also help to separate your subject from the background.

[Honest Gaza]

As per the appertiser, now the eye-candy of the tournament :D

- World No.5....who gained even more fans in Australia when she split up from Leyton Hewitt
19002


- Three French words spring to mind for this photo....
"Ooh, La, Laa"
19003


- Everything into this shot
19004


- Even the best are sometimes guilty of not watching the ball
19005


- Long time ago when I last got down this low for a shot
19006


- Nice....very nice
19007


....do you reckon they're talking about me ?

In my dreams :) :) :) :)

[Honest Gaza]

I notice you are at f/7.1 and 1/3,200s. How about backing off to 1/2,000s and f/5.6 to gain a stop of noise?

Would also help to separate your subject from the background.

I'd certainly be stupid to ignore any advice from you CW...so anything else, please go for it :) .

I wished I had had an opportunity to see my images (other than on the Camera Screen), half way through the day so I could have noticed the graininess. As I said, I was obsessed with speed.

(That reminds me, the wife seemed very unhappy this morning :p)

[Honest Gaza]

I notice you are at f/7.1 and 1/3,200s. How about backing off to 1/2,000s and f/5.6 to gain a stop of noise?

Would also help to separate your subject from the background.

Taking a second look at your comment....please clarify.

If I slow down the shutter speed (1/2000 instead of 1/3200), wouldn't the camera set less of an aperture (higher f/stop number) ? Should have mentioned that I was using Shutter Priority....your comment is probably referring to Full Manual Mode ?

Just when I thought I was getting the hang of all the relationships :confused:

[Honest Gaza]

Sorry CW....looking at some of my other photos, I think I now understand what you are saying. The Aperture will determine the depth of field without completely washing out the photo.

You are after Bokeh like this ?
19008

I wished I could say I knew what I was doing at the time :D

[Honest Gaza]

Forgot to mention CW....your cousins said to say hello :D

[cwphoto]

Sorry CW....looking at some of my other photos, I think I now understand what you are saying. The Aperture will determine the depth of field without completely washing out the photo.

You are after Bokeh like this ?
19008

I wished I could say I knew what I was doing at the time :D

Bingo - you're getting a lot of separation in this shot mainly because you are a lot closer to your subject (shorter subject distance reduces DoF).

It's generally desirable to try and give some separation between subject and environment. You can do this in three ways assuming the camera is a constant:
1) Smaller Av (larger aperture)
2) Smaller subject distance
3) Longer lens

I your example above, you had a much shorter distance to your subject as opposed to your other shots, hence the blurred background.

I assume you are using a 70-300mm/4-5.6 lens? I've never shot tennis before, but from a creative viewpoint I see two goals:
1) Minimum DoF to isolate subject
2) Fast shutter speed to freeze action

Fortunately these two things are kinda working in harmony.

To acheive number 1 I would be trying to shoot as close to wide-open on your lens as practically possible (that's why you see most of my football shots at under f/4). However, I usually back off a half-stop or so as the lens is optically weaker wide-open - hence my suggestion to use f/6.3 (2/3rds of a stop away from f/5 which is what I assume your lens would have as a maximum aperture for some of the focal lengths you were indicating).

To acheive number 2 I would pick a speed I feel to be suitable to the task. I've never shot tennis, so I'm guessing that maybe 1/2,000s is suitable (it may very well be less but it's a good start).

Now you have an Av (f/6.3) and a Tv (1/2,000s) that are 'ideal' for your setup. All you need now is an ISO to match, which in this case would have been 400, saving you a bit of noise in the process.

If this all matches up (ie; correct exposure is achieved) and the lighting isn't changing, don't be afraid to 'lock it in Eddie' and shoot in M, that way your camera's meter won't chuck a fit at all those nice crisp white uniforms on them females.

How's that?

Edit: this is where those clowns with the media passes and their big wanky white lenses have the advantage. Those guys are shooting potentially 2-stops brighter or more than you (f/2.8) so they get noise-free images (because they're at ISO 100) and even greater isolation (because they're at f/2.8).

[Honest Gaza]

How's that?

Beautiful thanks CW.....appreciate it :)

And yes, all your assumptions are correct (although to make it even harder for myself, I sometimes threw on the Soligor TC)

[cwphoto]

Forgot to mention CW....your cousins said to say hello :D

Bunch of wankers with their big fancy lenses...:o :D

[cwphoto]

By the way, all my football shots from the Sydney FC night game are at ISO 1600. I wouldn't worry too much about 800 - you can't even tell in print half the time.

[aparmley]

I enjoyed the series Gaza - very entertaining. . . ( you got a CT shot!:D Those are fun to catch in the wild!)

Top shelf commenting as always.

In these shots, while I know you were crazy about shutter speed. I would have been crazy about getting the backgrounds filled with as much crazy bokeh as possible. I would have sacraficed a sharp ball and next time it will be fun to try getting a player while they serve to have blurry arms and a sharp head eh? Something fun to try anyway - it would be the equivelant to blurring wheels and a sharp car in racing. Anyway - its not a critique just food for thought.

Overall nicely done. This was with the 70-300 IS?

[cwphoto]

I would have sacraficed a sharp ball and next time it will be fun to try getting a player while they serve to have blurry arms and a sharp head eh? Something fun to try anyway - it would be the equivelant to blurring wheels and a sharp car in racing. Anyway - its not a critique just food for thought.

I knew one of you creative-types would chip in here soon enough. :D

[Honest Gaza]

Thanks Aparmley.

Yes, it was the 70-300mm IS that got a workout. While I agree with your comments about "implied" motion, I have a spot in my heart (right next to the spot for Huntuchova), for sharp crisp tennis balls. I see enough blurry ones (go past) when I try playing :D

[aparmley]

Thanks Aparmley.

Yes, it was the 70-300mm IS that got a workout. While I agree with your comments about "implied" motion, I have a spot in my heart (right next to the spot for Huntuchova), for sharp crisp tennis balls. I see enough blurry ones (go past) when I try playing :D

I can understand that. I hope the blurry balls (that doesn't sound right) you let go buy because their out don't bother you. As I hope that if you intended to show motion it wouldn't bother you. But, its perfectly fine to have a spot in your heart for huntuchova. She can huntuchova for me! :D

[Honest Gaza]

...and since the knee op, it will be at least 5 more months before I can go bash some balls again. Imagine how blurry they are going to be then :eek:

[cdifoto]

*Gets out his winch to try and pull this thread from the gutter.*

[Honest Gaza]

Fellas....for once, I'm dead serious :o

I usually have a bash every week with the guys I was taking photos of on another thread. Now I have to go through the long, long process of building up muscle strength, in a couple of months jogging in a straight line, a couple of months after that changing direction and hoping the newly constructed ligament doesn't give way the first time I prop off the right leg.

Assuming I can run again...then I have to get back all the timing.


Now my mate...he's another story. He's about 80yrs old and still has twenty/twenty vision. If the ball whizzes past and you don't see it, just ask him...he'll have seen it.

Only, don't leave it too long to ask.....sometimes he forgets :D

[cwphoto]

Fellas....for once, I'm dead serious :o

I usually have a bash every week with the guys I was taking photos of on another thread. Now I have to go through the long, long process of building up muscle strength, in a couple of months jogging in a straight line, a couple of months after that changing direction and hoping the newly constructed ligament doesn't give way the first time I prop off the right leg.

Assuming I can run again...then I have to get back all the timing.


Now my mate...he's another story. He's about 80yrs old and still has twenty/twenty vision. If the ball whizzes past and you don't see it, just ask him...he'll have seen it.

Only, don't leave it too long to ask.....sometimes he forgets :D

Been there mate: broke my femur in 1991 and spent a month in traction while the pin they inserted through my femur allowed the bone to start to knit back together.

But it took months to get the strength back in my legs - was like learning how to walk all over again.

The good news is that all it takes is time. And if you can take pictures like that in the shape you are in I'm glad I've got a bit of time before you catch me. :D

[24Peter]

Been there mate: broke my femur in 1991 and spent a month in traction while the pin they inserted through my femur allowed the bone to start to knit back together.

But it took months to get the strength back in my legs - was like learning how to walk all over again.

The good news is that all it takes is time. And if you can take pictures like that in the shape you are in I'm glad I've got a bit of time before you catch me. :D

Been there too: had my hip rebuilt in '94. Weeks in a wheelchair, months learning how to walk again. Not fun. Now let's get back to Huntuchova... ;) Does she ever travel to the US to play? I could become a huge tennis fan if required. :eek: (OH - more great shots of those other blokes too. :D ) (That is the right use of the term "blokes", no?)

[forno]

Damn thems some tatsy pastries:D

Oh and Gazza, great work mate:cool:

[Honest Gaza]

Talking about injuries, and at the risk of hikacking my own thread, I've been there too. Had the ACL of the left knee reconstructed about 13 years ago.
So now I'm confused as to which one should be referred to as my good leg. Strangely enough, neither injury occured while actually playing tennis. :confused:

Thanks for the feedback on the photos. I was hoping to try out some of the advice offered but looking at the remaining draw, not much opportunity for photo shoots today except for the main centre court.....and the best tickets will have already gone. So looks like I may have to wait until next year :(

[achuang]

You could come down to melbourne for the Australian open soon, but i can imagine that wouldn't be much fun with your knee healing. Very nice shots, now I'm going to try some high shutter speeds at the aussie open this year. Last year I was getting shutter speeds barely handholdable at 300mm because I had to stop the lens down so much due to horrible CA with the cheap 70-300 tamron lens. Never got a single frozen ball with 1/250-1/400th. I'll just try using it closer to wide open this year. Hope i can get some shots as good as yours, and see some higher ranked players.

Hope the recovery goes well,

Andrew

[aparmley]

Hey Gaz - how was the AF responsiveness on this outing - did you feel like you missed shots you wanted due to AF speed? Did you feel like in that light, the AF responded quick enough and you got every shot you wanted?

[Honest Gaza]

Hey Gaz - how was the AF responsiveness on this outing - did you feel like you missed shots you wanted due to AF speed? Did you feel like in that light, the AF responded quick enough and you got every shot you wanted?

All shots were taken during the day, so lighting wasn't an issue. Having said that, Centre Court did provide some problems. I was sitting in shade, the court was pretty much full sunshine, and clouds were only an occasional problem. So there were times that the camera tried hunting and wasn't successful....and I did miss out on the shot. Throwing on the TC made it even harder, obviously.

Generally I used AI-Servo (heck, I'm not even sure if this is the best option) and followed the player from the start of the point. While they stayed around the baseline all was good. When focusing did become a problem, I switched to MF and again followed them from the start of the point.

Personally, I find that my MF abilities are nowhere near as good as the camera's AF....which puzzles me (I don't require "contrast" to focus on) :confused:

[Honest Gaza]

Here are two typical examples of the lens "hunting" :D

Honest....I tried to get it to focus on the game, but look
19023

- be vewy, vewy quiet
19024



....just seemed to have a mind of it's own.

[Honest Gaza]

.....Never got a single frozen ball with 1/250-1/400th. I'll just try using it closer to wide open this year. Hope i can get some shots as good as yours, and see some higher ranked players.

Hope the recovery goes well,

Andrew

Thanks Andrew....try some of the suggestions that CW gave.

[forno]

Naughty lens indeed, more please:p

[cwphoto]

I need to get out to the tennis more...