High School Football/Marching Band

[ThurlFan]

It's that time of year again, and with a kid in the band I find myself at high school football games for the first time since I got the DSLR. Great opportunity to play with the settings! Used my XSi with the Canon 55-250 IS zoom. Mostly, I was shooting in shutter priority, to get sharp pictures of the action. Case in point: 1/200, f/5, ISO 400

Luckily it's early in the season so there's still some sunlight at the start of the game. Later as the sun dipped lower I went for composition and came up with this: 1/200, f/4, ISO 400

Staying with the composition theme, as a parent I wanted lots of close-ups of my child, but decided to zoom out a bit and get one of the drum majors in the shot as well. 1/125, f/5.6, ISO 800

Shutter priority cuts both ways...in this case I intentionally slowed the shutter speed to 1/40 to capture the motion of the flags. 1/40, f/8, ISO 800

Finally, I got a shot from the opposite (east) stands to catch the sunset behind the band. 1/50, f/5.6, ISO 800

 

[ChiSoxKeith]

Nice shots.

I rented a 400mm zoom for my canon last year. It was great, so if you plan on taking some action shots (or can get access to the field) I highly recommend it!

 

[RBennett]

GREAT shots!! Brings back a lot of memories... I was a trombone player in the marching band/orchestra for 12 years!!

 

[pnutmnm]

Love the shots! I was in the marching band (flag corps). Brings back good memories.

 

[Stephanie218]

Great shots! These made me miss the marching band days I played clarinet the first year, and euphonium the next 3.

 

[goopysolelady]

Aren't these just the BEST times??? Remember it well and miss it soooooo much . Bet I have thousands of those ... 2 daughters over 9 years including years as drum major and flag corps member. Ohhhhh the memories.

 

[Experiment_626]

Ever think of approaching the school to see if (at least at home games) you could shoot from the sidelines? I've done it in my photojournalist days, and it is a blast! It's an amazing place to shoot and to watch a game. And you could get a new perspective on the band.

 

[ChiSoxKeith]

Ever think of approaching the school to see if (at least at home games) you could shoot from the sidelines? I've done it in my photojournalist days, and it is a blast! It's an amazing place to shoot and to watch a game. And you could get a new perspective on the band.

If your high school has a "booster" club, do you know anybody on it? That's how I got my sideline pass last year. All I had to do was chop a copy of some of the shots to the booster comittee for their website. Like I said, I had rented a 400mm zoom lens for it and it was the best money I ever spent. I'll dig up a couple of the shots from my house tonight and post them tomorrow.

 

[ThurlFan]

If your high school has a "booster" club, do you know anybody on it? That's how I got my sideline pass last year. All I had to do was chop a copy of some of the shots to the booster comittee for their website. Like I said, I had rented a 400mm zoom lens for it and it was the best money I ever spent. I'll dig up a couple of the shots from my house tonight and post them tomorrow.

That's a good thought, both of you. I actually am in the band boosters, and we have a 'committee' (which I joined) that is responsible for producing the band's end of year DVD of pictures and video clips. I'll look into it...

 

[ChiSoxKeith]

Sorry this took a bit longer than I thought, but my PC decided it was time to wipe the hard drive and rebuild the OS from the ground up.

Here are some shots I took last year with my Canon 300D and a rented Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM that I got from www.borrowlenses.com. I got it for 10 days so I could catch two games. The first one was during the daylight and the other one was at night - and it poured like cats and dogs all game. Man my hands were cold at the end of that one. Not many of the shots turned out from the game in the rain, but I was able to get some decent shots.

As mentioned before, I knew the parents on the booster committee and they got me the field pass for both games.

 

[Spinning]

great photos. This is our first year with band! Took a few at the first game. Last night it poured....I will have to post some!
Of course now I want a bigger zoom lens!

 

[Spinning]

 

[Mr Wes]

I loved being in the High School band, I played the drums! I also joined and toured with a Drum and Bugle Corps.....Best summer I ever had! Nice Pics!

 

[ThurlFan]

Great pictures, folks, lets see some more!