Photographing Gymnastics

[fractal]

So does anyone shoot sports on manual focus? I'm thinking I may try that next meet. Maybe focusing on the beam and then shooting in manual since usually the gymnast is moving perpendicular to me. Also in the above pictures I had to push my ISO up really far to compensate for the slower zoom lens and the noise is pretty obvious. I havn't tried editing in software yet (just windows photo editor) that has noise reduction. I've borrowed a tamron 70-200 2.8 for tomorrow, and its the old one that has no image stabilization. The person I borrowed it from said if the shutter speed is high enough the lack of VR may not matter. One thing I've noticed about the tamron in playing with it is the AF seems slow when its at 200, thinking maybe manual focus may work better in lower light. Tomorrows meet is in a high school gym.

I've had plenty of experience focusing manually. I've been using my Minolta Maxxum 200mm 2.8 for indoor sports over the last 3 or 4 years. The focus peaking and focus magnification on my Sony camera makes it much easier. Using an Optical View Finder I feel would be much harder.

Some tips - at least 1/800th of a second, ideally 1/1000 or faster. Shoot in burst, not only to catch the action but also to increase odds of getting a shot in focus. Practice - manually focusing is a skill that like any other skill takes practice to get better. Try to anticipate, if you know what's going to happen next it helps. You can try "zone" shooting - When I shoot swimming, I pick a spot in the pool lane my swimmer is in, then focus on the water, wait for the swimmer to enter that zone then fire away. It's much more of a challenge than AF, but in many many can be more fun and satisfying.

 

[mom2rtk]

I had an impromptu experience with shooting indoor sports yesterday and thought about this thread. Tennis Districts were yesterday and it was pouring out so they moved to an indoor tennis club. Since I had never been there, I just threw a bunch of lenses in my bag and headed out. I tried my 50mm and 85mm primes but really didn't like having no zoom. I ended up back with my trusty 2.8 mid-range zoom and cranking up the ISO. I tried to stay around 1/1000 for my shutter speed. Definitely not brave enough to try manual focus, although it probably would have been helpful for the matches I was behind a netted curtain.

Here are a couple shots. It helped immensely that for this final match, we were sitting right on the sidelines. I shot in manual f/2.8 1/1000 ISO 5000.

Catching Air by mom2rtk, on Flickr

Tennis in Motion by mom2rtk, on Flickr

 

[Meshell2002]

Lovely Mom2rtk. I got lucky and the Gym today was pretty good with lighting. My worst problem today was focusing and getting people not to stand in my way. The coaches have to spot, but some were not and just standing in the line of sight. I actually used AF-C today and got some keepers, though at this young age my DD isn't moving that fast as your tennis player. Also these younger girls all do the same routine and if a parent has been to enough practices they know when the peak of the movement is. I got some better pictures of her teamates since by the time my DD went I had improved on timing with my AF and the buffer of my camera, I've never used burst mode until this project so there's that. Spiderman is her spotter/ coach (the competition was Halloween themed). This was during warm ups, the one during the competition was not in focus.

I used the 70-200 2.8 tamron (without VC) ISO 5600, 112mm, f/2.8, 1/500 sec

 

[mom2rtk]

Lovely Mom2rtk. I got lucky and the Gym today was pretty good with lighting. My worst problem today was focusing and getting people not to stand in my way. The coaches have to spot, but some were not and just standing in the line of sight. I actually used AF-C today and got some keepers, though at this young age my DD isn't moving that fast as your tennis player. Also these younger girls all do the same routine and if a parent has been to enough practices they know when the peak of the movement is. I got some better pictures of her teamates since by the time my DD went I had improved on timing with my AF and the buffer of my camera, I've never used burst mode until this project so there's that. Spiderman is her spotter/ coach (the competition was Halloween themed). This was during warm ups, the one during the competition was not in focus.

I used the 70-200 2.8 tamron (without VC) ISO 5600, 112mm, f/2.8, 1/500 sec

View attachment 356733

Great shot! She's adorable!

 

[Meshell2002]

got an interesting shot at the last meet, I had my first experience with terrible rotating colored fluorescent lights, I'm not sure how to post process this since my DD is so fair she reflects all the different rotating lights and the wall color is practically the same. I did stop motion and she looks like she is floating. If anyone has suggestions I'm all ears, because I admit I'm a total beginner! 70mm ISO 3200 f3.2 1/640



see how the light changes quickly?

 

[krr126]

got an interesting shot at the last meet, I had my first experience with terrible rotating colored fluorescent lights, I'm not sure how to post process this since my DD is so fair she reflects all the different rotating lights and the wall color is practically the same. I did stop motion and she looks like she is floating. If anyone has suggestions I'm all ears, because I admit I'm a total beginner! 70mm ISO 3200 f3.2 1/640

I think your pictures came out great!