I shoot a lot of action photography, often in poor lighting conditions.
It all began about eight years ago, when I started taking photos of my older daughter in her volleyball games. At the time, I had a Minolta DiMage 7, a relatively sophisticated point and shoot for the day. It did fine for outdoor snapshots, but any attempts to capture indoor shots were frustrating at best. I knew relatively little about digital photography at the time, though I’d been shooting with film for years.
You know what happened, of course. The madness sets in.
Pointing in the General Direction
That DiMage 7 actually did fine in daylight, when I didn’t need to push the ISO. On the other hand, my composition left something to be desired. Here’s a typical shot, taken in bright daylight at ISO 100, f/6.7 and 1/350th of a second.
Daylight is Easy
The actual action is sharp enough. Seventh grade volleyball players don’t move all that fast. But the composition leaves a lot to be desired. I should have either framed it a bit better when I took the shot, or creatively cropped it.
Back to the madness. It all ramped up rather slowly. I’d been watching the evolution of digital SLRs (DSLRs), but they were either too limited or too expensive for my tastes and budget. At the time, I owned a Nikon N80 consumer film SLR, but hadn’t used it much. The limitations of film were becoming increasingly annoying. I no longer had access to a darkroom, and the idea of shooting black and white wasn’t really appealing any more.
It all came to a head when I dropped off four rolls of film (Fuji ISO 800, if I recall correctly). I’d pushed the film to ISO 1600 to shoot some indoor volleyball. I suspected they wouldn’t turn out all that well, as I had little feel for shooting action photography at the time; most of what I’d enjoyed shooting until that time were landscapes.
But I never knew whether they were good or not. The very expensive, professional photo lab who was going to develop and print the photos completely and utterly screwed them up. They lost two of the four rolls, and somehow exposed the other two to so much light, they were rendered useless.
They offered to replace the film. That was certainly generous of them (yes, I’m being sarcastic.)
That was in late 2003. In 2004, Nikon shipped the D70. I bought one, and never looked back.
That first D70 became more of a proving ground for me than anything. I dove in, experimented, learned more about the digital side, and began buying lenses. I rapidly discovered that what I wanted was a fast lens, so I picked up a Tamron 28-75 f2.8.
At the time, I knew nothing of crop factors or lens quality. I got lucky with that particular lens, because it’s one of the sharper zooms that Tamron makes – or at least, my copy was very good. But the range and maximum focal length was a little limited. I still didn’t fully understand the implications of white balance, and usually just set the camera to JPEG mode. Oh, and my compositions still sucked, with or without cropping. Take, for example, this stellar example. Where’s the ball? What’s the context of this picture? Is she setting the ball, or is this a pass? Who knows?
What is this shot all about? I don't know, either!
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4 comments
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Elizabeth
November 6, 2009 at 3:23 pm (UTC -7)
This is great dad!
I’m looking forward to part II.
Neil
November 8, 2009 at 1:33 am (UTC -7)
What do you find yourself using continuous mode for, in general? Do you make slide shows, or low-fps movies? Obviously for sports shooting it’s great so as to not miss a crucial action shot; But is there anything to do with all those leftover exposures than let them succumb to the recycle bin of oblivion?
YS
November 8, 2009 at 9:58 am (UTC -7)
Yes, it goes to the bin. This what the process known as “editing” is for. Professional photographers do it. So should you.
Jon Lusty
November 10, 2009 at 8:31 pm (UTC -7)
Loyd, I very much enjoyed this post, perhaps because it closely mirrors my own progression, tho I’m about 2 years behind. Instead of a Dimage 7 it was a Z1, a Dimage A200, a Nikon D50 and now, a Nikon D90. I am grateful you steered me towards the D90 at this point in my path. I’m not ready for the D300s yet. I’m loving the Nikkor prime lenses as most of what I shoot is nature-based thus far. I have a 3.5 year old on the way up so I’ll need a big fast zoom before I know it. For now, I’m learning.
Thanks again for an excellent post. It is encouraging to read what another guy has been through in this mad trek.
Jon
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November 9, 2009 at 6:00 pm (UTC -7)
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