Any suggestions for how to get good sports photos?

Labotomized , 17 days ago

If your camera supports it you can try registering faces to prioritize the auto focus for a few of the standout players.

If your camera doesn’t have any ibis and you’re shooting with a crop at 200mm I think maybe you’re right that 1600 isn’t quite fast enough. You could go higher or maybe try out a monopod to help stabilize.

There should be a tracking AF option where you can select a focus point and then let the camera track the point but your camera may not have that option either.

If no tracking AF try using a larger point. My camera calls it zone AF where it focuses on one of the 9 boxes made by the lines of thirds.

It could also be a “get good” situation where you just have to anticipate a little of what might happen and try to be ready for shots a few seconds ahead of time. Practice makes perfect after all.

I hope that maybe this helps!

Zagorath OP , 17 days ago

Sometimes I shoot ibis, though personally I prefer curlews, but I don't think the camera has any ibis inside of it.

Nah but seriously, the camera body doesn't have stabilisation, but my long lens does. I've finished my first pass through the photos in the time between posting the OP and now, and yeah I think you're right that especially when I'm zoomed in all the way, a faster shutter speed would help—I'm a little more confident now that some of the blur was shake.

It could also be a “get good” situation where you just have to anticipate a little of what might happen

Oh 100% this was part of it. Reviewing my photos, a lot of them it's very noticeable that had I hit the shutter a fraction of a second earlier, the photo would have been better, from a composition/subject perspective, and I'm sure anticipating where the action will go so I know which subject to try and set the autofocus to be focused on would help even further.

But right now I'm struggling to get the camera to stay locked on focus to a subject even when I do know I want to be focused on them. I believe Nikon's "3D" AF is a kind of tracking mode, and from my reading I think 9d (or "9-point dynamic-area") and group-area might be tracking of some form, too. But they're distinct from the face- and subject-tracking AF modes that are available only in live-view (looking at the display screen), when I'm mostly shooting through the viewfinder because it's much, much more responsive. Even if that wasn't a problem, I think the need to actually select an object to track and keep changing which subject would put it back at the start. Still a "get good" situation, but more about getting good with understanding camera features and using them appropriately, rather than just with the more creative side.