At Fixya.com, our trusted experts are meticulously vetted and possess extensive experience in their respective fields. Backed by a community of knowledgeable professionals, our platform ensures that the solutions provided are thoroughly researched and validated.
When I set the camera on "sports" and use it outdoors for baseball or football, the shots are great even when the person is moving quickly. But when I use the camera indoors with the same setting for volleyball or basketball all of the action shots are blurred. The shutter speeds show to be much slower indoors than out. I am sure that is because of the amount of light indoors. My question is "Can I take action shots indoors?"
You're right that it's because it's darker indoors. You can compensate for this at least in part by raising the ISO. This runs the risk of increased noise, but given the choice between a noisy pic and no pic...
A fast lens may get you a stop or two, but they're expen$ive.
A third option is to increase the amount of light. Multiple flashes around the basket, for example. Or floodlights mounted on the roof...
- If you need clarification, ask it in the comment box above.
- Better answers use proper spelling and grammar.
- Provide details, support with references or personal experience.
Tell us some more! Your answer needs to include more details to help people.You can't post answers that contain an email address.Please enter a valid email address.The email address entered is already associated to an account.Login to postPlease use English characters only.
Tip: The max point reward for answering a question is 15.
That depends on the sport, the location, and what you want the pictures to say to the viewer. You won't necessarily shoot a daytime football game outdoors the same way as a basketball game indoors.
In general you're going to want a fast shutter speed to freeze the action. To get the fastest shutter speed possible, use the Aperture Priority mode by turning the mode dial to "A" then select the largest aperture by using cursor-up/down to get the smallest f/number.
Having said that, sometimes you might want a slower shutter speed to convey a sense of motion. Select Shutter Priority by turning the mode dial to "S" and use cursor-up/down to select the desired shutter speed.
-- Are your hands steady as you take the shot, and are you moving the camera before the shutter actually clicks? As a test, put the camera down on a table top and take a picture without moving the camera until well after the shutter clicks. If the resulting image is not blurry--you just proved that your holding technique needs improvement!
--This camera has image stabilization to help you deal with camera shake--do you have this feature turned on in the menu?
--If your subjects are moving and your shutter speed is slow (meaning that the shutter stays open a relatively long time to gather enough light) then you will get blur. And, even if your subject is not moving but the shutter speed is slow, then your camera shake will come back to haunt you.
To fix slow shutter speed, you can either use a flash to freeze the action, or you can manually increase the ISO setting to a higher number, or you can choose a preset like "sports" which will tell the camera you want faster shutter speeds. A higher ISO setting will allow for faster shutter speeds, but it can also result in a grainy look, called "noise" if you set it too high.
Most likely it is your holding technique and the setting you are choosing that is causing the blur. If you are in decently bright light outdoors, you hold your camera steady and wait for the shutter to click, and you have image stabilization on, then you should have sharp pictures. If you are indoors, expect to need a flash.
Personally, I'd go with Manual on the camera so as to have complete control over both aperture and shutter speed, and iTTL on the flash. Bear in mind that a single SB-900 isn't going to light up an entire basketball court or wherever you might be photographing. If the pics are too dark, it's most likely that the subjects are too far away.
If you take a picture of a chair in the middle of your living room, does that come out too dark?
The main difference between the two shooting conditions is the amount of light you have to work with. For the indoor action shots, set the ISO setting to the highest available through the menu (1600 ISO) to maximize the ability of the camera to work with the diminished light. The other (but more expensive) way to achieve better indoor shots is with the use of a "faster" lens, ie one with a lower maximum f stop number (f2.8 is faster than f3.5, for instance). Also ensure you are shooting with your lens at its widest f stop setting (lowest number).
More than likely, your exposure- specifically your shutter speed settings- are too low. When you have fast action, you must have a higher shutter speed (Higher, meaning that the DURATION of the exposure is less. So, an exposure of 1/250th of a second is more desirable than an exposure of 1/30th of a second when shooting indoor sports. (This difference equates to about 400% more exposure, duration-wise). When shooting sports indoors, a "Fast" lens, meaning that the front of the lens is bigger, which allows more light into the camera at one time. (This normally equates to "F-Stop" settings. So, a 50mm F1.4 lens will be a "faster" lens than a 50mm F2 lens. The lower the F number, the "faster" the lens. This also equates to higher prices...) Another consideration for shooting stop-action sports photography indoors is using higher ISO settings. When you double the ISO number, you cut the amount of light required to make a good exposure in half. So, ISO 200 requires half the light of ISO100, and 400 requires half the light of 200 and so on. Typically, I use a setting of ISO 800 or higher for indoor sports (Which, BTW is my speciality...). The trade-off for using higher ISO settings is that it introduces more noise into the image, which many people find less desirable. I also wrote a few articles for POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY & IMAGING about shooting sports. The "football" article will more than likely be the most help to you. Basically, ALL sports photography is shot the same way, and if you use these techniques, your work will greatly improve. Here is a link to those, and hope they help!
Your're probably using a flash with TTL disabled. So 1/200 is the highest sync possible with that kind of flash. Did you try removing the flash off the body and setting faster shutter speeds?
Maybe. Assuming you can't add more light, you can either increase the ISO and/or open up the aperture. Try going to A (Aperture) mode and opening up the lens all the way. This will give you the fastest shutter speed possible under the conditions. That may or may not be fast enough.
×