On Jul 23, 2010, at 11:01 AM, Eric Weir wrote:
Last night I took my camera, a *ist DS, to one of the sites of a
recreation program we run, an outdoor basketball court, in a
community that's about 80 percent low-income, half African American
and half refugees literally from all over the world. I plunked
myself down on a bench on the shaded end of the court, under one of
the baskets. The other end was still in direct sunlight.
I had my 50mm M on the camera, set for continuous shooting. It was
my first attempt at real action photography. Trying to keep focus
while the kids moved from one end of the court to the other, to
maintain proper exposure as they moved in and out of shadow, and to
do it all manually was a real challenge. I kept forgetting punch the
exposure lock button to reset the shutter speed as kids moved
around. My feeble attempts at framing shots were largely ineffective.
I've only skimmed the images in the camera. There are a handful the
kids would find interesting, but nothing that would impress anyone
here. I'm not disappointed. It was experience. I can get pointers
here and from books, etc., but it is experience that will teach me,
that will make other sources of information meaningful.
Good experience to be sure. Shooting basket ball with manual focus is
difficult. One way is to pick a spot on the court, prefocus, and
follow the action until it comes to that spot. If you focus on the
rim, you can get some good rebounding and layup shots. If you want to
focus moving action, follow one player and focus continuously as he
moves, then trip the shutter when you think you have your shot.
This last technique mimics what happens when using continuous
autofocus with a good autofocus system. I don't think the *istDS can
accomplish that, so your probably better off focusing manually in any
case. The K7 can do it, but not with 100% accuracy.
Of course, the most important step in learning to focus action is
practice, practice and more practice.
Paul
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Eric Weir
Decatur, GA USA
[email protected]
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