Tips for a noob!

[atarikid07]

Hey everyone.

I'm going to a basketball game later today and I wanna take my D90 to try and get some practicing in with photography. Do you guys have any tips on how to shoot good sports pics? I mean, my camera has a sports mode or whatever, but besides that, any ideas?

I have a kit 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 lens.

And a side question, what does VR mean? Nikon seems to market it alot.

 

[shavedaccord]

faster lens lol. VR is Nikons version of image stabilization

 

[finch13]

-Shoot with a shorter focal distance to take advantage of the f/3.5. Otherwise at 105mm, you'll be shooting with half the light with f/5.6.

- Shoot with a shutter speed equal to or higher than 1/your focal length. i.e. if you're at 105mm, shoot 1/105 sec or faster.

- You can use slow shutter speeds at the longer focal lengths, but you must pick a spot on the player to match with an AF/gridline in the viewfinder and match his speed and follow him to get sharp(er) pictures.

- If you find that you can't get good pics, even at 18mm, bump up the ISO to 400 or even 800 and try again with the faster shutter speeds.

ISO can be a lifesaver, post up the pics when you can so we can help you a little more if you need it.

 

[finch13]

Oh and you probably cant shoot RAW in sports mode.

 

[xluben]

Unless there is amazing lighting (for indoors) you will be at ISO 1600 to get shutter speeds quick enough to (semi-)freeze the action.

I would set the camera to aperture priority, and then set it to wide open (lowest f-number). The camera will pick the fastest available shutter speed.

I agree with the other guys that the long end (furthest zoomed) of your lens is going to be all but useless in the low light.

 

[Raymond]

Damn, I wish I had nearly $1000 to spend when I first got into photography. Just get out there and practice dude. All the reading in the world will help tons but the more practice you get with your camera, the better pictures you're going to get.

 

[BBMF00accord]

Damn, I wish I had nearly $1000 to spend when I first got into photography. Just get out there and practice dude. All the reading in the world will help tons but the more practice you get with your camera, the better pictures you're going to get.

+1000 thats some of the best advice you'll ever get..practice practice practice...shoot literally everything...for now try putting your camera into A-mode (aperature priority) jacking up the iso a bit to reduce some of the handshake your going to get in low light and shooting with a wide open aperature, see what happens..the camera will do everything else

 

[Dinzdale40]

yea your best bet is to shoot more...theres tons of info you can google...use a tripod to get steady pictures...since you don't have fast glass it will let you get used to the camera...flash photography will be above your head right now but also...

do you not have the 18-55 kit lens?...it's probably sharper than the 18-105...zoom lenses on dslr's seem to be sharper at 3x zoom max...(btw zoom is calculated by 55/18...and 105/18 respectively)

 

[atarikid07]

Ok, well I got on the forum too late so I shot most of the pics on my camera's sports mode. Like alot of you said, the pics came out a tad too dark. I haven't uploaded everything yet because my cables aren't on me, but once I get home tomorrow I'll post up a couple of the best ones I found for some criticism.

Thanks for the tips guys.

 

[atarikid07]

Ok, well I got on the forum too late so I shot most of the pics on my camera's sports mode. Like alot of you said, the pics came out a tad too dark. I haven't uploaded everything yet because my cables aren't on me, but once I get home tomorrow I'll post up a couple of the best ones I found for some criticism.

Thanks for the tips guys.