Posts Tagged ‘yorkshire rams’

Sheffield Predators at Yorkshire Rams

Thursday, May 22nd, 2014 | Distractions

The Yorkshire Rams kicked off their 2014 american football season by hosting the Sheffield Predators. The won thanks to a well earned touch down and Sheffield twice snapping the ball over the punters head and into their own end zone for a safety. The Predators scored a late touch down and converted for two, but it wasn’t enough.

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Sheffield Predators at Yorkshire Rams

Sunday, September 22nd, 2013 | Distractions, Photos

What a climatic ending we got for the final game of the season. The Rams needed to win to make the play-offs but all was looking pretty grim at half time when they found themselves 22-0 down.

However, a spectacular reversal in the second half brought them back to 22-20, with only a few minutes left and the ball on the half way line when they were given a 15 yard penalty against the defence. It was like a replay of Super Bowl XLVII from earlier this year.

Sadly, just like the Super Bowl, the defence held, though due more to a valiant effort of the Predators than the clear pass interference of the Baltimore Ravens.

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Lessons from East Kilbride Pirates at Yorkshire Rams

Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013 | Photos

This was my second day out photographing one of our local american football teams, the Yorkshire Rams. Here is what I learned…

Set the white balance manually. During the Lancashire Wolverines game I left it on auto, whereas in this game I manually set it to cloudy and left it there. The photos came out a bit cold in the first game and a little inconstant too. This time they have a more consistent, warm feel.

An exposure of 1/500 is not fast enough to freeze the action. It is OK for players running around but when the ball is being thrown, you need at least 1/1000. When I photograph birds in flight I use 1/1250, and the ball is probably moving faster than that, so makes sense.

I tried taking off my 2x extender and just using my 70-200mm lens (whereas with the extender on I would get a focal range of 140-400mm), as this allowed me to open the aperture up to 2.8. I didn’t see much benefit though, I was already shooting at around ISO 100, so I simply didn’t need to open it up to that unless I specifically wanted to do so, and while that allows me to easily blur at the background, it makes it difficult to keep everything in focus. So 140-400mm f5.6 it is then; it is broad daylight after all.

I also tried increasing the ISO to 3200 in an attempt to get a much greater depth of field. This allowed me to work at up to f11 even at 400mm, again I didn’t see a great deal of difference, but I might give it another go next time and see if I can shoot some catches and plays where I don’t have time to re-focus the camera.

I used AI servo and back button focusing for this shoot. That means I turned off auto focus activation when you press the shutter half way down (I posted a video on how to do this a few weeks ago), and used a button on the back to activate it instead. Because it is in AI servo mode (continuous auto focus), I could then press this button on the back to focus, hold it if I wanted it to work continuously and then release when I wanted to take a shot, or even leave it going the whole time. Mostly I focused and then left it alone, unless the action started coming towards or away from me.

There is also an element of luck to it. I was shooting in continuous mode, but cameras can only take so many shots per second, and given a kick of a throw takes less than one, being able to capture the exact moment comes down to chance. Of course, the more expensive your camera is, the more it can take – my 6D clocks in at 4.5 I think, whereas if you have a 5D Mark III it can take up to 6.

You can find some of the photos in a previous blog post.

East Kilbride Pirates at Yorkshire Rams

Monday, September 2nd, 2013 | Photos

My photos from the East Kilbride Pirates at Yorkshire Rams game. The full set is on Flickr.

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Lancashire Wolverines at Yorkshire Rams

Friday, August 9th, 2013 | Distractions, Photos

Some highlights from the Lancashire Wolverines at Yorkshire Rams game, that finished 7-22. You can see the full set on Flickr.

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Training with the Yorkshire Rams

Sunday, December 2nd, 2012 | Life

As many of you know, for weeks now, it has been my dream to be the starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. So, last week, me, George and Matt headed down to Yorkshire Rams training – a Leeds based American Football team.

It was rather intense – a three hour training session, roughly consisting of an hour of fitness, an hour of technique and an hour of practicing plays. None of us could walk for days after!