Posts Tagged ‘american football’

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.

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

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

Last week, we all gathered round to watch the third most watched sporting event in the world – the Super Bowl.

Actually, I don’t know where those figures are from. The reality is, we have almost no idea what the most watched events in the world are, but if we did, it probably would point to the Olympics. But it’s safe to say a fair few people were watching with us.

While ultimately, my favourite team, the San Francisco 49ers, lost to the Baltimore Ravens, a good night was had by all, and no one went away bitter about the fact that the 49ers only lost because the judges refused to throw a flag for the blatant pass interference against Michael Crabtree on the 4th and goal that decided the match. No one.

As usual at these sorts of events, we made too much food, allowing us to spend another two days living off ribs and wings – and what a happy two days they were.

It is also worth noting that Chris Culliver netted himself $40,000 for his appearance – more than a lot of my friends earn in an entire year. I guess homophobia does pay after all. I hate it when life works out like that.

The 49ers have a lot to be proud of from their performance at Super Bowl XLVII.

When they first started bringing a box of squirrels, who enjoyed gnawing through electrical cables, to games, everyone laughed. But clearly they aren’t laughing any more.

The 49ers almost managed the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history. The biggest deficit ever overturned was a mere 10 points, yet the 49ers found themselves having come back from a 22 point deficit with a first a goal. Clearly, they aren’t a team that is ever down and out.

The 49ers almost won – with only two minutes on the clock, we were 5 points behind with a first and goal. Unfortunately the Ravens defence held up, but statically, if the 49ers can put themselves in those situations, they are going to convert more often than not – especially now Ray Lewis isn’t around to coordinate the defence.

Colin Kaepernick is still only a second year, and this was still only his tenth NFL start. Most likely, he is only going to get better from here – he’ll stop wasting time outs, he may or may not throw less interceptions, and his game management will get better.

The 49ers have shown they have a great range of options – Frank Gore continues to run the ball brilliantly, Vernon Davis is back in the play calls and Michael Crabtree remains a strong target too. On the defence, players other than Aldon Smith showed they can sack a quarterback too.

And finally, David Akers managed a perfect record – sure, he wouldn’t have done if it hadn’t have come back for a roughing the passer flag, but hitting everything that counted at the Super Bowl, as well as making that NFL-record equalling 63 yard kick agains the Packers at the start of the season mean that Akers does at least have a few positives to take away from this season.

We did it! Long may my favourite team, the Baltimore Ravens, reign supreme!

Note to self: don’t forget to turn the other one of these off.

We did it! Long may my team, the San Francisco 49ers, reign supreme!

Note to self: don’t forget to turn the other one of these off.

Last weekend saw the NFL divisional playoff round. It was almost certainly the best weekend of American football that there has been this season. The Baltimore Ravens caused a major upset, when, at the longest odds to win the Super Bowl, eliminated the Denver Broncos, who were the favourites at the time, from the competition.

The San Francisco 49ers beat the Green Bay Packers to proceed on to the NFC Championship match, while the Atlanta Falcons kicked a winning field goal with only 31 seconds on the clock to beat the Seattle Seahawks in a tail biting finish. Only the New England Patriots’ confident victory over the Houston Texans really failed to provide such excitement.

You can read all about the matches over on A Brit Talks Football. Tonight the championship round takes place to determine who goes to the Super Bowl – you can follow my updates on Twitter.

Last weekend, myself and George headed up to Weetwood to watch the Leeds Celtics american football team play.

It was dry, but never the less very cold and due to what we suspect was the ambulance getting lost, the game didn’t kick off until an hour after it’s scheduled time – a risky move when you have so little day light these days.

By this point, we were too cold to watch the whole manage, but in the first half Leeds Celtics scored two touchdowns, both with two point conversions, against the Northumbria Mustangs.