More Rugby pictures

[chroberts39]

Well, as promised, here are some pictures of the Scotland v Romania RWC match at Murrayfield.

I must warn you though, not quite in the same league as the South Africa ones.  I still managed to capture a fair bit of the action but quality suffered greatly under the stadium lighting.

Scotland v Romania, RWC 2007

Tried one or two on Auto but spent most of my time on 'S' mode with ISO400 or 800, 1/125.  Focal length was round about 200-300mm and +2.3 or even +3 stop for some.

I would love to know your thoughts nonetheless and especially any tips for stadium shooting under nighttime floodlight conditions.

Thanks again.

Colin 

P.S.: I don't have tickets for the NZ match but if anyone has one and would like me to go there and take a few snaps, feel free to drop me a PM.   

[snappy]

Hate to tell you there is not really any hard and fast rule for low light/floodlight sports work - Its all a bit trail and error on some the setting will a very high asa 800 and up on others lower! From the images displayed you did a really fair job mate - well done! I would have perhaps used a longer lens, gone to full manual and tried to increase the speed, but by looking at the shots you had a pretty good view. So all in all very Nice work Colin! Well done!

[JohnSingleton]

Very well composed shots. Not easy in a fast moving game like rugby.
What camera are you using? Looks like you needed a faster shutter speed on some. Maybe try bumping up the ISO abit more. If you check out any sport photographers portfolio you'll find images with a lot of noise in them. It's a trade off for good action stopping shots. Getting your white balance right (even when shooting RAW) and getting a correct exposure can really reduce the noise in images.
The noise you have in your shots seem to be mainly luminance like this one, this can easily be removed with a good noise program.

[brian]

Thanks for the images Colin Well done.
I can't comment on shooting in a stadium because I've never done it, kudos to you for performing so well.
Theres a little noise on some images, but never enough to spoil anyrhing, some of the kicking shots would have been better with a higher speed although the bit of movement fits in with the action..
As suggested by John I would make sure you have a good noise reduction program available ( like Neat Image ) that will allow you to up your iso a little more. But all in all very good, I enjoyed the pictures.
Glad to see you didn't get any shots of England's game !    Certainly no action shots anyway..

[chroberts39]

Guys, thanks again for taking the time to view my pictures and to give me your feedback, it is very much appreciated.

I have learnt a lot on this particular outing.  My next bunch will probably be of my local team, however, I will be guaranteed a pitch side seat so should get even closer to the action. 

John, my camera is a Nikon D50, Brian, would have loved to have got some of the English, but maybe when they visit us in the New Year. I bet they make a great b/w set.

Thanks again.   Colin