Tennis: Aust Open (first week on small courts)

Images from the first week on the smaller courts. There is some more in my gallery here.

Excellent images - what lens were you using to get in so close?

Regards

David

Nice post. How long have you been shooting tennis? I've been at it quite awhile, using 70-200 with 1.4 teleconverter, but have only recently moved to shooting such tight shots as yours. I was trying to emulate the style I saw so often in Getty Images coverage. Thanks for the post.

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Bob Topp

Excellent series. You timing is excellent - seems to me this is pretty high frame rate on most of the shots. Nicely done.
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tony
http://www.tphoto.ca

David..

Thanks for the thumbs up...The lens is a 70-200 f2.8 (the current IS II version). I have owned the two previous versions and can say that this one is clearly sharper at 2.8 (which most were shot at). On the small courts you are a lot closer to the action so, the results can mimic (to a small degree) what the big lenses get on the larger courts.

slarti

Thanks Bob..

I have been going for a few yrs now and love working away at trying to get something. It's funny you mention 'going in tight' because, as sure as i decide to do just that,...-that will be the instance where the player lunges and slips over with arms and legs everywhere and a looser frame would have got it all.(ha,ha).

Also, I have lost so many (as i'm sure many have) going in so-tight that i get a great emotion in the face but the arm has reached out and is cut off. This can only happen with me (and the 70-200) when they are nearest to me on the base line about to recieve serve in most cases.
Those getty shooters sure do produce some great stuff.

How are you finding it shooting with the 1.4, does it help get in there a bit more?. Does it suit your style?.. are you getting in close now because you have done the other stuff for a while and what to get a different look?.

slarti

Thank you for the kind words Tony..

Not sure if my timing (in general) this yr was so great. I was constantly 'late' with the shutter. Last yr i suffered from being too 'early' on the release. Using a 5dII is not the best way to cover the tennis. The files are amazing but the heartbreak in missing the shot is pretty bad. Too many get away. I had to shoot for a long time before i got anything, which left experimenting out the window. You only get one frame with the 5d (even set at 3.8 cont). It is totally pointless keeping your finger on the shutter..if the ball is not in the first it ain't hanging around for the next with the 5d. I learnt this in the first 5min. Everything i got this and last yr was with one frame at a time. I have previously used a 40d which had more frames to help me but the AI servo was not as good as the 5d i found.

Hopefully next yr i will have the 1dx..and won't have any excuses.(ha,ha)

slarti

For tennis, those are superbly timed shots when shooting the 5d. I can believe the "missed shots" can really break your heart - but you managed to pull through with excellent keepers. The 1DX or 1D-IV helps somewhat - shooting sports with motor drive does not always guarantee great results - but does result with more keepers that are OK. Personally I shoot virtually everything for sports with single frame.
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tony
http://www.tphoto.ca

Fantastic shots....the first one especially...that's a Keeper! Good Work!

I shoot a lot of different sports and while it is possible to shoot single frame and capture nice images you really need to take full advantage of the frame rate the pro bodies offer.

If you don't, you end up missing more great images than you will ever capture using the single frame method.

Selective, well timed bursts will give you a better choice of images particularly in sports where the action is fast and arms and legs form part of the image. The positioning of arms and legs can make or break an image and shooting single frame is a real handicap in this respect.

It reminds of me when I was shooting film - you tried to shoot single frame because processing film and printing was expensive. The image you captured was more often than not a fraction of a second after what you had seen "in your mind's eye". Sometimes you fluked it but most times you missed by enough to be disappointed with the eventual outcome.

Zoooming

tony field said:

For tennis, those are superbly timed shots when shooting the 5d. I can believe the "missed shots" can really break your heart - but you managed to pull through with excellent keepers. The 1DX or 1D-IV helps somewhat - shooting sports with motor drive does not always guarantee great results - but does result with more keepers that are OK. Personally I shoot virtually everything for sports with single frame.
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tony
http://www.tphoto.ca

Click to expand...

Some of the images had highly saturated colors. Was that a style choice or do I need a better monitor? Thanks for sharing!