Question About Sports Photos

I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ70. I love the powerful zoom lens 20-1200mm, but I can't seem to get shots of my 11 yr old playing soccer that aren't a little blurry. And, sometimes overexposed. I often use the built-in sport mode but have recently started to experiment with Aperture and Shutter priority. My experiments have failed horribly when compared to the auto SPORT mode. I even tried RAW format to see if it was inherent in the camera processing, but that wasn't it, either.

I am also confused about when to use:

- Continuous focus
- Which AutoFocus mode
- Burst mode with or without a continuous focus
- Which metering mode

Any help at all would be great. Or, perhaps there is a good instructor for this camera in CT I can contact.

Answer:

Chris, I don't know of any instructors in CT but most areas have classes that you can take on digital photography either at a local community college or as an outreach class through the local school district. Another source is if there are any local camera shops in your area. Often they have people who can give you training on your camera, etc.

I have not used the Panasonic camera you have but normally for sports photography, I prefer continuous autofocus as that should help you track the action. Generally, for 11-year-old soccer, you would not need any type of high-speed burst as it is more important to try and time the action but there can be some circumstances where burst mode has its advantages. As far as the metering mode that depends on the lighting conditions but if you are keeping your son towards the center of the frame a center-weighted metering mode should work well.

Sports can be difficult to shoot and there are so many factors that can cause blur. As you know the action even at that age can be fast-paced and it takes a good autofocus system to keep up with it. Also, the lag time on the camera is important. You need a camera with little lag time and if using a burst mode it should be fairly fast. Most sports photographers use some type of DSLR since they tend to focus faster. There are many factors that can cause blur but one of the more common ones in sports photography is too slow of shutter speed. You might try shooting in shutter priority and making sure it is set to 1/250 second or faster. That should help freeze the action.

Also with that long of zoom holding the camera steady is key to getting sharp, in-focus pictures. The slightest camera shake when zoomed all the way in can easily result in a blurry picture.

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