Portrait Shoot with Stephanie B

Our portrait shoot with Stephanie yielded some very classy images (Aside from the Bloopers).
To see additional pics from this session, click HERE

Useful Camera Settings (Outdoor Sports)

Camera Settings

Depending on the sport you are covering and the weather conditions, outdoor sports will vary considerably.  For instance, if you're shooting auto racing on a bright sunny day, or your grandmothers lawn dart team on a cloudy day ;), the settings will be on opposing ends of the scale.  Most times I'll use an F2.8 to F4 depth of field, in order the have a nice "soft" background (making the subject pop out of the picture), and leaving myself enough margin to crank up the speed, to freeze the action, without having to boost the ISO too high, and avoid having too much digital "noise" in an image.  But keep in mind, if you're shooting a football/soccer match, and the conditions switch from daylight, to artificially lighted conditions, don't be scared to boost the ISO, instead of reducing the speed.  You want the ball to be sharp!  For boat racing, my settings are something like this...

Full Manual Mode, F5.6, 1/1250sec speed & 640 ISO

You may also like to try and accentuate the "Speed" effect by slowing down the camera speed, to create a panning shot.  Make sure you are as perpendicular as possible to the subject.  In this case, I was lucky enough to have permission to be in the water.  Auto racing yields better panning pics than boat racing, as there is no "up-down" motion of the subject, and they have a more fluid motion from side to side.

Full Manual Mode, F5.6, 1/40sec speed & 50 ISO

More examples of sports photography can be seen on our website, by following this link > HERE

Portrait Shoot with Mylene Lacroix

Our portrait shoot with the lovely Mylene Lacroix, yielded some pretty awesome pics (As you can see by these preliminary samples). 

A total of eight (8) different looks were completed in a record time.  This girl can model!

A few more select images from that portrait shoot, can be seen  HERE

https://www.facebook.com/patbeaudry   |   www.snapephoto.com

Useful Camera Settings (Indoor Sports)

Camera settings

I'm often asked about "typical" camera settings, and what should be used in various situations. As such, I've gathered a short list of what I use most, depending on the provided or adjusted light, motion, and overall conditions.

I'll discuss Sports in this post, and touch on Concert, Studio & Urban/architectural subjects, in later posts.

As most of you already know, photography is a  balance between three (3) key elements...
ISO (Sensibility to light), F-Stop (Depth of field), and Speed (stopping motion in it's track).
In challenging instances or settings, one might need to play the "compensation" card, in order
to achieve the desired result.

SPORTS

Depending if you're shooting an outdoor or indoor venue, most times I'll use an F2.8 depth of field, in order the have a nice "soft" background (making the subject pop out of the picture), and leaving myself enough margin to crank up the speed, to freeze the action, without having to boost the ISO too high, and avoid having too much digital "noise" in an image.

Example:  NHL Indoor hockey, my settings are something like this...

Full Manual Mode, F2.8, 1/800sec speed & 1600 ISO

BOXING, on the other hand, is a whole different story.  High speed action, Low light, warm color-cast lighting from above spotlights, etc....  This is a perfect example of "sacrificing" one of the above-mentioned elements, in order to achieve the best possible results.  In a "decently-lit" arena, my settings of choice would be something like this...

Full Manual Mode, F3.5, 1/800sec & 5000 ISO

If digital noise is a concern at this level ISO (camera body dependent) a good portion of it can be reduced, using appropriate software.