EOS 60D Indoor Sports Photography Advice

[carissawv]

Hello,

I'm seeking advice on indoor sports photography, equipment, and software. I have 60D and use the 70-200 2.8 IS III.  I have LR 4 and Photoshop Elements 13 and I'm trying to figure out if upgrading my equipment and software would help or if this is purely skills that need to be improved. I shoot in RAW.

1/5400 2.8 2500 WB fluorescent

1/500 3.5 6400 WB fluorescent

[jrhoffman75]

There seems to be a download block on the gymnastics image, but I could download the basketball shot.

I suggest you download and use the free Canon DPP software to process your RAW files, then if you want to do more you can send to Lr or Ps.

Here is a quick edit just in DPP.

I will also send to Lr and see what that can do.

I sent a TIFF from DPP to Lr and did a little more work.

I have a Lightroom plugin (can also be used as a standalone app) the uses artificial intelligence for image sharpening (called Topaz AI Sharpen). Here's what it can do:

Noise is much easier to deal with than motion blur, so when i doubt aim for a higher shutter speed and deal with the noise in post.

[carissawv]

Thanks, John! I love those edits! I'm going to work on getting more familiar with LR.

I may have fixed the other link??

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19JVeKE6ilIt4HEysxoKDz_1G1K7i_0mH/view?usp=sharing

[jrhoffman75]

Give DPP a try. The advantage of DPP is that Canon is frequently updating the processing engine along with lens image correction in DLO. If you export a TIFF from DPP into Lightroom you can do further editing, but since you are using LR4 I would say that you may not be getting any benefit from LR.

You can do your own testing and decide what works best for you.

[FloridaDrafter]

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@jrhoffman75 wrote:

"I have a Lightroom plugin (can also be used as a standalone app) that uses artificial intelligence for image sharpening (called Topaz AI Sharpen)."

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I use Topaz Sharpen AI and their Mask and DeNoise standalone apps on occasion. Usually don't have to, but when needed, they are excellent. Kind of expensive when you consider that they just do one thing (they do it extremy well), but they are nice to have in the toolbox.

[ebiggs1]

"Give DPP a try."

2nd that. 

[Tronhard]

I have the 60D and I still love using it!  Like you I have Topaz noise reduction and that can be very helpful in situations such as this.   As several people have said, the 60D is a capable camera and you have an excellent lens there.  You are very wise to consider technique before upgrading to different tech.

I am curious about what you produce from your shots: do you create for on-line or digital viewing or produce prints - if so, how big?

Definitely getting as close as possible to the action is important for a couple of reasons:

1. You can use a shorter focal length when the players are closer to you, which should help reduce camera shake

2. As you and others have said, the light coming to your camera should have more intensity (the inverse square law of energy dispursion applies here!).

3. Also as has been said, shooting low offers more dramatic composition.

One always has the challenge of balancing Depth of Field, Shutter Speed and ISO.  In the first shot, taken at 1/5400 sec, I would have thought your SS was higher than you actually need, even dropping down to 1/1500 or 1/2000 would help with the ISO and DoF.  If you want the boy to the left to be more in focus  you could thus gain some DoF.

It's worth experimenting a bit to see what SS you can get down to for the type of movements you are working with.  

[jrhoffman75]

Typo by OP. It was 1/400  for one image an 1/500 for the second.

[Tronhard]

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@jrhoffman75 wrote:

Typo by OP. It was 1/400  for one image an 1/500 for the second.

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Ah THAT makes more sense!!!   I DID read the thread but must have missed that one...

[carissawv]

Trevor,

I mostly just post online or do small prints for family and friends. Thanks for the advice.

Thanks for catching the typo, John. I don't know how I missed that!

[Tronhard]

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@carissawv wrote:

Trevor,

I mostly just post online or do small prints for family and friends. Thanks for the advice.

Thanks for catching the typo, John. I don't know how I missed that!

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For me, the output is the major question, and given the profile you have described I would certainly say that the 60D is still a good contender and you seem to get some great shots with it.  Just getting closer and lower may be all that you need to do to tweak your imagery!