Need help with settings! (Canon EOS 60D, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM)

[GhostBoySwag]

Hello! I am a 16 year old up coming sport photographer, i would like to know what is the best settings for Soccer/Football to take photos! 

My photographer teacher told me it but i dont remember what he said. All i remember was
Setting: TV
Auto ISO
Frame Shutter speed: 1/1000
something something 4 

I tried looking in this community for help i already tried searching, i dont know if i typed things write since i dont know much words for photograhy yet! and i only have an 8GB SD Card on it, so what should the quality be?

images to help
 

It would mean a lot of if you guys helped me

[p4pictures]

You have an ok starting point, Tv mode, shutter speed 1/1000 and auto ISO. The camera will adjust the aperture value for you, but it is likely to keep the lens aperture wide open at f/4 unless it is really bright. 

From the screen on the back of your camera you have high speed drive so the camera will shoot continuously while the shutter is pressed. The focus appears to be MF, but that's probably because no lens is on the camera. When the lens is fitted it should be set to AI SERVO.

Lastly in the lower right corner there are two square brackets, in this would be a figure to show how many shots are remaining on the card. If you put the 8GB card in you will see a number there. Your camera is also set to RAW+JPG mode, so it puts two files on the card for each shutter press. Using RAW + large JPG as you have set will mean around 200 shots can be saved on an 8GB card. If you only shoot in large JPG then you can store around 1,000 shots. If you only shoot in RAW then it is around 250 shots.

JPG images are ready to use straight from the card, but RAW images will need post processing, and if you don't have the skills or time then it might be better to shoot JPG while you learn the camera skills. 

[Tronhard]

If you want to learn about sports photography, I would suggest watching the following video from Brigham Young University on shooting football or soccer.  The gear they use if out of your league, but the settings are of interest, as is the technique.
How To Photograph Football - Part 1 - BYU Photo (youtube.com)  

It might be a good idea to take notes when you get info from your teacher! 🙂

Finally, never leave the camera on when a lens or body cap is not attached.  The sensor is energized and will attract dust that will show as dark blobs in your photos.  Then your sensor needs cleaning, which is not without risks if you try to do it yourself - you can damage it and kill the camera, and a professional cleaning will cost you.

BYW, don't 'hot swap' lenses - i.e. swap them when the camera is on, it can cause a short that will also kill the camera.

Finally, avoid using Micro SD cards, camera work reliably only with full-size ones, get reputable brands like SanDisk, Lexar and Prograde from reliable dealers - cheap deals on the web are sometimes counterfeits.

[wq9nsc]

Set exposure to manual instead of Tv, leave ISO at auto.  Set aperture to f4.  1/1,000 shutter speed is my preferred setting but you may have to drop to 1/800 or 1/640 depending upon light and how your camera performs at higher ISO.

Set file type to RAW, you can do a lot more with images that need adjustment if captured in RAW.  Canon's DPP software works well and is free for Canon owners.  Set focus to servo AF and I would choose a focus point in the center of your screen as the single AF point. Hold the shutter button half way down as the play unfolds so the AF system continues to track the action, this way you are immediately ready to capture images.

Set drive to high speed but do NOT try to count on holding the shutter button down, that doesn't work well even with cameras that will take many more frames per second than the one you are using.  Learn timing and anticipation.  Most important in sports photography is being in the right location so use your knowledge of the game (or develop it if necessary) to improve your odds of great photos.

Most importantly, stay safe!  You are a guest on the sidelines and the officials, players, and coaching staff has priority.  Stay out of the officials area of the sideline and don't interfere with the coaches when talking with players.  Always stay aware of your surroundings and be ready to move in a hurry.  A truly bad habit you want to avoid is don't become one of those wanna be sports photographers who has to review images after every sequence.  You will miss great photo ops between plays, will not be set up for the next play and you may even miss it, AND you are putting yourself in danger.  It is the sports photographer version of texting while driving so do NOT do this.  During a time out, halftime, etc. then take a quick glance and get in the habit of watching the info (shutter speed, aperture, exposure meter) in your view finder.  I lock the controls on my 1 series cameras once I am set up for a game but that isn't available on many camera bodies and you don't want to later discover that you accidentally set the shutter speed to some bizarre value while moving the camera around.

And on edit, one final bit of advice:  You are going to miss shots, we ALL do at times.  Think like Tiger Woods whose super power at the peak of his game was being able to completely put out of mind a mistake on the previous hole so he could work magic on the next.  There will be lots of opportunities every game for a lot of great shots so don't sweat missing a few, you will get far better as you gain experience.  And have fun catching some cool action!  This shot was from late in the fourth in a losing playoff game last year but it was still a fun shot of a TD even though it didn't really impact the outcome of the game.

Rodger

[stevet1]

GhostBoySwag,

Basically, what your teacher is telling you is to put your camera in TV (or shutter priority) mode.

What that means is that you set the shutter speed yourself. The camera will select the proper aperture for you. If the camera is in Auto ISO, the camera will also select the proper ISO as well. 

A shutter speed of 1/1000 is designed to freeze the action and give you a pin-sharp picture.

1/1000 is good for brightly-lit situations, but as the light gets dimmer, you might find that you need to slow it down a bit to allow your sensor time to capture the light you have available to you.

Do a Google search for "Shutter Speed Cheat Sheet" to get a better idea of shutter speeds to use in various situations like walking or running or race cars, etc.

Also, in your spare time, read up on the Exposure Triangle, and how the three elements,  (the shutter speed, the aperture, and the ISO) work together to give you a good exposure.

Try to save your pennies for a larger card. 32 or 64gb cards are not very expensive at all any more. A 32gb card at Best Buy is around $12.00.

Steve Thomas