An American Football Game

[ArthurDent]

Awhile ago I attended the 40th reunion for my undergraduate class. Part of the program included attendance at an American football game. I had good tickets so decided to take my camera and see if I could get a few shots. Freezing the action is simple if one shoots with shutter times of less than 1/1250 of a second, but I wanted to get an image which imparted a sense of motion, so I shot at 1/160 of a second. The aperture was f/4.8. The lens is my old Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR with the 1.7x teleconverter installed and the body is a D7000.  Focal length (with teleconverter) was 270mm.

[Jakov Minić]

Your image does show action, that's for sure.
I am bothered by the spectators in the background.
Do you have an image that shows the action in a complete sense like a tackle or a catch? The play is not certain (as if I am an expert in American football)
You did capture the ball in the air and that I do like!
I remember Gary's black and white image that he shot with a wide angle, if my memory serves me well it was a 28mm lens. Now, that was a scary image... (I'll try to find it somewhere)

EDIT - found the image: http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,2310.msg29406.html#msg29406

[David H. Hartman]

What's needed to lose the spectators in the background is a faster lens. It no surprise that the 300/2.8 was quickly adopted by sports photographers for its ability to blow out the background.

Dave Hartman

[ArthurDent]

Your image does show action, that's for sure.
I am bothered by the spectators in the background.
Do you have an image that shows the action in a complete sense like a tackle or a catch? The play is not certain (as if I am an expert in American football)
You did capture the ball in the air and that I do like!
I remember Gary's black and white image that he shot with a wide angle, if my memory serves me well it was a 28mm lens. Now, that was a scary image... (I'll try to find it somewhere)

EDIT - found the image: http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,2310.msg29406.html#msg29406

Thanks for your thoughts. There are a number of different systems (or "sets") used in American football. One system, shown in my image,  is the option, in which the quarterback (wearing Jersey #5) has the option of keeping the ball and running with it himself, or, if he thinks he is about to be tackled, he can pitch the ball to another player. What you are seeing is the critical moment, when the ball is in the process of being pitched. So, in that sense I think it shows a complete moment. The people in the background are either officials (wearing the green vests) or coaches and staff who are always on the sidelines in American football.

[ArthurDent]

What's needed to lose the spectators in the background is a faster lens. It no surprise that the 300/2.8 was quickly adopted by sports photographers for its ability to blow out the background.

Dave Hartman

Thank you Dave for  your comment. The lens I used is the 70-200 f/2.8 with a 1.7 teleconverter to get as much magnification as possible. So, at f/4.8, it was wide open. I suppose I could apply some Gaussian blur to the background, but I like to leave "news" type photos as natural as possible. 

[David H. Hartman]

I've wanted a 300/2.8 ED-IF and should have saved another thousand and bought one instead of a 300/4.5 ED-IF bought. I also wanted a 400/3.5 ED-IF but never could afford one.

Dave

[ArthurDent]

I've wanted a 300/2.8 ED-IF and should have saved another thousand and bought one instead of a 300/4.5 ED-IF bought. I also wanted a 400/3.5 ED-IF but never could afford one.

Dave

Hi Dave- KEH has a pretty good deal on the 400/4.5 ED-IF:

https://www.keh.com/shop/nikon-400mm-f-3-5-ed-if-ais-manual-focus-lens-122-39-drop-in.html?m=Grouped&prod_id=95521&aid=95521&rmatt=tsid:1014300|cid:676289759|agid:35136648859|tid:pla-85199994331|crid:149066874911|nw:g|rnd:1737916229355152991|dvc:c|adp:1o1&gclid=CILFgJbDltECFQwIaQodfdsKYQ

It's a nice lens. As I am not a professional photographer, I have difficulty justifying the expenditure for a lens I might use once or twice per year. But I still want one!
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