Shooting at soccer practice
My dream, when I picked up a camera for the first time was to be able to shoot photos at a professional sporting event, on the field, like the Sports Illustrated guys. I have always wanted to do that. I’ve shot a few rec league soccer matches, and a couple of kids soccer tournaments in the last couple of years, but I had always felt that my gear was lacking. I can make due with my Canon T5i, however I’ve always shot with a Canon 75-300mm f4/f5.6. This is fine for day time shooting, but evening and night games, its near impossible, as I just could not get enough light into my lens to take a decent photo. That changed this week. I often browse eBay for used lenses, though I could never afford what the golden ring of lenses cost. This golden ring is the Canon 70-200 f2.8 L Series. It’s a beast of a lens, but it’s buttery smooth, it is tack sharp, and with two extra stops of light available to me, it is just what I need to shoot in darker conditions. I decided to take the lens out to the local professional team’s training session on Saturday. So I packed up my kit, and headed down to Starfire Soccer Complex, home of my beloved Seattle Sounders FC, defending champions in Major League Soccer.
Right away, I noticed how quick my camera was to pick up my focus points. I caught myself chimping photos often, because I couldn’t get over how much compression my backgrounds had, and how it made the subjects pop off the screen. FIrst test run was a success. I’m very happy with the photos I took. You can catch the gallery, by clicking here