This past weekend I spent my Friday night and Saturday at the DeltaPlex shooting the state finals for high school cheerleading.
I've never been to or seen an actual competition and definitely found a new respect for the 'sport'. These girls have a very admirable energy and passion.
This was my first experience shooting action with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM Lens. I have the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0 L USM but found that I am often in situations where I need that extra stop. The f/2.8 focuses very fast, but is SO heavy. My hand kept cramping up, but I got used to the weight after some time. Without the Image Stabilizer there would have been noticeable camera shake in my images. It's really difficult to keep still while hand holding. I am sure I will invest in this lens someday.
There was a 'no flash photography' rule, which is understandable. I was forced to shoot at ISO 3200 which is something I would normally try to avoid. The company I was shooting for runs their images through the Noise Ninja before posting them online. This program is something that I am interested in purchasing... I heard that the price is somewhat reasonable and if an image is extremely noisy you can run it through the "ninja" several times. I'd like to find out if there are any drawbacks to using this- Possibly something that I would like to have for wedding images taken in low light at a dim reception hall. To remove some of the color noise in the posted cheerleading shots I applied the Reduce Noise Filter in Photoshop.
I would love to get more involved in sports photography. I could feel how I improved from Friday night to Saturday night. Most of my experience with action photography has been outdoors with water sports- so I am glad that this opportunity provided me with experience in shooting fast movement under low light. I got in a rhythm and concentrated on what I needed to do to make powerful images, both technically and aesthetically. The emotion that these girls had made for some strong photos.
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