Photos By Passy was the official photographer for the Victorian Teachers Games held in Bendigo during late September 2014.
The Teacher’s Games involves teachers from schools all across the state of Victoria competing in a range of Individual and Team Sports.
There are also nightly social and party activities to attend, and so it is always a week of very little sleep.
For this job I used nearly every piece of camera equipment that I own, and it all found a use somewhere.
My main Go To camera was the Sony A77II with the 16-50mm Sony Lens. Overall I was delighted with its performance, in spite of some of the indoor sports ISO difficulties.
What follows are separate write ups for the events and functions which were covered. These are discussed one by one, with notes about camera settings and shooting approach, as well as links to the final online photo albums.
If you are interested in attempting some sports photography, then you should find some useful tips and tricks in this article.
If you want to learn more about the technical side of photography, then check out the How To Guides on our website at the following link:
Photos By Passy – How To Guides
If you just want to see the pictures, then simply scroll down and click on the links to the various albums.
Games Registration
Games Registration and Check In was held in the Bendigo Stadium foyer, and the lighting was good enough for many of the camera shots to be done without flash.
The aim of the shoot was to get plenty of shots of people checking in, along with the tables of volunteers and officials in attendance.
Games Registration Photos
Games Registration Photos
Here are the links to the Games Registration Photos
Games Registration Photos on Flickr
If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:
How To Download Photos from Flickr
Games Registration Photos on Facebook
EQUIPMENT:
Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8
On board Camera Flash
The camera was set to Intelligent Auto and many of the shots were taken without flash.
When the camera did choose to use Flash, there was a problem because I habitually left the lens shade hood on, resulting in some round lens hood shadow visible at the bottom of the photo.
While using the lens hood is great for protection, as well as using a clear UV filter, I need to remember to always remove it for any on-board flash photos!
Brownlow Medal Pub Night
This was a social night out involving dinner and watching the Brownlow Medal on the big screen televisions at the venue.
The brief was to get plenty of photos of patrons having fun dressed up in their favorite football team guernseys.
Brownlow Medal Night Photos
Here are the links to the Brownlow Medal Night Photos
Brownlow Medal Night Photos on Flickr
If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:
How To Download Photos from Flickr
Brownlow Medal Night Photos on Facebook
EQUIPMENT:
Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8
Sony HVL-F43M Flash
Gary Fong Gamma Blade Diffuser
The camera was set to Manual Mode with speed of 1/125 and ISO 1250, as we do for most of our standard night club photography.
Aperture was varied from 4.0 to 5.6, depending on the size of the group of people being photographed.
The flash power was also set manually for every shot, mostly to 1/8 power and 50mm width.
Trivia Night
Trivia Night consists of Tables of Teams answering questions and performinng random tasks deliberately designed to be embarassing.
It is a lot of fun!
Trivia Night Photos
Here are the links to the Trivia Night Photos
If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:
How To Download Photos from Flickr
Trivia Night Photos on Facebook
EQUIPMENT:
Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8
Sony HVL-F43M Flash
Gary Fong Gamma Blade Diffuser
Panasonic Lumix LX7 Camera
The Sony camera was set to Manual Mode with speed of 1/125 and ISO 1250, as we do for most of our standard night club photography.
Aperture was varied from 4.0 to 5.6, depending on the size of the group of people we were photographing.
The flash power was also set manually for every shot, mostly to 1/8 power and 50mm width.
The Lumix LX7 was used for doing 16:9 aspect ratio wide angle photos of the novelty events, and at Aperture F1.4 required no flash to be used.
Mixed Basketball
The mixed basketball was held inside the Bendigo Stadium which has reasonably good artificial lighting on the center court, but not quite such good lighting on the adjoining courts.
I found the best position to stand was at one end of the center court, near the end of the basketball key line, and to frame up the shot with the rim and the backboard in it.
The only problem with this position is it is usually where the referee wants to be, because it gives the best vantage point.
Mixed Basketball Photos
Here are the links to the Mixed Basketball Photos
Mixed Basketball Photos on Flickr
If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:
How To Download Photos from Flickr
Mixed Basketball Photos on Facebook
EQUIPMENT:
Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8
Sony Alpha A-55 Camera
Tamron 24-70mm F2.8
Most shots were taken with the A-77 set to Sports Scene mode, and there were not many good shots obtained with the A-55.
The A-77 in SCN “Sports Mode” tends to go for a very high Shutter Speed of 1/2000th and an ISO of 3200 which leads to grainy and dark shots.
Rapid shoot to get multiple images was used on a number of occasions so as to end up with the best photo to choose from for action sequences.
I was able to get usable pictures by using Photoshop and making adjustments and sharpening each individual picture.
Next time I need to spend time experimenting in Manual Mode with a Speed of 1/500th which would let in four times more light, and allow for a lower ISO which would give clearer pictures.
The A-55 in Sports Mode did not produce very good shots, and the zoom range was not well suited for the task at hand.
Womens Netball
It was a bright sunny day for the Netball, but the action was fast paced and not that easy to photograph.
It seemed that every time I moved position the action went somewhere else!
Sports Photography is a percentage game, and it was a matter of shooting as many shots as I could in the hour or so time which was available. The best photos were then chosen by doing a massive cull of pictures that evening.
Ladies Netball Photos
Here are the links to the Womens Netball Photos
Womens Netball Photos on Flickr
If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:
How To Download Photos from Flickr
Womens Netball Photos on Facebook
EQUIPMENT:
Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8
Sony Alpha A-55 Camera
Sony DT 18-250mm F3.5-6.3
Although I had both cameras with me, the zoom range on the A-77 seemed to be sufficient, and so I hardly used the A-55 at all.
The A-77 reveled in the bright outdoor sunlit conditions. Most shots were done in multishot SCN “Sports Mode” and they came out crisp and clear.
The A-77 MkII is a great camera for bright light sports photos, and I was very happy with the results.
Singles Tennis
It was a perfect bright sunny day for the Tennis, and there were some good players which helped me get good photos.
It seems for sports in general, if the standard of the game is high, you are bound to get great photos, because the game play content is just so good to begin with.
If the standard and skills are low, then the photos simply do not look right, no matter how well you frame and shoot them.
Singles Tennis Photos
Here are the links to the Singles Tennis Photos
Singles Tennis Photos on Flickr
If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:
How To Download Photos from Flickr
Singles Tennis Photos on Facebook
EQUIPMENT:
Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8
Sony Alpha A-55 Camera
Sony DT 18-250mm F3.5-6.3
The zoom range was adequate on the A-77, and so it was used for the bulk of the photos with the camera set to SCN “Sports Mode” and the shutter held down to do multishoot.
It seems the best place to stand to take sports photos is often where the Umpire or Referee would stand or sit.
So for the Tennis, I positioned myself next to the net and framed and panned with the ball play.
It is certainly not easy to get action shots of tennis because the ball moves so fast. Often times a great shot would have the ball long gone out of frame and would have to be discarded.
It is a percentage game to get the right shots, and so I just put the multishoot on the fastest speed possible and got as many shots as I could.
From a massive cull that evening, I was really happy with the final shots I had for the album.
In fact I think that the Tennis was one of the best events photos-wise that I covered during the Teachers Games.
Lawn Bowls
I shot this event after doing three other events, and it was hard to find excitement in Lawn Bowls compared to some of the other sports.
The standard bowling the ball shots would get a bit boring after a while, but I was lucky enough to also have some measuring happen which broke things up a bit.
Lawn Bowls Photos
Here are the links to the Lawn Bowls Photos
If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:
How To Download Photos from Flickr
EQUIPMENT:
Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8
These shots were done in Intelligent Auto Mode, as well as SCN Sports Mode for some shots.
It was a nice and easy relaxed shoot.
Ultimate Frisbee
This is an extremely fast paced exciting action sport, requiring lots of shots to be taken to get the photos that are going to be good.
The shoot was compounded by having two games on fields right next to each other, as well as the ugliness of park cars and buildings in the background.
However the bright sunny conditions were good for fast shutter speed sports photography.
Ultimate Frisbee Photos
Here are the links to the Ultimate Frisbee Photos
Ultimate Frisbee Photos on Flickr
If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:
How To Download Photos from Flickr
Ultimate Frisbee Photos on Facebook
EQUIPMENT:
Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8
Sony Alpha A-55 Camera
Sony DT 18-250mm F3.5-6.3
The A-55 with the long reaching 18-250mmm zoom lens was used for nearly all of the photos done at Ultimate Frisbee.
The A-55 was set on SCN “Sports Mode” and the shutter held down to do multishoot.
The Sony DT 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 lens is fanstastic in bright conditions, considering that it is only a $600 lens, and it has such a long zoom range.
This lens is my usual travel photography lens, and has served me well for several years now. However it has to have bright daylight or flash to get the best results.
I was very happy with the photos that came from this setup, and even though the A-55 is an old camera and not generally as good as the newer A77II, I am going to keep it indefinitely as my second camera.
Mountain Bike
This was quite a full on event, with the bikes moving faster than I had expected. Multishoot was essential, and I tried to get corner points and squat down as low as I could to capture the wheels as an emphasis point.
In hindsight I should have scouted out the course better and tried to get some more jump shots, but I was reasonably happy with the shots which made the final album.
The brief was to get several photos of every rider in the event, and so this did not leave a lot of time to visit a number of different vantage points.
This was my first mountain bike shoot, and I am sure I will do a lot better next time.
Mountain Bike Photos
Here are the links to the Mountain Bike Photos
Mountain Bike Photos on Flickr
If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:
How To Download Photos from Flickr
Mountain Bike Photos on Facebook
EQUIPMENT:
Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8
There is a lot of dust kicked up during mountain biking and so a clear UV lens filter is essential, as well as regular checking and cleaning of this filter throughout the event.
It is essential to crouch down low and try to get good vantage points on jumps and turns, as well as shots from up high above of riders going up hill.
The A77II was used with fast multishoot and set to SCN “Sports Mode”.
The conditions were overcast, and it might have been a bit better if there was more sun, but I am not sure about what effect lots of forest shadows would have on the pictures.
Fishing Competition
This was a really good shoot because there was a run of fish caught during the half hour that I was covering the event.
For three hours before this, only one fish had been caught and released, and fishing photos would not have been too good without any fish in them!
Fishing Competition Photos
Here are the links to the Fishing Competition Photos
Fishing Competition Photos on Flickr
If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:
How To Download Photos from Flickr
Fishing Competition Photos on Facebook
EQUIPMENT:
Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8
Conditions were overcast, and so I set the A77II to “Intelligent Auto” and for some shots the onboard flash popped up and fired.
This time I remembered to have the shade hood off, and so there is no circular dark blurring on these photos.
An easy shoot where everything just came together with the greatest of ease.
Looking at the photos in view mode, the camera in Auto Mode used ISO 100 and F4 Aperture with a shutter speed of 1/160 on most of the shots and they exposed nicely.
The A77II seems to be very good at handling both bright sunlight and overcast conditions, but it does struggle with ISO graininess in low light indoors.
Indoor Soccer
This was the most difficult shoot of the whole Teachers Games.
I could not shoot through the netting, even with manual focussing, and I could not go onto the Pitch, as all areas of the court are constantly used.
This meant I had to poke the camera through the strongly elasticised slit that the players enter and leave the pitch from. Lucky I have been working at the gym and could hold the slit door open while using the camera!
Due to the fast moving ball, with continuous focus on, the camera kept wanting to set the shutter speed to 1/2000th, Aperture to F4, and use an ISO of 3200 when set to SCN “Sports Mode”.
This resulted in grainly dark photos for quite a few of the shots, until I set the camera into Manual Mode later on.
Indoor Soccer Photos
Here are the links to the Indoor Soccer Photos
Indoor Soccer Photos on Flickr
If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:
How To Download Photos from Flickr
Indoor Soccer Photos on Facebook
EQUIPMENT:
Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8
Photographing a court with horizontal lines marked on it results in levelling problems, and as the camera was crammed through a narrow slit in the netting, it was not easy to get the horizontal correct.
I used the “Disp” button to have levelling turned on, and did my best to try and keep the camera level so the horizonatal court lines and goals at the other end were not tilted.
Photos can be adjsuted in Photoshop to level them, (with a slight loss of quality), but it is much better to get it right on the original shot.
As mentioned previously, in SCN “Sports Mode” with the camera set to continuous “C” Autofocus, the camera picked the extremely high shutter speed of 1/2000th of a second.
This quickness of speed does not let much light in at all, and on the A77II is only really usable in bright sunny outdoor conditions.
The camera therefore compensated for the fast shutter speed by setting an ISO of 3200, which is too high for the A77II to get clear pictures. The highest usable ISO on the camera is probably ISO 1600.
The resulting photos, like the one shown at the start of this section were quite dark and grainy, and borderline usable.
Later on in the shoot I changed to Manual and set the shutter speed to between 1/160th and 1/250th, and Aperture of F4, which meant ISO’s of 250, 320, and 400 could be used. However this resulted in some photos that were a bit blurry because the shutter speed was not high enough.
The quality of the photos is not easy to see in the viewfinder, even when magnified, and is not until they are downloaded onto a PC that you really know what you have captured.
The actual lighting in the stadium was quite good, as they had both artificial lighting as well as plenty of skylights in the roof.
Next time I would try use a shutter speed of 1/500th, Aperture F4, and ISO’s between 400 and 800 and see what type of photos that might produce.
It is basically a Trade Off between high enough shutter speed to have clear images of the players without blurring, versus keeping the ISO down to a level where there is not darkness and graininess.
So it is a matter of finding the “sweet spot” for the camera, by trying a lot of different settings in manual mode. However in a one hour timeframe this is extremely difficult. We would need to be spending at least two hours at the event to get everything perfect.
Obviously spending about $5000 to $6000 on a Professional Nikon Camera and Lens setup would solve all of these problems, because we could shoot clearly at much higher ISOs.
Unfortunately we have no budget to do this, and so we will have to make do with the equipment we have by shooting in Manual Mode and finding the optimum settings.
Beach Volleyball
Like the Indoor Soccer, this was not an easy shoot. The Referee was kind enough to let me into the netted court and stand at the side of the Net. So at least I did not have to squeeze the slit door open to put the camera through.
However the ball did hit me a couple of times and narrowly missed the camera on two or three occasions. But this did make for the following brilliant action shot:
Most shots had to be taken in Portrait mode because the ball is hit so high in the air during this game. A lot of shots were unusable because the ball moved so fast it was out of frame by the time the camera fired.
Unlike normal Volleyball, this is a netted cage where players can bounce the ball off the roof and sides, and so it is power hitting with hardly any spiking or the like at the Net.
This means that most of the photos show the players back-court with no Volleyball Net in sight, and so it is not obvious that they are playing an actual game of Volleyball and not just hitting up.
Again we had High ISO problems with the camera set in SCN “Sports Mode”, because based on tracking the ball’s speed the camera wants to use 1/2000th shutter and ISO’s above ISO 1600.
We did however get some clear shots in Manual Mode, but had problems with the ball blurring as in this shot:
Beach Volleyball Photos
Here are the links to the Beach Volleyball Photos
Beach Volleyball Photos on Flickr
If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:
How To Download Photos from Flickr
Beach Volleyball Photos on Facebook
EQUIPMENT:
Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8
As dicussed there were ISO problems just like the Soccer, resulting in some dark exposure pictures.
However the reflection of light off the white sand helped a lot, and in SCN “Sports Mode” the 1/2000th shutter speed photos were at ISO 1600 which is more usable than 3200.
Like for the soccer, I tried taking a few shots on manual mode, (using shutter speed of 1/250th and ISO 400) and it can be seen in the album that these are clearer and brighter, but often the ball is blurred.
Beach Volleyball is not at all easy to Photograph, as the only available vantage point is crammed up against the side of the net can be used, and a lot of the play does not occur near the net anyway.
Maybe a Go-Pro strapped to somebody’s head shooting video would produce a better story of what actually happened during the game!
Op Shop Party Night
Op Shop Night is a Social Event where people dress up in clothes they have purchased from the charity stores for poor people. The bright colors and interesting outfits make for a great photoshoot.
Op Shop Party Night Photos
Here are the links to the Op Shop Party Night Photos
Op Shop Party Night Photos on Flickr
If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:
How To Download Photos from Flickr
Op Shop Party Night Photos on Facebook
EQUIPMENT:
Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8
Sony HVL-F43M Flash
Gary Fong Gamma Blade Diffuser
Panasonic Lumix LX-7 Low Light Camera
The “Party People” photos were taken mainly at the Star Bar, but some non-flash photos were taken with the Lumix LX7 at The Foundry Hotel.
Using the Sony A77II this was basically our standard night club venue shoot, done in manual mode using ISO 1250 with shutter speed of 1/125th of a second.
Aperture was varied from 4.0 to 5.6 depending on the size of the group of people we were photographing.
The flash power was also set manually for every shot, mostly to 1/8 power and 50mm width.
The Star Bar had a smoke machine going which caused problems on many photos.
However the highly reflective cloudy smoke particles were almost entirely removed in Photoshop using Image > Adjustments > Exposure and then sliding the “Offset” to the left a little.
Photoshop is brilliant and makes all the difference when working with Digital Images.
Being Official Photogragher for the Victorian Teachers Games was a great experience, and apart from the Photoshopping into the early hours of the morning, a really fun time.
It was great to get out and about and use all of my camera equipment in different sports settings.
The Sony A77II with the 16-50mm F2.8 Sony Lens is as good as the reviews say for doing high speed sports photography, as long as you are outdoors in bright light. However, Indoors the camera is hampered by its lack of high ISO capabilities.
There are quite a few things I would change when doing Indoor Sports, as I have found that you cannot trust the camera to choose the right settings. That is unless you have a very expensive $6000 plus, High ISO capable professional setup.
As for many scenarios, it is necessary to get the camera into full Manual Mode and try your best to find some optimal settings which produce bright and clear pictures which capture the sport’s action.
Additional Reading
If you want to learn more about the technical aspects of photography, then check out the articles and how to guides on our website at the following link:
Photos By Passy – How To Guides
Like Us On Facebook
If you enjoy like Photos By Passy, then you owe it to yourself to like our Facebook Page.
Click Here to Like our Facebook Page
Subscribe
If you enjoy visiting Photos By Passy, why not get a free subscription to the website.
You can then receive notifications of new items and updates directly to your email address.
Go to the subscribe area on the left hand sidebar, (or down the bottom of the page if using a mobile phone), fill in your email address and then click the “Subscribe” button.
Enjoy,
Passy