I am going to be taking pictures of some people playing sports tomorrow...any tips?
Like what are the optimal settings for fast pace sports like soccer and football.

 

Depends on where they are going to be playing at...

Lighting?
Distance from lens?
Speed of play?

High speed play requires a very fast shutter and good light and or higher ISO speeds as well as a long lens.

I was playing around today at a basketball game. Shooting ISO 1000 at 1/250's in shutter priority. Was right around F/3.5 - F/4.0. --- Canon EOS 1d with the cheap USM 28-105 lens.

Anyone that has ever been in Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler University in Indianapolis, knows the light is okay during the day.

Hope that helps. I don't know what you are shooting with. But its going to come down to shutter, ISO and Aperture and Lens.

 

Use your 55-200 lens...hopefully you are outdoors in the sunlight....set your ISO at like 320-500

Put the camera into shutter priority and have fun.

The faster the shutter the more of a "clean" and still image will result. Slow the shutter down like 50-120 and you will get some nice motion blur.

Experiment and play around, see what you get.

 

I kept the ISO high 1600, which made the pictures a lil grainy

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeyus...7594070297300/

 

Oh man... Yeah, since you were shooting outside, ISO 1600 wasn't needed.

I guess you are shooting a Nikon, ISO 400-500 would have been plenty. Its bright enough in those picture that ISO 200 would have been fine.

ISO 1600 is needed when you are in very bad lighting conditions and need to shoot a very fast film speed. High ISO = Grain and sometimes vertical banding on some cameras.

 

Live and learn

Just tell people the grain was an artistic choice...thats what I always

 

LOL I made the pictures 800 instead of the original 3008 so you can't see too many details. None of them are camera buffs so they actually like the pictures...I hate them I need to finish this book I bought so I can know all the rules already.