August 17, 2007 - Kahuku’s Jray Galeai coughs up the ball after being sandwiched by St. Louis’ Kalani McLaughlin, right, and Steven Donohue in the first half at Aloha Stadium. Exposure details: Canon EOS-1D Mark II, EF 400mm 2.8, Manual, 1/500 sec at f/2.8, ISO 3200, Fluorescent setting

Well, we’re slowly getting back into the swing of football season here. Preps started this weekend, and I was assigned to games Friday and Saturday.

I’ve always enjoyed shooting sports (even though I don’t follow much sports in real life), and football is one of my favorites. I think it’s the thrill of the hunt of trying to get one of those classical “sports photos” that keeps me going. And since those photos are so elusive, I love going back weekend after weekend, trying to get something good.

Of course, not every game, or weekend, or month, is going to produce a winner, but I try to keep a few things in mind when shooting football.

I always shoot with a long lens. For prep sports I use a 300mm or 400mm f2.8. For UH games I like to use the 600mm f4. High school stadiums are usually dark pits of doom, and it’s a stretch to get 1/500 sec at 3200 ISO. Aloha Stadium is nice for UH games (I can get away with shooting at f4), but they don’t turn on all the lights for preps.

There are a number of ways to shoot football. Ask any photog how they do it and you’ll probably get a different theory on how they approach the game. For me, it depends on the type of shot I want. For the above photo, I was looking for a defensive play, so I was behind the goal line hoping for a sack. Luckily it happened… and even luckier the ball popped out for added effect.

August 18, 2007 - Waianae’s Justin Kauwalu tries to fend off Farrington’s Mark Stowers in the first half at Waianae High. Exposure details: Canon EOS-1D Mark II, EF 400mm 2.8, Aperture Priority, 1/640 sec at f/2.8, ISO 640, Daylight setting

For this photo, I was looking for offense, and was again in the end zone. I like shooting from the end zone because more often than not your background is going to be clean. I like as little as possible in the frame aside from the actual subjects, and with shallow depth of field, this effect is maximized. Even in broad daylight, I’ll shoot wide open so I can get as little depth of field as possible. This Waianae game started early, so there was still some sun when the game started, so I could shoot at a lower ISO.

August 18, 2007 - Farrington’s QB Alefesio Iu is sacked by Waianae’s Wade Keliikipi. Exposure details: Canon EOS-1D Mark II, EF 400mm 2.8, Manual, 1/640 sec at f/2.8, ISO 3200, Fluorescent setting

This photo was again me looking for defense. Just hanging back in the end zone and waiting for something.

I’m looking forward to shooting UH in a few weeks, and these prep games are a nice warm up.

Bob Boone rode around the corner of South and Pohukaina streets yesterday among a pack of cyclists during Race B of the Kakaako Criterium. Exposure details: Canon EOS 20D, EF-S 10-22mm (at 10mm), Manual, 1/200 sec at f/14, ISO 100, Daylight setting, Canon 580EX speedlight

Sunday rolls around, and I was assigned to the “wild art hunt.” We refer to those stand-alone “kiddie in the park” feature photos as “wild art.” It’s a task that often involves us jumping in our cars and driving around looking for something remotely interesting or, “wild,” to stick in the paper. Sometimes we drive for hours, other times the pictures just appear.

I was outside our office at Restaurant Row and noticed cones being placed up South Street, and remembered that BOCA was holding their Kakaako Criterium bicycle race. Ahhh… the perfect opportunity for “wild art.” So I grabbed my cameras and wandered out to see what was up.

Criterium races generally involve racers riding around in circles for a set period of time, then on the final lap sprinting to the finish. I pondered a finish line shot, but instead opted to hunt for something on the course.

I walked pretty much the length of the course looking for interesting walls or shadows to use, but nothing really lit my candle, so I decided I’d try something with the riders turning a corner. I noticed they really hug the inside of the turn, so now I needed at good turn with decent light. I went to the corner of South and Pohukaina Streets where the sun was at a good angle for drama — slightly backlit, but still some rim light on the riders.

I figured I’d go with some fill flash (on-camera) with a slow shutter speed and pan with a wide-angle lens. The fill would give detail to the riders while the pan would lend a sense of “motion.” So I sat on the corner, far enough away to avoid the riders (all I need is to cause a pile-up), and stuck my camera out and panned wildly as the riders whipped around the corner.

The results were less than stellar. The shutter speed was too slow, and the flash not really getting any detail, so the pictures were turning into bizarre abstracts. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not quite what I had in mind.

I’m not a big fan of on-camera flash, and soon realized the photos had a real flat look to them. So I decided I’d take the flash off-camera and trigger it remotely with a ST-E2 transmitter. I was a little concerned it wouldn’t fire in the sun (the transmitter is an infrared affair, so it gets moody in bright sunlight), but since I didn’t have any Pocket Wizards on me it was the best I could do.

So I placed the flash on the sidewalk aimed directly towards the sun. This would provide the main light for the subject, and the sun would act as a giant rim light. If you look in the lower left corner of the photo you can see some light spill on the sidewalk from the flash.

I panned the camera as the bikes came riding by, but kept the shutter speed relatively high to minimize any really crazy abstracts like I was getting earlier. Now there was just a suggestion of motion. After a few passes of riders, I had what I was looking for.

I shot a few “safe” shots with a long lens, just in case, but turns out they weren’t needed.