ALC Celtic v Queenswood Social - October 2007

Football Virgin

Having recently become more interested in various types of sports photography I thought I'd give football a try.  There's an active Sunday League club that play quite near to us so they seemed like ideal subjects, I didn't have a clue what time the match was due to start and ended up getting there about 30 minutes from the end, I'll know better next time.

The Photography

I took my new Sigma 120-300mm F/2.8, which hasn't really been put through its paces yet, I thought this would be a good opportunity to see what it can do and post a mini review.  It was a good bright day so I'd have been worried of focussing were an issue and the lens didn't disappoint, focus was quick and accurate.  Any problems keeping up with the action were more my issue than the lens's, the players just wouldn't stay still for long enough!  This lens is some weight but manageable, I had a tripod with me but was finding it too restrictive and so most of the shots were hand held, with the good light I was able to keep the shutter speed up so camera shake wasn't an issue.  Having never used a 300mm prime I can't make a comparison against one but it certainly compares favourably to my Canon 100-400mm L and the wider aperture will be useful on overcast days.

Looking through the images when I got home I think I could have used a wider aperture to get a little less depth of field as the background is a little intrusive in some.  However, I'm pleased with these for the first 30 minutes of football I've photographed.