Women's Playoff Soccer Under the Lights

It has been several years since I've owned a lens fast enough (light wise) to shoot field sports at night. I bought my 200mm f/2.8 prime lens as an economic way to obtain that kind of lens.

While I did shoot a handful of frames with the full frame 5D Mark III and 70-200mm f/4 lens the vast majority of the 475 files I ended up with were made with the 7D Mark II and 200mm f/2.8 lens. The way I shoot at night is with manual settings based on the level of lighting on the field. I meter the grass and under expose a bit. This avoids ridiculous swings in exposure based on the color of the jerseys in the frame.

On Elmore Field, the settings are 1/750th of a second and ISO 3200 with an f/2.8 lens and the same shutter speed and ISO 6400 with an f/4 lens. I added 111 images to the gallery at https://trulandphotography.com/hwsoc2019. I get one more chance this Saturday with the Empire 8 conference final between Hartwick College and Utica College.

Here are some samples, all with the 7D Mark II and 200mm f/2.8 lens.