First attempt at high school soccer

Th fall season is the time for high school soccer, and I was hoping to do some shooting between the poor lighting and weather. The NGRHS senior girls played at 5:15pm, and the sky was already quite overcast with the pending early darkness not much later. Even using ISO 800 was a stretch since the shutter speeds were 1/500th second, tops, hardly enough to freeze the ball motion. But, the emotion and expressions were there as always - to me, that's the main point in taking such images, to get the reactions of the players as they endure during the game.

I solely depended on the forgiveness of RAW files, and I was able to record some keepers but better lighting is needed. This is one instance where a newer Nikon DSLR model with its improved high-ISO performance would have meant improved photos; I am quite open to anyone setting up a trust fund for donations towards the D7000=)

During the second half, as the light was really fading, I popped on the SB-800 flash. Neat effects with ghosting and plenty of shooting range, but these files look a bit artsy and odd. So much for that experiment.

Interestingly enough, there were a couple students who had the school camera, a Canon Rebel model outfitted with the 18-55mm kit zoom, they saw my D60 and 70-300mm VR and exclaimed that "Nikons are better cameras!" Who am I to argue? They need to invest in a telephoto zoom, they could capture decent outdoor sports images, but there is still skill required and just good old plain luck.

FWIW, the New Germany squad soundly beat their opponents (Bridgewater) - the final outcome was 14-0. Yikes. That is more like a football score.