Lacrosse - freezing the action

This was my second time at a Lacrosse game. My daughters partner belongs to the Wanneroo Lacrosse Club, (WANLAX), and I take the opportunity to bring the camera along while we support him. This game started at 3PM and the light was already pretty harsh with the sun casting long shadows.

With shutter speed being so important to freeze the fast moving action- I rely on Shutter Priority. These images are taken at speeds set between 1/2000 and 1/2500 sec. In the bright conditions experienced over most of the pitch, images managed to capture that split second of action.

Restricted in telephoto lens choice, (have one general purpose tele-zoom), I have to cope with a maximum aperture of f/5.6 most of the time. The AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm 1:3.5-5.6 G is not the fastest lens when out at 200mm or more. Dream of using the Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 G II VR - maybe one day.

The lens remains fairly sharp out at this range and the D750 makes an excellent job of controlling the noise at the higher ISO's sometimes need. At the start of the game was able to benefit from ISO speeds of around 100-640. By the end of the match as the sun set was relying on 1250-2000.

Check out all the full size images via the album on the Clients page. You can really see the passion in the players expressions. It's worth a look.