On Sunday I headed up to Chicago to shoot the Eagles/Bears NFL game at Soldier field (a few shots from the game are below). I’m totally beat (and sore, and tired), so I didn’t have time to do anything decent to them—I just ran them through Lightroom and well, here they are.
SPECS: All the shots were taken with a Nikon D700, at (are you ready for this), 4,000 ISO. I had to shoot at that high an ISO because of the stadium lights (it’s not nearly as bright as you’d think) to get my shutter speed up to at least 1/1000 of a second so I could freeze the action (though a number of times it dipped down to 1/800 of a second). But I gotta tell you—-the noise is so minimal that I am just astonished. In most cases, you have to blow it way, way up before you can really see any, and even then, you don’t really need to even run noise reduction software on it. It’s just sick (and I mean that in the good way). I used my new Nikon 200-400m f/4 VR lens for the long shots, and a Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 for the wider shots.
You can see from the shot of me on the field below (photo by Bill Smith), I had a Think Tank gear belt on (not it’s official name), and gel knee pads (the greatest invention since Coke Zero. Thanks to Mike Olivella for turning me onto those). More about this gear, and my struggles in getting it there, tomorrow.
Anyway, I had a blast, and to top it all off the Bears won! My thanks to Mike McCaskey, and everyone in the Bears organization (they are a class act), and also to Bears team photographer Bill Smith. What a night! Come on, everybody—sing with me:
“Bear Down, Chicago Bears, make every play clear the way to victory. Bear down, Chicago Bears, put up a fight with a might so fearlessly. We’ll never forget the way you thrilled the nation, with your T-formation. Bear down, Chicago Bears, and let them know why you’re wearing the crown. You’re the pride and joy of Illinois, Chicago Bears, bear down!”
