Buffalo Bills vs. Indianapolis Colts @ Rogers Centre

Once again I was able to secure a much soght after media pass for the Bills vs. Colts NFL exhibition game at Rogers Centre last night.

In the photo above Buffalo's running back C.J. Spiller - who had himself a good game - powers over an Indianapolis defender.

The full image does a better job of conveying the impact of the collision, with the defender's dreadlocks spraying out in all directions, but the site's apsect ratio dictates the crop. Full frame you can really see he just knocked this guy on his @ss Even managed to get two cheerleaders out of focus in the background, all in one shot.

I mostly used the ZD 150mm f2 w/ 1.4 TC, wide open, alternating with the 50-200mm when the situation required - for instance shooting from the corner of the end zone with the offensive team on the ten yard line, the 50-200mm gives you reach to cover the whole end zone and close up if the play comes to the corner as well.

I varied from the usual routine in two ways. Left the monopod at home (wanted maximum portability), and didn't bring a wide lens at all (analysizing the results from last year's Jets game I noticed that very few shots were done with the 12-60mm, and in order to bring the 150mm I had to leave the wide lens at home) It all worked out okay shooting the game, but there were some stadium views that would have been good on the 12-60mm.

The 150mm w/ TC is a good combination, and at a 400mm 2.8 equivalent it's both perfect for covering the NFL from the sidelines, and much, much, lighter and portable than what my counterparts were lugging around.

 The 150mm / TC combo would still be a little short for covering the CFL because of the CFL's wider field. The wider field also has the effect of negating a little bit of the defenders speed, more plays in the CFL come to the sidelines as the plays don't run out of room as soon as in the NFL, so you'd use a wide lens more often shooting CFL.
 In the NFL it seems to be mostly straight ahead power running in the middle of the field.

 The 150mm / 1.4 TC is an amazing value, and much easier on the photographer over the course of a three hour game, which is a major consideration because there is SO much clutter in the way along an NFL sidelines.

For instance, there are four ball boys on each side of the field. Each carries one ball, but four of them carry a second ball in a back pouch (that's 12 balls ... what kind of ball crisis are they anticipating here?). Then there is the yard stick crew (four people per sideline).

And all of these extra people, along with coaches, players, media, TV, trainers, pretty young cheerleaders, are clustered around wherever the ball is on the field at any particular moment.

Shooting through all this traffic becomes quite a problem sometimes, often it will even dictate which angle you have on a particular play. 

It's something a lot of the photographers complain about ... well, except the cheerleaders. We'll keep them.

Add to this the fact that 1/3 of the sideline is off limits due to the players bench area (photographers are absolutely not allowed in there, even to cut through briefly as we run from one end of the field to the other) and you are very constricted as to how you can cover the game.

Honestly, if you ever had to shoot it, you would have a huge amount of respect for the guys who do this stuff every weekend and come away with amazing images despite all the obstacles.

These photos were done with two Olympus E30 cameras, one with the 150mm f2 lens with 1.4 teleconverter, and the other with the 50-200mm 2.8 lens on it.

All Photos Copyright Torontowide.com

No Reproduction in any medium is allowed without prior written permission.