Everything was a bit dark--and my old camera is really noisy at ISO 800 +. But here's a couple I came away with...

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

C & C are always appreciated....

Putting the ISO issues to one side.
#1: Love this. Great timing to catch the essence of competition and going your hardest to win possession. Dirt (?) flying up from the boot is perfect!
#2: There is an implied sense of movement here with the players leaning and focussing on the ball ... but with the ball on the ground it takes away from some of the dynamic potential. Great background, sets the context of the players in the foreground.
#3: Can't decide. Love the position/pose of the player and the ball (but I think you would probably want the player-ball distance was smaller)
#4: Great image - really like this but where I am, the girls would not want to see this because of the slight "dimpling" in the thigh area!!! They just don't appreciate that this happens with all legs and is not a reflection of excess weight or whatever. Love the ball on the stick.
#5: Super catch. Power is so evident. Really, really like this one.
#6: Another good catch.
My favourites would be #1 and #5. Thanks for posting. Very enjoyable.

Thanks for the comments. The "dirt" flying up in some of the shots is the ground up old tires that is used in the new turf fields.

Your comment about dimpling in #4 is interesting. She is definitely a thin, in shape young lady. Unfortunately, the way uniforms are going in women's sports (tight and small) any slight "flaw" will be seen. Trying to judge when to include a shot or leave it on the editing room floor can get tricky.

A couple years ago, one of my daughter's teammates got a stick to the face, a cut and a good amount of blood. I put the camera down as soon as I saw what was going on and didn't take any shots of her. Later, she was disappointed I hadn't gotten pictures--she thought it would have been cool.

Thanks for the info about the turf. None of our major sports have fields like that - ALL natural grass (I think we may have just the one artificial turf in the state - for field hockey)
Blood = badge of honour ... yeah, take the shot!
"Cellulite" look = I delete or crop out ... even though it is NOT cellulite but just the reaction of the skin at that moment in time.
I'm not saying that is the correct thing to do - just what I am comfortable with.
Not sure how other people treat this situation.

Hey Will. Some nice action here.
With regard to the "lumpy-leg" syndrome so common to field hocky, soccer, LAX, etc, I make it a practice to hit the area with a negative clarity brush. No sense embarassing an athlete, but if it's a good shot, I'm not going to forego publishing it just because of that. There are lots worse things that show up that I will kill a shot for. Heck, if we worried about their feelings too much, we'd never publish a shot in any sport where the girls wore mouthguards. Don't even get me started about those stupid eye "protectors."

"lumpy leg syndrome" --- classic!! Do you have that trademarked or can we all use that?

I rarely do anything to shots other than sharpening, straightening horizons, and maybe fooling with levels/brightness. Combination of just too lazy and still using a ten year old version of Photoshop elements. I really need to spend some money and quit being so lazy--not necessarily in that order...

Your advice is great--and I really do need to start learning the photoshopping side of this field...

Thanks for the tip Icebear - might save a few more shots!

I like # 6 the best. If you are concerned about noise for high ISO's photos, checkout the link below for a great noise removal software that can purchased called Noiseware. You can also try it for free for 14 days. I love this software! You can add it as a plug-in to existing Adobe Elements software.

http://imagenomic.com/nw.aspx