little boys playing soccer

Elaine

Our family is trying something new this fall...soccer! My son is just turning 7 in a couple days and has just begun playing "U8" soccer. The coach has asked me to take pics all season (practices and games) so she can put together a DVD at the end of the season for each of the boys. I've shot a couple practices so far and I'm finding it very fun but challenging! I'd love some pointers from you sports shooters.

I'm using a Canon 40D and a 70-200 f/4L IS, which I think will be my primary lens. I also have a 17-55 2.8 IS, which is great but probably not as effective for this subject. I'm guessing my 50mm and 85mm primes are not the right ones for this job?

Here are a few faves so far:

aktse

Sports photography a completely different beast in terms of composition approach because you can not control what happens out on the field and there isn’t really a do-over. However, in the end, you want the same deserved effect – sharp focus and a composition that causes some sort of emotional response. I think you did very well for the first time out. What type of PP did you do on these? Did the light change or did you add some sort of treatment?

I like the emotion in the first image, but the background is clutter. The second one is a decent action shot of the group, but can be helped with a tighter crop.

In general, these are some of the basic keys that I’ve learned.
-Exposure for the face, even if the sky is blown out a big
-capture moments that convey action or emotion
- “tighty-right” – or shoot tight, crop tighter
-pay attention to the background,
-tack sharp focus, always
-ball, face, action –try to get most of these in a shot.

As for the lens, it really depends on where you’re standing and the time of the day. The primes will work, especially in low light, but you won’t be shooting across the field and will be waiting for the players to come to you.

Keep posting!

CoryJenks

To steal a line from Flo Rida.

Get..........Low, low, low low.

Your 70-200 will work fine in good light. Get low and shoot tight. Sun to your back, action coming towards you!

Good start.

kini62

As others have said, get low, sit on a short stool or on your butt.

Shoot wide open.

Shoot the players from the front.

Try to get some isolation shots. I know it's tough at this age, even harder at U5 and U6 and with girls.

I'm shooting U8 girls this year. Shot my daughter all the way from U5.

I try to get as many "on the ball" shots of each player I can. Obviously the better players will have the ball much more often.

So a good time to get everyone with a "ball and action" shot is during pregame warm up. This also allows you to be in an area where you are better able to control what's in the background too. It's hard to tell the shot was taken during warm up if you position your self so that the other kids are not shown standing around waiting for their turn.

I'm no expert by any means, just a father who likes to take photos of his daughter and her teamates.

A couple samples from the first U8 game of the season. Not the greatest but the parents like them. These are actual game shots. This girl is clearly our best player and scored all 5 goals, so most of the shots I have are of her.





Gene

Elaine

aktse...

Yes, I've learned quickly that this is a different kind of beast!

Thanks so much for the pointers and critique! The first two were taken on the same day, but clouds kept moving around the sky so the light was changing a lot. The third shot was on a different day, very bright and sunny. I basically used the same PP for all...shot RAW, adjusted contrast, curves, used a couple layer blending modes (using photoshop elements 5.0 right now).

Thanks again!

Elaine

CoryJenks wrote:

To steal a line from Flo Rida.

Get..........Low, low, low low.

Your 70-200 will work fine in good light. Get low and shoot tight. Sun to your back, action coming towards you!

Good start.

Great! Thank you!

Elaine

kini62 wrote:

As others have said, get low, sit on a short stool or on your butt.

Shoot wide open.

Shoot the players from the front.

Try to get some isolation shots. I know it's tough at this age, even harder at U5 and U6 and with girls.

I'm shooting U8 girls this year. Shot my daughter all the way from U5.

I try to get as many "on the ball" shots of each player I can. Obviously the better players will have the ball much more often.

So a good time to get everyone with a "ball and action" shot is during pregame warm up. This also allows you to be in an area where you are better able to control what's in the background too. It's hard to tell the shot was taken during warm up if you position your self so that the other kids are not shown standing around waiting for their turn.

I'm no expert by any means, just a father who likes to take photos of his daughter and her teamates.

A couple samples from the first U8 game of the season. Not the greatest but the parents like them. These are actual game shots. This girl is clearly our best player and scored all 5 goals, so most of the shots I have are of her.

Gene

Very nice examples! Thanks for sharing your shots and experience! I can't wait to try again next week!

Racerx7734

My soccer pics

Elaine wrote:

Very nice examples! Thanks for sharing your shots and experience! I can't wait to try again next week!

Here are a few of my soccer pics

As others have mentioned, the key is to get low........anyone can get the shot from above the parents heads : )...........gotta get low........I wear knee pads..and it helps a TON!!

shphotos

I've done several team DVDs and my advice is to try to get celebration shots. As a soccer mom, I sometimes stop shooting to cheer, but some of my favorite photos are of the kids' reactions to a goal.