First time shooting soccer. Coed League

codiac2600

I've shot some sports here and there but yesterday I spent 2 hours shooting some coed league soccer at our towns bigger sports complex. Definitely a new experience as with american football it's easier to figure out where things are going, but with soccer it seems that anything can happen at any time and becomes very difficult to track from the sideline. Hopefully I'll build a faster response time to soccer as I'll be shooting this for the rest of the summer.

Let me know what you think!

b08rsa

Nice shots of the action. I really like the one where the ref is giving the "Red Card".

johng

For a first time, especially without a lot of sports shooting experience I think you did very well. Shot 2 is a great shot - good expressions and excellent timing.

Shot 1: just OK - good timing but a lot of dead space in the frame. It's why I prefer shooting Vertical rather than horizontal for most action.

shot 2: best shot as mentioned above.

shot 3: timing is great but the focus isn't as sharp as 2 and the face is underexposed. You could work on the underexposure in post but without the sharp focus I don't think it would turn out. Still - I applaud your timing.

shot 4: good comedic value - but even then, what is of interest is the foot - the player to the left of the frame is distracting. Again, the players of interest take up more vertical than horizontal space in the frame so vertical would have worked better - dead space would have been grass below which is less distracting.

shot 5: nice and sharp but don't like this framing at all. No ball in the frame and a lot of dead space in front with distracting players in the background.

shot 6: great shot. All the components work and it's nice and sharp. Great close-up to show expressions.

shot 7: again with the vertical vs. horizontal. too much annoying background. It wouldn't be as objectionable if you had shallower DOF and better bokeh. But the bokeh from your setup and the deeper dof is distracting. Given you're not likely to buy a 400mm 2.8 lens I suggest again portrait. Grass in front is less distracting than the backgrounds as rendered in this image.

shot 8: framing. Nice capture of the player on the left with the ball in frame but the player to the right doesn't add anything so he's a distraction from the subject.

shot 9: nice capture with good expressions. An example where horizontal crop works well. The issue here is it appears front focused - faces are a bit soft but ball is sharper. It's the sharpness in the ball that makes this fact stand out.

Again, you've done a great job for your first time shooting the sport. I think you're off to a very good start!

codiac2600

For a first time, especially without a lot of sports shooting experience I think you did very well. Shot 2 is a great shot - good expressions and excellent timing.

Oh I'm definitely more of a portrait and macro photographer than sports. If I shoot sports it's for leagues that want portraits and not so much the action but I try to dabble.

Shot 1: just OK - good timing but a lot of dead space in the frame. It's why I prefer shooting Vertical rather than horizontal for most action.

I'm always in a mental problem when I shoot sports as I find the vertical composition to show that specific person but lacks the story telling of what else is going on. I love to see the expressions of the other players on the other side of the frame looking like they are going to take a huge hit from the flying player.

shot 2: best shot as mentioned above.

shot 3: timing is great but the focus isn't as sharp as 2 and the face is underexposed. You could work on the underexposure in post but without the sharp focus I don't think it would turn out. Still - I applaud your timing.

shot 4: good comedic value - but even then, what is of interest is the foot - the player to the left of the frame is distracting. Again, the players of interest take up more vertical than horizontal space in the frame so vertical would have worked better - dead space would have been grass below which is less distracting.

Hmmm... another one of my stories I suppose as the player is getting a shot to the privates and his teammate is giving the ouch face. More comedic less actual sports going on.

shot 5: nice and sharp but don't like this framing at all. No ball in the frame and a lot of dead space in front with distracting players in the background.

Good point, but man thats one heck of a reach around in a sport where it's all about the legs

shot 6: great shot. All the components work and it's nice and sharp. Great close-up to show expressions.

shot 7: again with the vertical vs. horizontal. too much annoying background. It wouldn't be as objectionable if you had shallower DOF and better bokeh. But the bokeh from your setup and the deeper dof is distracting. Given you're not likely to buy a 400mm 2.8 lens I suggest again portrait. Grass in front is less distracting than the backgrounds as rendered in this image.

I'll hopefully invest in longer glass, more of the 300mm range with a 1.4 tele, but this game was shot with a 70-200 f2.8 and a 2X tele. The background blur doesn't look too great unless I'm zoomed out between 300-400mm.

shot 8: framing. Nice capture of the player on the left with the ball in frame but the player to the right doesn't add anything so he's a distraction from the subject.

More like this


shot 9: nice capture with good expressions. An example where horizontal crop works well. The issue here is it appears front focused - faces are a bit soft but ball is sharper. It's the sharpness in the ball that makes this fact stand out.

Good point, I never really noticed that previously, but the knees do seem quite sharp as well.

Again, you've done a great job for your first time shooting the sport. I think you're off to a very good start!

Thank you kindly. I believe my biggest issue was I used a monopod thinking it would help me like it does for american football, but in reality I think with how the players move in soccer I may have to go handheld like I do with baseball.