I'm in!!

Erbeman

With the help of Tjk60 being my sponsor, I have been accepted into SportsShooter. Thanks Tim, Woo Hoo.

Rocketman766

Congrats! I hope to gain enough experiece and knowledge to be good enough some day... Good Luck!

tjk60

Russ, you were a slam dunk! Congrats to you, you earned it!

Gringriff

Congratulations! I love your motocross photos. You do outstanding work.

johng

Congratulations Russ!

Erbeman

Thanks guys.

aktse

clapclap
Well deserved!

JESTER

Congratulations Russ. Never a doubt. You do good work!

David Evertsen

Erbeman wrote:

With the help of Tjk60 being my sponsor, I have been accepted into SportsShooter. Thanks Tim, Woo Hoo.

What an awesome accomplishment... Congrats!! You deserve it..

rmwphoto

Congrats Erbeman!!

Great job !!!

I hope to get in one day.

rookieshooter

For us newbies, what does this mean?

A large upfront signing bonus ?

beetle8

rookieshooter wrote:

For us newbies, what does this mean?

A large upfront signing bonus ?

I asked a similar question last month.
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=135598

Luke J. Photography

I'd love to have a sponsor.

Erbeman

XPB Photography wrote:

I'd love to have a sponsor.

I can't speak for all of the SportShooter guys, but I don't believe that I've ever seen any of your work and when I try to go to your site it sends me to smugmug.com. So, I can't imagine you're going to get a sponsor just by asking. You're going to need to prove yourself first.

Luke J. Photography

Erbeman wrote:

I can't speak for all of the SportShooter guys, but I don't believe that I've ever seen any of your work and when I try to go to your site it sends me to smugmug.com. So, I can't imagine you're going to get a sponsor just by asking. You're going to need to prove yourself first.

Oops I better change that link. I switched to a new domain, Thanks for pointing that out.

johng

Luke,

I'm putting this advice here because I think it would benefit others as well. I looked at your baseball photos and there are a couple things that jump out:

The galleries consist primarily of pitching and batting sequences. You've essentially got 50 odd shots of the same exact thing. No plays in the field. In short, the level of difficulty in taking a shot of a pitcher or batter is very low. Taken from behind the batter makes the shot uninteresting.

It would appear your using a 70-200 2.8 lens. The reality is, such a lens is far too short for baseball. You need 300-400mm just for infield shots. So, if you want to shoot baseball you need more reach. Once you have that reach, change your shot selection so you're capturing the more interesting action in the field.

But, the biggest piece of advice is - you don't get bonus points for the subject being a major league team. A great photo of a tee-ball game is better than an average photo of a pro game. So, my advice is to change your subject to be a lower level of play. That will also help the reach issue out.

This subject comes up every now and then regarding building a portfolio. People think they need NCAA Div I or Pro sports photos to have a good portfolio. From all the feedback I've seen from editors on sportsshooter, that isn't relevant. It's the quality that matters. Again, a great photo of pony league baseball, where you're in a good shooting position and using a lens appropriate for the sport is better than trying to over-reach with 200mm at a pro game.

If you can't afford longer glass then switch to shooting sports where 200mm is long enough - track, swimming, softball (from field), some football, etc.

tjk60

johng wrote:

Luke,

I'm putting this advice here because I think it would benefit others as well. I looked at your baseball photos and there are a couple things that jump out:

The galleries consist primarily of pitching and batting sequences. You've essentially got 50 odd shots of the same exact thing. No plays in the field. In short, the level of difficulty in taking a shot of a pitcher or batter is very low. Taken from behind the batter makes the shot uninteresting.

It would appear your using a 70-200 2.8 lens. The reality is, such a lens is far too short for baseball. You need 300-400mm just for infield shots. So, if you want to shoot baseball you need more reach. Once you have that reach, change your shot selection so you're capturing the more interesting action in the field.

But, the biggest piece of advice is - you don't get bonus points for the subject being a major league team. A great photo of a tee-ball game is better than an average photo of a pro game. So, my advice is to change your subject to be a lower level of play. That will also help the reach issue out.

This subject comes up every now and then regarding building a portfolio. People think they need NCAA Div I or Pro sports photos to have a good portfolio. From all the feedback I've seen from editors on sportsshooter, that isn't relevant. It's the quality that matters. Again, a great photo of pony league baseball, where you're in a good shooting position and using a lens appropriate for the sport is better than trying to over-reach with 200mm at a pro game.

If you can't afford longer glass then switch to shooting sports where 200mm is long enough - track, swimming, softball (from field), some football, etc.

Ditto, Ditto, Ditto! My submission portfolio was two pro baseball shots, 3 u10 soccer shots (girls), high school LAX and HS football.

They are looking for

1. Pic that tell the story.
2. Pics that are well executed. clean backgrounds, cropped right exposed right.
3. Ability to caption.

aktse

tjk60 wrote:

1. Pic that tell the story.
2. Pics that are well executed. clean backgrounds, cropped right exposed right.
3. Ability to caption.

The Secret Handshake

Simple put -- consistent, clean and great photos that stand alone on its own merits with captions.

Luke J. Photography

johng wrote:

Luke,

I'm putting this advice here because I think it would benefit others as well. I looked at your baseball photos and there are a couple things that jump out:

The galleries consist primarily of pitching and batting sequences. You've essentially got 50 odd shots of the same exact thing. No plays in the field. In short, the level of difficulty in taking a shot of a pitcher or batter is very low. Taken from behind the batter makes the shot uninteresting.

It would appear your using a 70-200 2.8 lens. The reality is, such a lens is far too short for baseball. You need 300-400mm just for infield shots. So, if you want to shoot baseball you need more reach. Once you have that reach, change your shot selection so you're capturing the more interesting action in the field.

But, the biggest piece of advice is - you don't get bonus points for the subject being a major league team. A great photo of a tee-ball game is better than an average photo of a pro game. So, my advice is to change your subject to be a lower level of play. That will also help the reach issue out.

This subject comes up every now and then regarding building a portfolio. People think they need NCAA Div I or Pro sports photos to have a good portfolio. From all the feedback I've seen from editors on sportsshooter, that isn't relevant. It's the quality that matters. Again, a great photo of pony league baseball, where you're in a good shooting position and using a lens appropriate for the sport is better than trying to over-reach with 200mm at a pro game.

If you can't afford longer glass then switch to shooting sports where 200mm is long enough - track, swimming, softball (from field), some football, etc.

I see what your saying, i've just been killing time shooting major league ball from the stands til high school sports start up next month. And I am going to be picking up a 300 2.8L next week

squiddy

Congrats Dude!

I'm learning more about sports shooter but i know it's a pretty big deal to get in. My next goal perhaps... ?

Toshido

From my understanding it is also bad etiquette to ask for a sponsor...

I am working around that by trying to do more work with an almost local SS member..

nw scout

Hmmmm.

What the heck is sport shooter, and why do you need to be accepted into it

nipprdog

Congratulations, Russ!

beetle8

nw scout wrote:

Hmmmm.

What the heck is sport shooter, and why do you need to be accepted into it

, I guess the circle is smaller than we thought.

johng

great example of the benefits
OK, here's a great example of the benefits of sportsshooter. Russ started and has participated in a great discussion about trading services for credentials. It's tough to get that type of honest feedback from seasoned shooters on other sites. Again, not something that is going to make Russ a millionaire as a photographer but good advice for aspiring professional photographers (and unlike sites like this, sportsshooter really is intended for people who want to or are earning $$).

Erbeman

johng wrote:

OK, here's a great example of the benefits of sportsshooter. Russ started and has participated in a great discussion about trading services for credentials. It's tough to get that type of honest feedback from seasoned shooters on other sites. Again, not something that is going to make Russ a millionaire as a photographer but good advice for aspiring professional photographers (and unlike sites like this, sportsshooter really is intended for people who want to or are earning $$).

You're right on there. I am able to deal with photogs who make their living with this kind of stuff and have vast knowledge of the in's and out's of the business.

nw scout

Erbeman wrote:

You're right on there. I am able to deal with photogs who make their living with this kind of stuff and have vast knowledge of the in's and out's of the business.

Sounds cool

It must be geared towards editorial work I am guessing.

I have been on the advertising side for about 15 years now and have never really looked into editorial till the last few months. With the economy in the tank I am looking to expand my client base a little, and doing editorial would be kind of fun.
Boy would it be nice to shoot without an art director looking over my shoulder.

I know it may sound a little backwards, going from advertising to editorial, but after so many years of big production shoots, constant travel and all the crazy long days, doing a low stress local magazine shoot sounds like pure heaven :ivar

torags

Congratulations Russ, you deserve it.

MikeMcA²

Congrats! Well deserved.