Man you've got some really good shots in there mixed in with some ones that I think look silly because you over post processed. You want your pics to look as natural as you can. Some of these look so photoshoped that it takes away from what could be good pics. Take number 2 for instance. That's a good capture but dang his face looks like you put a flash right in front of him. Same with pic #3. That guys face doesn't look natural at all.
When I look pic #5, I see a natural looking exposure on the face, there's a shadow from his face mask. It's just a good picture and it's on the same field with the same lighting as the others, so that immediately makes me think, some of the faces were touched up too much.
I really like what you did on #10. I'm guessing you did that in post. It's different and I like it.
I feel your pain shooting high school games. They are hard as hell to expose properly. The fields are so dark. I'm guessing that's why it's hard for me to believe the pics because some of them are so bright. That's just my opinion though. I'm not an expert by any means, just telling ya what comes to minds when I look at the album.
Man you've got some really good shots in there mixed in with some ones that I think look silly because you over post processed. You want your pics to look as natural as you can. Some of these look so photoshoped that it takes away from what could be good pics. Take number 2 for instance. That's a good capture but dang his face looks like you put a flash right in front of him. Same with pic #3. That guys face doesn't look natural at all.
When I look pic #5, I see a natural looking exposure on the face, there's a shadow from his face mask. It's just a good picture and it's on the same field with the same lighting as the others, so that immediately makes me think, some of the faces were touched up too much.
I really like what you did on #10. I'm guessing you did that in post. It's different and I like it.
I feel your pain shooting high school games. They are hard as hell to expose properly. The fields are so dark. I'm guessing that's why it's hard for me to believe the pics because some of them are so bright. That's just my opinion though. I'm not an expert by any means, just telling ya what comes to minds when I look at the album.
Firstly, Thanks for the feedback! I have been a fan of your posts and CC. I want to better understand your comments. Except for #10 I have only played with the color, contrast( in Aperture) and used Noise Ninja. Besides the lighting on this field being inconsistent, # 2 was heavily cropped and was very noisy( therefore , needing a strong dose of noise ninja). I find his legs look funky but on two different screens his face seems to be a natural color. I will definitely take another look at it from the original.
Here is the original with the crop and Noise Ninja only. Do you still see it?
The comment about # 3, do you mean the lineman ? Or are you referring to the QB in # 4? The QB definitely looks like he has skin issues ( a bit over exposed and too white). # 5 was a lot closer and did not require much cropping, and the light was good in that spot. I used no flash in any of these shots so the inconsistent lighting was a factor.
How do you handle these situations ie.. night, inconsistent and bad light? Any tips would be a great deal of help. I have the same problem with night soccer shooting. That season will begin in January so the tips would be timely.
Thanks again for helping me become a better shooter.
I think the shots look great. What lens did you use to get these? I would like to try shooting some local sporting events for practice. I'm in San Francisco.
I think the shots look great. What lens did you use to get these? I would like to try shooting some local sporting events for practice. I'm in San Francisco.
Thanks,
I used the Nikkor 400mm f2.8 and Nikkor 200 f2, but I usually use my 70-200 f2.8 instead of the 200mm f2. I used the 200 because it allwed me to stop down to f2 and keep up my shutter speed.
Firstly, Thanks for the feedback! I have been a fan of your posts and CC. I want to better understand your comments. Except for #10 I have only played with the color, contrast( in Aperture) and used Noise Ninja. Besides the lighting on this field being inconsistent, # 2 was heavily cropped and was very noisy( therefore , needing a strong dose of noise ninja). I find his legs look funky but on two different screens his face seems to be a natural color. I will definitely take another look at it from the original.
Here is the original with the crop and Noise Ninja only. Do you still see it?
The comment about # 3, do you mean the lineman ? Or are you referring to the QB in # 4? The QB definitely looks like he has skin issues ( a bit over exposed and too white). # 5 was a lot closer and did not require much cropping, and the light was good in that spot. I used no flash in any of these shots so the inconsistent lighting was a factor.
How do you handle these situations ie.. night, inconsistent and bad light? Any tips would be a great deal of help. I have the same problem with night soccer shooting. That season will begin in January so the tips would be timely.
Thanks again for helping me become a better shooter.
I've never used noise ninja so I don't know what all effects it has on a pic. I'm guessing since you said you used a strong dose of it, that it did have some effect. I don't understand why you have so much noise. You have better equipment than I have and I don't get any noise. Here are a few pics from a High School game I shot a few weeks back at ISO 4000. I think the only post that I did to these was auto contrast, crop, and a little burn or dodge on a few.
What white balance are you using? Next time you go to shoot a game, during pre-game warm up, find someone on the field and take a pic in Auto WB, then go through each of the WB's offered on your camera, taking a pic in the same area of the field. Then study those on the LCD and see which one yields you the best looking pic. Also, I'm certain that they don't mind you using flash, so you should do that for sure. Angle the flash at about 60% up so that you are basically making fill flash and not direct flash on the player.
You say that you only played with the color and contrast, both of those will have an effect on the faces as well. One thing I do is selective adjustments. Like I will find something in the pic that needs tweeking and I'll select just that, like say a face for instance. By using the Quick select tool, you can make changes to only the part of the pic that you thinks needs tweeking. I find this really helps keep the pic looking as natural as can be, yet allows you to make it better.
As for pic #2, yes, I thought his legs looked funky as well. That was another reason why it makes his face really stand out because legs are dark and face is white as a ghost. I just had a thought though, this has happened to me before. You may have fired your shutter at the exact same time as someone else who was using a very strong flash directly at eye level. It doesn't happen often but this happened to me at a retirement ceremony and it royal screwed my shot up which required some heavy post to bring the colors back down to close to natural.
On pic #3, yes I was talking about the QB. Man, his face just looks weird.
I think if you will find a WB that suits the lighting on the field and start using flash for fill, you will get more consistent. I take a test pic before about every play if the ball was moved to a different place on the field. That way I can adjust flash and/or shutter speed before the ball is snapped. I also keep my thumb on the shutter speed dial and if the play start coming in my direction and gets close, I'll turn the shutter speed dial up a stop so my flash won't blow out the pic. This isn't the easiest method, but it works for me. I shoot my flash in manual as well as my camera.
I did a little PP to a few of these pics to what I think looks better. I really only did two things. First thing I did was create a new levels adjustment layer, and set a black point. This calmed some of the noise down a bit more. Next I applied a warming filter to the pics. Since the pics seem a bit on the cool side to me and the faces are a funny shade of white, by adding some warmth to them, they look a bit more natural. To me anyway, like I say. This is just my opinion, you or others may not agree with what I think looks good. I just wanted to give you feedback.
I've never used noise ninja so I don't know what all effects it has on a pic. I'm guessing since you said you used a strong dose of it, that it did have some effect. I don't understand why you have so much noise. You have better equipment than I have and I don't get any noise. Here are a few pics from a High School game I shot a few weeks back at ISO 4000. I think the only post that I did to these was auto contrast, crop, and a little burn or dodge on a few.
What white balance are you using? Next time you go to shoot a game, during pre-game warm up, find someone on the field and take a pic in Auto WB, then go through each of the WB's offered on your camera, taking a pic in the same area of the field. Then study those on the LCD and see which one yields you the best looking pic. Also, I'm certain that they don't mind you using flash, so you should do that for sure. Angle the flash at about 60% up so that you are basically making fill flash and not direct flash on the player.
You say that you only played with the color and contrast, both of those will have an effect on the faces as well. One thing I do is selective adjustments. Like I will find something in the pic that needs tweeking and I'll select just that, like say a face for instance. By using the Quick select tool, you can make changes to only the part of the pic that you thinks needs tweeking. I find this really helps keep the pic looking as natural as can be, yet allows you to make it better.
As for pic #2, yes, I thought his legs looked funky as well. That was another reason why it makes his face really stand out because legs are dark and face is white as a ghost. I just had a thought though, this has happened to me before. You may have fired your shutter at the exact same time as someone else who was using a very strong flash directly at eye level. It doesn't happen often but this happened to me at a retirement ceremony and it royal screwed my shot up which required some heavy post to bring the colors back down to close to natural.
On pic #3, yes I was talking about the QB. Man, his face just looks weird.
I think if you will find a WB that suits the lighting on the field and start using flash for fill, you will get more consistent. I take a test pic before about every play if the ball was moved to a different place on the field. That way I can adjust flash and/or shutter speed before the ball is snapped. I also keep my thumb on the shutter speed dial and if the play start coming in my direction and gets close, I'll turn the shutter speed dial up a stop so my flash won't blow out the pic. This isn't the easiest method, but it works for me. I shoot my flash in manual as well as my camera.
I did a little PP to a few of these pics to what I think looks better. I really only did two things. First thing I did was create a new levels adjustment layer, and set a black point. This calmed some of the noise down a bit more. Next I applied a warming filter to the pics. Since the pics seem a bit on the cool side to me and the faces are a funny shade of white, by adding some warmth to them, they look a bit more natural. To me anyway, like I say. This is just my opinion, you or others may not agree with what I think looks good. I just wanted to give you feedback.
Thanks again for the tips, they were eye opening.:D
heck .. if you guys are shooting at fields with turf .. they got a whole lot better lighting than the fields i shoot on.....
i'll try to get some of my stuff up and let you guys hack it apart.
Curtis
Failure is not an option for me,
So i just keep pressing the shutter and trying again. http://allensfoto.net
:gun2
heck .. if you guys are shooting at fields with turf .. they got a whole lot better lighting than the fields i shoot on.....
i'll try to get some of my stuff up and let you guys hack it apart.
Hard to see how it can be worse, only 4 small banks of lights.I had to crank the iso up to 4000-6400 to get anything decent.
Comments
Glynn
My blog: HERE
When I look pic #5, I see a natural looking exposure on the face, there's a shadow from his face mask. It's just a good picture and it's on the same field with the same lighting as the others, so that immediately makes me think, some of the faces were touched up too much.
I really like what you did on #10. I'm guessing you did that in post. It's different and I like it.
I feel your pain shooting high school games. They are hard as hell to expose properly. The fields are so dark. I'm guessing that's why it's hard for me to believe the pics because some of them are so bright. That's just my opinion though. I'm not an expert by any means, just telling ya what comes to minds when I look at the album.
http://www.RussErbePhotography.com :thumb
http://www.sportsshooter.com/erbeman
D700, D300, Nikkor 35-70 F/2.8, Nikkor 50mm F/1.8, Nikkor 70-200 AF-S VR F/2.8, Nikkor AF-S 1.7 teleconverter II,(2) Profoto D1 500 Air,SB-900, SB-600, (2)MB-D10, MacBook Pro
Firstly, Thanks for the feedback! I have been a fan of your posts and CC. I want to better understand your comments. Except for #10 I have only played with the color, contrast( in Aperture) and used Noise Ninja. Besides the lighting on this field being inconsistent, # 2 was heavily cropped and was very noisy( therefore , needing a strong dose of noise ninja). I find his legs look funky but on two different screens his face seems to be a natural color. I will definitely take another look at it from the original.
Here is the original with the crop and Noise Ninja only. Do you still see it?
The comment about # 3, do you mean the lineman ? Or are you referring to the QB in # 4? The QB definitely looks like he has skin issues ( a bit over exposed and too white). # 5 was a lot closer and did not require much cropping, and the light was good in that spot. I used no flash in any of these shots so the inconsistent lighting was a factor.
How do you handle these situations ie.. night, inconsistent and bad light? Any tips would be a great deal of help. I have the same problem with night soccer shooting. That season will begin in January so the tips would be timely.
Thanks again for helping me become a better shooter.
Thanks,
I used the Nikkor 400mm f2.8 and Nikkor 200 f2, but I usually use my 70-200 f2.8 instead of the 200mm f2. I used the 200 because it allwed me to stop down to f2 and keep up my shutter speed.
I've never used noise ninja so I don't know what all effects it has on a pic. I'm guessing since you said you used a strong dose of it, that it did have some effect. I don't understand why you have so much noise. You have better equipment than I have and I don't get any noise. Here are a few pics from a High School game I shot a few weeks back at ISO 4000. I think the only post that I did to these was auto contrast, crop, and a little burn or dodge on a few.
What white balance are you using? Next time you go to shoot a game, during pre-game warm up, find someone on the field and take a pic in Auto WB, then go through each of the WB's offered on your camera, taking a pic in the same area of the field. Then study those on the LCD and see which one yields you the best looking pic. Also, I'm certain that they don't mind you using flash, so you should do that for sure. Angle the flash at about 60% up so that you are basically making fill flash and not direct flash on the player.
You say that you only played with the color and contrast, both of those will have an effect on the faces as well. One thing I do is selective adjustments. Like I will find something in the pic that needs tweeking and I'll select just that, like say a face for instance. By using the Quick select tool, you can make changes to only the part of the pic that you thinks needs tweeking. I find this really helps keep the pic looking as natural as can be, yet allows you to make it better.
As for pic #2, yes, I thought his legs looked funky as well. That was another reason why it makes his face really stand out because legs are dark and face is white as a ghost. I just had a thought though, this has happened to me before. You may have fired your shutter at the exact same time as someone else who was using a very strong flash directly at eye level. It doesn't happen often but this happened to me at a retirement ceremony and it royal screwed my shot up which required some heavy post to bring the colors back down to close to natural.
On pic #3, yes I was talking about the QB. Man, his face just looks weird.
I think if you will find a WB that suits the lighting on the field and start using flash for fill, you will get more consistent. I take a test pic before about every play if the ball was moved to a different place on the field. That way I can adjust flash and/or shutter speed before the ball is snapped. I also keep my thumb on the shutter speed dial and if the play start coming in my direction and gets close, I'll turn the shutter speed dial up a stop so my flash won't blow out the pic. This isn't the easiest method, but it works for me. I shoot my flash in manual as well as my camera.
I did a little PP to a few of these pics to what I think looks better. I really only did two things. First thing I did was create a new levels adjustment layer, and set a black point. This calmed some of the noise down a bit more. Next I applied a warming filter to the pics. Since the pics seem a bit on the cool side to me and the faces are a funny shade of white, by adding some warmth to them, they look a bit more natural. To me anyway, like I say. This is just my opinion, you or others may not agree with what I think looks good. I just wanted to give you feedback.
http://www.RussErbePhotography.com :thumb
http://www.sportsshooter.com/erbeman
D700, D300, Nikkor 35-70 F/2.8, Nikkor 50mm F/1.8, Nikkor 70-200 AF-S VR F/2.8, Nikkor AF-S 1.7 teleconverter II,(2) Profoto D1 500 Air,SB-900, SB-600, (2)MB-D10, MacBook Pro
Thanks again for the tips, they were eye opening.:D
i'll try to get some of my stuff up and let you guys hack it apart.
Failure is not an option for me,
So i just keep pressing the shutter and trying again.
http://allensfoto.net
:gun2
Hard to see how it can be worse, only 4 small banks of lights.I had to crank the iso up to 4000-6400 to get anything decent.