JP Morgan Chase Open (Tennis)

Ben C

I covered the JP Morgan Chase Open last week. I was disappointed that Lindsay Davenport and Serena Williams had pulled out of the tournament due to injuries. On Thursday, I was even more disappointed that Maria Sharapova also dropped out due to a pectoral muscle pull. Even though the top stars were not there, I still had a good time. This is my first time shooting tennis, I really enjoyed the experience. Here are few images. Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Ben

#1- Aug 13, 2005; Carson, CA, USA; Kim Clijsters (Bel) stretch wide for a forehand return against Francesca Schiavone (Ita) at the semi finals of JP Morgan Chase Open at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium.



#2- Aug 13, 2005; Carson, CA, USA; Francesca Schiavone (Ita) hits a backhand against Kim Clijsters (Bel) against at the semi finals of JP Morgan Chase Open at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium.



#3- Aug 13, 2005; Carson, CA, USA; Elena Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) hits a backhand against Dementieva (Rus) during the semi finals of the JP Morgan Chase Open at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium. Hantuchova won 6-3, 6-4.



#4- Aug 09, 2005; Carson, CA, USA; Maria Sharapova (Rus) hits a backhand against Maria Kirilenko (Rus) at 2nd round of the JP Morgan Chase Open at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium



#5- Aug 11, 2005; Carson, CA, USA; Maria Sharapova (Rus) hits a forehand against Anna Chakvetadze (Rus) at the 4th round of JP Morgan Chase Open at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium.




#6- Aug 11, 2005; Carson, CA, USA; Kim Clijsters (Bel) hits a backhand against Dinara Safina (Rus) at the 4th round of JP Morgan Chase Open at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium.



#7- Aug 09, 2005; Carson, CA, USA; Maria Sharapova (Rus) pumps her fist in a game against Maria Kirilenko (Rus) at 2nd round of the JP Morgan Chase Open at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium.



#8- Aug 14, 2005; Carson, CA, USA; Kim Clijsters (Bel) hits a backhand against Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) at the finals of the JP Morgan Chase Open at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium. Clijsters won 6-4, 6-1.



#9-Aug 14, 2005; Carson, CA, USA; Kim Clijsters (Bel) waives to the fans after she won the finals of the JP Morgan Chase Open against Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium.

4labs

These are really great. You captured all the action and the intensity of the matches! I'd be very proud.

DavidTO

Ben C wrote:

Look at that ball and that racquet! Cool capture of the instant.

ginger_55

Very good shots! Since you covered it, I imagine that it was as a pro. My inclination is to say that these look very professional, but then I think they are, smile.

Whatever, they are very good shots.

(I used to ask my husband to take photos of "me" when I was playing. OK, I was only a minor intermediate, but I still did not just stand still all of the time, so I do know that it is difficult to get shots like you did.)

Excellent "work".

ginger

Nir

fantastic ben!!

Ben C

4labs wrote:

These are really great. You captured all the action and the intensity of the matches! I'd be very proud.

4labs, thank you for looking and kind words. Ben

Ben C

DavidTO wrote:

Look at that ball and that racquet! Cool capture of the instant.

Hi, David, I get lucky once of awhile. Ben

Ben C

ginger_55 wrote:

Very good shots! Since you covered it, I imagine that it was as a pro. My inclination is to say that these look very professional, but then I think they are, smile.

Whatever, they are very good shots.

(I used to ask my husband to take photos of "me" when I was playing. OK, I was only a minor intermediate, but I still did not just stand still all of the time, so I do know that it is difficult to get shots like you did.)

Excellent "work".

ginger

Hi, Ginger, I am a full time sports photographer that works for a wire service. I shoot 5-6 sporting events each week. This is the first time I ever shot tennis. It took a few games to get use to the tempo. It was fun! I think it has to be one of my favorite sport to cover. Ben

Ben C

Nir wrote:

fantastic ben!!

Thanks, Nir. Ben

tinu

Great shots !

How many shots did you take and did you use a 8 fps camera ?

Regards, Martin

Ben C

tinu wrote:

Great shots !

How many shots did you take and did you use a 8 fps camera ?

Regards, Martin

Martin, these were all shot with single shot. Just like shooting the batter in baseball, one can never rely on 8 fps; the timing of these is probably in the hundredth of second range. I am always timing for the ball on the string. Nearly all my shots have a ball on the frame (picture frame not tennis frame); most shots have the ball on the racket and a few shots with the ball on the strings. Ben

wxwax

Ben, it's great to have you here sharing your shots with us. These are wonderful. Fantastic intensity. Did you do much cropping?

Khaos

Great set, thanks for sharing.

ian408

Ben,

These are nice shots but the color looks a bit flat. I would imagine it's more
a function of the time of day? The shots I notice it most in are 3, 5, 6 and
8. #4, the linesman/ball boy's black shorts against the tanned leg of
Sharapova almost looks like a jpeg artifact.

It looks like you sit for most of your shots. I like the angle these are taken
from.

Thanks for sharing!
Ian

ihiphotos

The best two are ...

Ben C wrote:

I covered the JP Morgan Chase Open last week. I was disappointed that Lindsay Davenport and Serena Williams had pulled out of the tournament due to injuries. On Thursday, I was even more disappointed that Maria Sharapova also dropped out due to a pectoral muscle pull. Even though the top stars were not there, I still had a good time. This is my first time shooting tennis, I really enjoyed the experience. Here are few images. Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Ben

#1- Aug 13, 2005; Carson, CA, USA; Kim Clijsters (Bel) stretch wide for a forehand return against Francesca Schiavone (Ita) at the semi finals of JP Morgan Chase Open at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium.



#2- Aug 13, 2005; Carson, CA, USA; Francesca Schiavone (Ita) hits a backhand against Kim Clijsters (Bel) against at the semi finals of JP Morgan Chase Open at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium.



#3- Aug 13, 2005; Carson, CA, USA; Elena Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) hits a backhand against Dementieva (Rus) during the semi finals of the JP Morgan Chase Open at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium. Hantuchova won 6-3, 6-4.



#4- Aug 09, 2005; Carson, CA, USA; Maria Sharapova (Rus) hits a backhand against Maria Kirilenko (Rus) at 2nd round of the JP Morgan Chase Open at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium



#5- Aug 11, 2005; Carson, CA, USA; Maria Sharapova (Rus) hits a forehand against Anna Chakvetadze (Rus) at the 4th round of JP Morgan Chase Open at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium.




#6- Aug 11, 2005; Carson, CA, USA; Kim Clijsters (Bel) hits a backhand against Dinara Safina (Rus) at the 4th round of JP Morgan Chase Open at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium.



#7- Aug 09, 2005; Carson, CA, USA; Maria Sharapova (Rus) pumps her fist in a game against Maria Kirilenko (Rus) at 2nd round of the JP Morgan Chase Open at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium.



#8- Aug 14, 2005; Carson, CA, USA; Kim Clijsters (Bel) hits a backhand against Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) at the finals of the JP Morgan Chase Open at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium. Clijsters won 6-4, 6-1.



#9-Aug 14, 2005; Carson, CA, USA; Kim Clijsters (Bel) waives to the fans after she won the finals of the JP Morgan Chase Open against Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium.

In my opinion, the first two are by far the best! Nice job! I LOVE ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY!!!

Ben C

wxwax wrote:

Ben, it's great to have you here sharing your shots with us. These are wonderful. Fantastic intensity. Did you do much cropping?

Sid, I am trying to shoot these as tight as possible in order to obtain the best possible quality. Most are shot with either 200 f/1.8 or 300 f/2.8 when I am in the photo well. If I am shooting from the stands it would be shot with 400 f/2.8 with a 1.4X TC. Many shots are unusable due to some vital parts of the photos are cut off (i.e. ball, racket or head); however if I shot these loosely, they will never be good enough to make to the magazines. For example, here is #3 right out of camera. All I did was crop off the dead space to either side of her. Cheers, Ben

Ben C

Khaos wrote:

Great set, thanks for sharing.

Khos, I enjoy sharing my work with this forum. It seems I get great feedbacks from everyone here. Thanks for looking. Ben

Ben C

ian408 wrote:

Ben,

These are nice shots but the color looks a bit flat. I would imagine it's more
a function of the time of day? The shots I notice it most in are 3, 5, 6 and
8. #4, the linesman/ball boy's black shorts against the tanned leg of
Sharapova almost looks like a jpeg artifact.

It looks like you sit for most of your shots. I like the angle these are taken
from.

Thanks for sharing!
Ian

Ian, I am working under deadline conditions, which means I do not have a lot of time to tweak each of the photos. My job is to get it shot right, capture the actions, write the captions and transmit it before other wire services transmit theirs. It means I am editing photos between points in the photo well. I cannot spend more the 3 min. on each photo. I am transmitting photos from the 1st set while the 2nd set is being played. It is my picture desk editor’s job to make the photos looks more presentable to the end users and correct all my mistakes. Thank goodness for their work. Ben

Ben C

ihiphotos wrote:

In my opinion, the first two are by far the best! Nice job! I LOVE ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY!!!

Chrisa, I like those as well. Ben