Question/suggestion: you're wasting a lot of usable data by shooting horizontal. Given that basketball players are, well, human, and generally tall, and more often than not leaping (thus being taller) it makes more sense to shoot basketball with verticals. Or, more bluntly put, when I put my hand over the "action" parts, you've got about the same amount of background space - dead.
Newspaper photogs specialize in drive-by shootings.
Forum for Canadian shooters: www.canphoto.net
Question/suggestion: you're wasting a lot of usable data by shooting horizontal. Given that basketball players are, well, human, and generally tall, and more often than not leaping (thus being taller) it makes more sense to shoot basketball with verticals. Or, more bluntly put, when I put my hand over the "action" parts, you've got about the same amount of background space - dead.
Question/suggestion: you're wasting a lot of usable data by shooting horizontal. Given that basketball players are, well, human, and generally tall, and more often than not leaping (thus being taller) it makes more sense to shoot basketball with verticals. Or, more bluntly put, when I put my hand over the "action" parts, you've got about the same amount of background space - dead.
Or he could just crop tighter. Shooting vertical or horizontal is a personal preference and also depends on how easy it is for the photographer to do. You miss shots either way. I like shooting horizontal and cropping vertical if needed. This shot was taken horizontal, but I cropped out the sides.
Mich 4.jpgYeah, i like shooting vertical, little easier for me, I cropped some basketball to vertical and put it under a new thread this morning. However I do like this shot horiztonally.
I shouldn't make it seem like I was suggesting one *never* shoot horizontal. A bit of variance is always handy, and believe me, if you're in the newspaper biz - editors will love you for giving them one of each (or more.) But the majority of action here woudld dictate a vertical-first mindset, methinks.
Newspaper photogs specialize in drive-by shootings.
Forum for Canadian shooters: www.canphoto.net
I shouldn't make it seem like I was suggesting one *never* shoot horizontal. A bit of variance is always handy, and believe me, if you're in the newspaper biz - editors will love you for giving them one of each (or more.) But the majority of action here woudld dictate a vertical-first mindset, methinks.
I understand exactly what your saying about vertical, I re cropped some of my basketball images to vertical and they look much better. Ive only been a photographer a year, so I am grateful for all the help on this site, its really helped out alot. Here is one example.
Question/suggestion: you're wasting a lot of usable data by shooting horizontal. Given that basketball players are, well, human, and generally tall, and more often than not leaping (thus being taller) it makes more sense to shoot basketball with verticals. Or, more bluntly put, when I put my hand over the "action" parts, you've got about the same amount of background space - dead.
Depends. Some people (like me) MUST shoot horizontal. Well, horizontal or square.. those are my only 2 options. If I submit a photo to the paper vertical and they can't crop it square.. it doesn't get published.
However, if you are shooting these without that restriction, correct. Vertical is the way to go. I do some horizontals when I'm not shooting for the paper.. but those are with wide angles for the hell of it.
Depends. Some people (like me) MUST shoot horizontal. Well, horizontal or square.. those are my only 2 options. If I submit a photo to the paper vertical and they can't crop it square.. it doesn't get published.
Holy ... really? I've worked in both big urban community papers, was the ME of a daily, and now am back with a small-town community paper, again. There's a lot of page design in those years, too.
I cannot, for the life of me, imagine why any page designer/photo editor/wire service would demand only square/horizontal.
That said, on some late-deadline layouts, a photog/reporter would be asked to capture a "preferred horizontal," but ... sports is sports. You gotta be flexible on layouts. Weird.
Or, alternately, if you were shooting for my paper, I'd bust my noodle to work with what I felt was the best pic of the bunch, horizontal, vertical or fisheye ...
Newspaper photogs specialize in drive-by shootings.
Forum for Canadian shooters: www.canphoto.net
Holy ... really? I've worked in both big urban community papers, was the ME of a daily, and now am back with a small-town community paper, again. There's a lot of page design in those years, too.
I cannot, for the life of me, imagine why any page designer/photo editor/wire service would demand only square/horizontal.
That said, on some late-deadline layouts, a photog/reporter would be asked to capture a "preferred horizontal," but ... sports is sports. You gotta be flexible on layouts. Weird.
Or, alternately, if you were shooting for my paper, I'd bust my noodle to work with what I felt was the best pic of the bunch, horizontal, vertical or fisheye ...
The paper I worked for never told me to shoot square. The editors would tell me we need a variety of horizontal and vertical. I would crop for composition. If it was a great pic, they would work around the page design to make it fit as close to my crops as possible. If I was told it was page one and they had the layout already designed, then I would shoot with that in mind for the strongest pic. Even then, they wanted variety for inside pics or skyboxes.
Yes, my editor did not enforce that concept either. That said - it's the client that makes the rules. Barring a client demanding it otherwise, most of the action in basketball is more vertical than horizontal. So you'll get much better framed shots shooting that way - especially for the OP that wants to sell prints.
As for cropping tighter - that can be challenging - in the shots posted we can see a loss of detail due to over-cropping and noise reduction. But it also highlights focus innacuracies. Take the photo of the face down by the ball - the end photo doesn't work well because the face isn't in focus, the ball is. So, it's a delicate edge. But that's where usage is important. The OP wants to sell prints. you really want your photos to stand up well to 8x10 printing - nothing kills your sales quicker than someone ordering an 8x10 and you just don't have the sharpness/detail to support it. Having shot both - shooting for paper tends to be a lot more forgiving in that regard. Just my opinion. Others may feel differently.
Holy ... really? I've worked in both big urban community papers, was the ME of a daily, and now am back with a small-town community paper, again. There's a lot of page design in those years, too.
I cannot, for the life of me, imagine why any page designer/photo editor/wire service would demand only square/horizontal.
That said, on some late-deadline layouts, a photog/reporter would be asked to capture a "preferred horizontal," but ... sports is sports. You gotta be flexible on layouts. Weird.
Or, alternately, if you were shooting for my paper, I'd bust my noodle to work with what I felt was the best pic of the bunch, horizontal, vertical or fisheye ...
One word: Tabloid
In a tabloid paper, it's pretty much square... so, horizontal or square are the only images that really lay out easily.. Other than that, they have column issues. I guess the Chicago Sun-Times switched about a year ago when they started having the Chicago Tribune print the paper. Since the Tribune prints ours as well, since we're a SunTimes affiliate paper in the burbs, it's what we have to deal with.
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Forum for Canadian shooters: www.canphoto.net
Got it, thanks for the tip.
Or he could just crop tighter. Shooting vertical or horizontal is a personal preference and also depends on how easy it is for the photographer to do. You miss shots either way. I like shooting horizontal and cropping vertical if needed. This shot was taken horizontal, but I cropped out the sides.
Forum for Canadian shooters: www.canphoto.net
I understand exactly what your saying about vertical, I re cropped some of my basketball images to vertical and they look much better. Ive only been a photographer a year, so I am grateful for all the help on this site, its really helped out alot. Here is one example.
Depends. Some people (like me) MUST shoot horizontal. Well, horizontal or square.. those are my only 2 options. If I submit a photo to the paper vertical and they can't crop it square.. it doesn't get published.
However, if you are shooting these without that restriction, correct. Vertical is the way to go. I do some horizontals when I'm not shooting for the paper.. but those are with wide angles for the hell of it.
Holy ... really? I've worked in both big urban community papers, was the ME of a daily, and now am back with a small-town community paper, again. There's a lot of page design in those years, too.
I cannot, for the life of me, imagine why any page designer/photo editor/wire service would demand only square/horizontal.
That said, on some late-deadline layouts, a photog/reporter would be asked to capture a "preferred horizontal," but ... sports is sports. You gotta be flexible on layouts. Weird.
Or, alternately, if you were shooting for my paper, I'd bust my noodle to work with what I felt was the best pic of the bunch, horizontal, vertical or fisheye ...
Forum for Canadian shooters: www.canphoto.net
The paper I worked for never told me to shoot square. The editors would tell me we need a variety of horizontal and vertical. I would crop for composition. If it was a great pic, they would work around the page design to make it fit as close to my crops as possible. If I was told it was page one and they had the layout already designed, then I would shoot with that in mind for the strongest pic. Even then, they wanted variety for inside pics or skyboxes.
As for cropping tighter - that can be challenging - in the shots posted we can see a loss of detail due to over-cropping and noise reduction. But it also highlights focus innacuracies. Take the photo of the face down by the ball - the end photo doesn't work well because the face isn't in focus, the ball is. So, it's a delicate edge. But that's where usage is important. The OP wants to sell prints. you really want your photos to stand up well to 8x10 printing - nothing kills your sales quicker than someone ordering an 8x10 and you just don't have the sharpness/detail to support it. Having shot both - shooting for paper tends to be a lot more forgiving in that regard. Just my opinion. Others may feel differently.
One word: Tabloid
In a tabloid paper, it's pretty much square... so, horizontal or square are the only images that really lay out easily.. Other than that, they have column issues. I guess the Chicago Sun-Times switched about a year ago when they started having the Chicago Tribune print the paper. Since the Tribune prints ours as well, since we're a SunTimes affiliate paper in the burbs, it's what we have to deal with.