Youth Football

bluesman graham

Hi All,
I helped out covering a kids football tournie again this year, (last year they recruited an "events photography company" thinking they'd get better sales from attending parents, they didn't! & where less than happy with the company's results!!), so a fellow Photographer, (who also coaches youth Soccer), & myself where approached to cover it again.
If I said it rained at a pace! I'd be under estimating!!:biggrin:
C&C most welcome. Kind regards Graham.
The Commitment
#1

#2

#3

#4

The celies!
#5

#6

#7

And the ugly side of the game learnt!. this kid went down like a sack of **** looking for a free kick but got up within seconds when he didn't get it:frown:
#8

AceCo55

As usual, you have captured the emotions of the players. Love the intensity in #1.
#2 is priceless!!
Don't you love the sheer joy of sport in #7. It is one of the great character builders for kids - playing a team sport and sharing the highs and lows.
Love #7 - the broader crop emphasises the loneliness of pain. I might empathise with you but I can't take your pain away.
Rain??? Yeah we get a bit of that every now and then!! (Everyday ... couldn't imagine that)

bluesman graham

Thank you for your time Ace.
Thank god for good camera rain covers . Kind regards Graham.

jhefti

Wow Graham--really lovely!! The expressions and poses are priceless! My favourites are #2,6 & 8. You always do great work, and this set does not disappoint.

Last year I shot a youth football tournament (U8-U12) as a fundraiser, and I was concerned that I wouldn't know how to make interesting shots of 8 year old kids kicking the ball around the pitch. After ten minutes or so I realised that I should go for the faces and expressions.

jhefti

...and BTW, I've never seen a decent shot by those guys who wander around from pitch to pitch snapping jpegs of kids standing around and not doing much, then spitting them out unedited for parents to buy. I'm sure the parents were happy with your work!

bluesman graham

Thank you for the comments John!.
I hear what you're saying about the event photographers but to be fair there are a lot of great guys as well so unfair to tar all with the same brush, but apparently these where very cheap & if you pay peanuts you get Monkeys I'm afraid!, a lesson learnt I hope. Kind regards Graham.

jhefti

...and to be fair I haven't looked at a lot of work by these tournament photographers. The stuff I have seen has been really poor, though. I'm sure these guys CAN do decent work, but when your business model is to go from pitch to pitch grabbing as many shots as you can, then post them before the players and families leave the area, it's tough to get great captures and edit them appropriately. Impossible I should think...

When I shot that tournament there were 42 teams. I got sets for 40 of them. I did edit and post within 24 hours, but certainly not while the families were present. I netted ~3K for the weekend (or rather, the benefactor netted this, not me) and it was a hell of an experience. I'd rather have just written a check and taken the tax deduction!

bluesman graham

Wow, that's a fantastic amount!, well done. There where about 15 teams here but all where from the same "club", (check out the pics, all have the same strip on under the Bibs). This was mainly an Award/Trophy day (also covered :photo),which turned into a Foot...., sorry Soccer fest to raise funds for the club. I also did the gig for nowt as my fellow photographer, (& one of the coaches at the club), was the guy who got me into a position to earn a Pro Soccer licence.
Please post some images. Kind regards Graham.

jhefti

Congrats on the licence! That's a big deal!

I keep reminding myself that this is just a hobby, and charge only for the professional games I shoot on assignment. Somehow I can't bring myself to charge for shooting youth sports, which are mostly limited to my kids' teams or other teams in their high school.

And I prefer the term 'football' to 'soccer', as what we call football here in the Colonies is largely played with the hands (thinking John Cleese here).

jmphotocraft

Great captures, composition, exposure, but these colors look cooked and unnatural to me.

bluesman graham

Thanks for the input Jack .
I can, hand on heart say these are straight out of the "box" as it where. With only cropping & a little USM. there is no alteration on colour saturation/contrast!. I think the atmospheric conditions ie bright but bloody wet/cloudy added to the scene. I also have all settings in camera turned either off/low too!. Kind regards Graham.

jmphotocraft

bluesman graham wrote: »

Thanks for the input Jack .
I can, hand on heart say these are straight out of the "box" as it where. With only cropping & a little USM. there is no alteration on colour saturation/contrast!. I think the atmospheric conditions ie bright but bloody wet/cloudy added to the scene. I also have all settings in camera turned either off/low too!. Kind regards Graham.

Were these taken with your D2hs?

jhefti

jmphotocraft wrote: »

Great captures, composition, exposure, but these colors look cooked and unnatural to me.

The colours look fairly normal to my eye. In my experience, rainy days often come with diffuse but bright light and this can add to colour saturation. These shots certainly don't look like you bumped up the saturation or the black clipping (which can also artificially add to the saturation), at least to my eye. In fact, the only colour quibbles I would have--very minor--is that the skin tones in #3 and #6 are ever so slightly magenta shifted. This can occur sometimes when rich yellow/green of the grass sets the WB off. Again, very minor quibbles on an otherwise great set.

bluesman graham

Thanks for your thoughts John.
Hi Jack, no not on the D2hs, these where all taken either on either a D3 or D3s