Criqitue my Track Photos?

Daren77

Hi,

I just shot my first couple track meets and was wondering if anyone would be wiling to critique my shots. I'm using Canon 300D.

Almost all of my shots are cropped to 8X10's and I'm wondering if I'm cropping too close. Should I show more of the "surroundings" in my photos?

daren77.smugmug.com [Sports/Track]

Thanks for any info,
Daren

TristanP

Here's a better link to the galleries:

http://daren77.smugmug.com/Sports/183225

ian408

Hi Daren,

First of all, welcome to dgrin! Good to have you on board.

Normally, the best way to ask for a critique is to post one or two shots that
you like or would like help on. That way folks get to talking about a specific
shot rather than comments on the gallery as a whole.

Here's a random one I grabbed from your gallery...



In this shot, you've got good action. We can see the jumper reaching for
distance. This shot would be better if shot from a lower angle with more
depth of field. Looking at the EXIF data, I would suggest taking a few steps
backward as well--that would give the jumper a place to land as well as
help isolate him. If you could get the aperture around f4 or lower and step
back, the background would blur nicely and your jumper would have a spot to
land.

Looks like the hard part of this track are the backgrounds. This is also
something to watch for and a reason a shallow DOF works well.

Exposure wise, they look a tad over exposed. Maybe dial it back by 1/3
stop?

Good luck as you continue shooting track!


Ian

DavidTO

Hey!

Nice work. I have shot all of 6 hours of youth track (6-13). I have one gallery here.

So, I'm no expert, but here's what I found worked for me. I shot with the 70-200f4L. I shot at f4. The short depth of field made getting the shot a bit tougher, but helped a lot with isolating the action. I also used a faster exposure than you did, I think. You got some nice motion blur in some of your shots, which is really nice, and something I want to try. But what I wanted to work on first was freezing the moment. It's a little tough with the little kids, they don't have the intensity of the older kids, like you've shot. I also wasn't afraid to use a high ISO, up to 1600 for some shots.

That one meet you shot had some tough light...I think you could bring out some shadow detail with some judicious use of the Shadows/Highlights tool.

Watch your backgrounds, plan your shots is my best advice.

Looking forward to seeing more. I've been really enjoying shooting the track, what little I've done.