The better the seat, the worse the shot.

wxwax

Sort of.

Last year my pal had end zone seats at Georgia Tech. Not too far from the field. Sometimes (oftentimes) the action was far away. But at least they were coming towards you. Made focusing and getting good action shots much easier, as it turns out.

This year he upgraded to great seats. 40 yard line, right behind the bench, perfect for a fan, the action's never too far way.

Sucks for photography from the stands, though. The action's side-to-side of the lens, makes focusing harder, and they're rarely looking towards the camera.

Waaaaaaa.

OK, done whining.

A few shots from the GaTech - Maryland game a couple of weeks ago. I used a 300 2.8 with a 1.4 extender. Had to do a lot of High Pass sharpening. Also struggled with the bright sun - I was on the shadow side of the players.

Waaaaaaa.

OK, done whining.

Things got much better late in the game, when they were in the shadows and the light became even.

wxwax

I'm still practicing with Shadows/Highlights. A magical tool, when done right.

At least, I think so. I haven't yet done it right. But I have the faith.

wxwax

And for you football fans, a rare shot of Calvin Johnson, future first round draft pick, dropping a pass.

Art Scott

Went to school at the home of the Razorbacks, lived with in a stones throw of the stadium, coulda seen every game for free from the dorm room...hated "F" ball...still do.....
BUUUUUUT....

A good series of good pics anyway , even if I don't care for your subject matter

Personally think your Hi / shad work is very good

Steve Cavigliano

Sid,
For where your seats were, I think you did very well I really like that dive into the endzone shot

Thanks also for posting the link to SI's fotball tute Good stuff.


Steve

wxwax

Art Scott wrote:

Went to school at the home of the Razorbacks, lived with in a stones throw of the stadium, coulda seen every game for free from the dorm room...hated "F" ball...still do.....
BUUUUUUT....

A good series of good pics anyway , even if I don't care for your subject matter

Personally think your Hi / shad work is very good

Thanks Art. Pity you hate football, the Razorbacks are having one heck of a season!

dbaker1221

nice series. good job

wxwax

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

Sid,
For where your seats were, I think you did very well I really like that dive into the endzone shot

Thanks also for posting the link to SI's fotball tute Good stuff.


Steve

Thanks, Steve.

I picked up a copy of Sports Illustrated today, wanted to look at the pics. I was amazed at how many blown-out whites I saw. And on the double page shot of the Notre Dame story you could really tell where they'd worked on the players in the foreground.

I've heard tell that the shots looked much better when they used film.

That just tells me that the holy grail for digital cameras isn't noise-free high ISO, but increased dynamic range.

Phyxius

Love the second picture and the jump for the end zone.

However, I'm a terp fan (my alma mater)...shoulda seen some terp touchdowns! Last game I was at at Ga Tech was crazy, we won because of a field goal practically at the last second. Best game in Georgia though was the Peach Bowl when we beat Tenn.

What's your shadow/highlight magic secret?

wxwax

Phyxius wrote:

Love the second picture and the jump for the end zone.

However, I'm a terp fan (my alma mater)...shoulda seen some terp touchdowns! Last game I was at at Ga Tech was crazy, we won because of a field goal practically at the last second. Best game in Georgia though was the Peach Bowl when we beat Tenn.

What's your shadow/highlight magic secret?

Oh, you're waaay to kind, Christina!

I don't have a secret, other than hating whatever it defaults to, when you open it up.

I open Shadow/Highlights up so that I see all of the controls. And I play with all of them. I make small changes, to see what's being affected. I try to end up with the subjects looking bright enough, and I try not to let the backgrounds look artificial (which is what the default settings awlays seem to do.)

I usually work on a copy of the background image (control-J makes a duplicate layer of the image.) That way, if I want to, I can make a mask and return some of the image (usually the background) to the way it originally looked.

This is my second pass at this shot. Still not there. As you can see, the sides of the players facing the camera are in shadow, and the rest of the field is brightly sunny. Very challenging.

wxwax

Oh, and the Terps played really well, it was a very exciting game!

DavidTO

Phyxius wrote:

What's your shadow/highlight magic secret?

Sid won't share his secrets...

But Rutt will! Check out our tutorial on Shadow/Highlights here.

Phyxius

wxwax wrote:

Oh, and the Terps played really well, it was a very exciting game!

They beat FSU and are now bowl eligible.

You know my favorite short cut in PS? Alt+Ctrl+Z Thanks for the Ctrl+J.

BlueHoseJacket

GO JACKETS...you have posted my second favorite subject GT football (my kids & wife are #1). I have been to all of the GT home games and to the Clemson game at Death Valley this year. Unfortunately I don't have a sideline pass or the necessary equipment to take these kind of shots. I sit directly behind the GT bench so I get some good shots of the players on the sidelines and I sometimes sit in the upper deck behind the visitors bench (typically looking right at the sun). From those seats I cannot get any good shots at all.

Loved the shots and by the way...yo have a very rare shot there...CAlvin Johnson does not drop many passes.

GO JACKETS!

From my seats behind the GT bench ..Coach Chan Gailey






One from the Maryland game from my upper deck seats..this is the last paly of the game where GT sacked the QB to win the game

wxwax

The good thing about being on the GaTech side of the field is that the players aren't backlit.

Love those throwback helmets!

wxwax

A couple more shots.





This guy was rather loud and passionate. The game was almost over, and GaTech was having to make a last-ditch stand in the red zone. Most exciting.

Seneca

Whoa what a great shot where he's fumbling. Man I love football - hoping to go to a football game soon to see the 7th Ranking University of Texas - LONGHORNS!!. I'm a little sad :cry that they're so far down considering they won the Rose Bowl last year.