KC v. New York (MLS) 7-10-08

KCBearcat

Thought I'd share my most recent major league game (I'll have the next day's friendly pics up soon). I've tried listening to what you guys posted in the last thread about the game with Columbus. I've switched to center-weighted metering and that does appear to help. I'm also looking for faces, especially ones with some effort or emotion showing.

1) Forward Ivan Trujillo shows some hustle in the first half.



2) Missed it by THAT much. Trujillo and captain Jimmy Conrad show their disappointment with a missed opportunity.



Here's the whole gallery: Kansas City Wizards v. New York Red Bulls

What do you guys think?

johng

OK, making progress.
Shot 1 - suffers from the fact nothing is really going on. You really want the ball in the frame. A player just running is kind of a boring shot. Also you're a bit underexposed. You want faces exposed properly. It's definitely salvageable in post processing (dodge tool can do wonders) - but it's just easier to get exposures correct in camera because it reduces PP time.

shot 2 - according to your text you want to show emotion. You need tighter framing (framing not cropping - it looks like this shot may already be over-cropped because it's a bit soft and lacking detail) to pull off emotion shots. You really want the facial expression to be a big part of the image. And you're likely too far away to pull that off with your current gear. That's the tough thing about soccer - the distances can be really great.

since most people can't afford to go out and buy 400mm 2.8 or 600mm 4.0 lenses the idea is to learn the limitations of the gear you do have and work within those limitations. You must determine given your location and focal length what types of shots you can reasonably get with quality. Concentrate on those shots and ignore the rest. When you start planning on what you're going to shoot and the types of shots rather than just trying to capture anything that happens, you'll find the quality goes way, way up.

Also - when it's bright sun, try reducing the contrast on your camera a bit more. That way you won't end up with such harsh shadows.

hschlessphoto

i think you do a goo job capturing the plays in some photos, but its juuuust a little off. you say you tried to capture faces, which you did, but only in situations with not a whole lot of action. I know it's tough in such a fast moving game such as soccer, but the thing i found in lacrosse, where the fast-moving concept is the same, is that the players will almost always be looking at the ball. if a ball is coming towards you...look up from it and i guarentee youll see at least two players with intense facial expressions coming right for you. That's what i would work on for the most part in the next game, whenever it may be. You did a good job with the tough lighting on the jerseys and turf, though. one other small thing i noticed, which was that your focusing seemed a little off in some of the photos, like some subjects werent as sharp as others in other photos.


Ok, just my 2 cents. hope it helps you improve these already great photos!