HS Soccer

donek · October 3, 2009

1. Some day this kid is going to break one of those fingers off

2.

3. Love the tongue

4.

5. At half time I decided to move to the other side of the field and see how I could do shooting into the sun.

6. There's that finger again

7.

8.

9.

10. This kid could throw the ball almost half the length of the pitch

SUMGUY · October 3, 2009

Love the last shot! That finger thing is a little strange on the other boy...it's a bit "E.T phoooone hooome"

donek wrote:

1. Some day this kid is going to break one of those fingers off

2.

3. Love the tongue

4.

5. At half time I decided to move to the other side of the field and see how I could do shooting into the sun.

6. There's that finger again

7.

8.

9.

10. This kid could throw the ball almost half the length of the pitch

Photosbychuck · October 3, 2009

Great Photos

I like how you got the ball in all the shots.

I like the exposures in shots 1-4 the best.

Take Care,
Charles

donek · October 3, 2009

SUMGUY wrote:

Love the last shot! That finger thing is a little strange on the other boy...it's a bit "E.T phoooone hooome"

This kid is actually the star of the team. I don't know about ET. He makes me think of some other mvies though, although he's nothing like that dork Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore.

donek · October 3, 2009

Photosbychuck wrote:

Great Photos

I like how you got the ball in all the shots.

I like the exposures in shots 1-4 the best.

Take Care,
Charles

Thanks. I rarely post a shot that doesn't have a ball, a face, and action. It's sort of the Cardinal rule for sports. I think I like the exposure with the sun over my shoulder as well, but tough situations are really good practice. You never know when you'll be required to shoot in less than your prefered situation. I had a ton of shots from the 1st half, so I took the opportunity. The rim lighting is always cool though.

rainbow · October 3, 2009

Beautiful shots, as always! I am thoroughly impressed by your self-challenge to shoot toward the sun. Those shots are equal to the others.

So in the last shot is he going to come off his feet for a throw-in? You caught the moment perfectly.

Thanks for sharing.

wxwax · October 3, 2009

donek wrote:

Thanks. I rarely post a shot that doesn't have a ball, a face, and action. It's sort of the Cardinal rule for sports.

I used to think that too, donek.

But anymore, I think the most commonly used image by newspapers, and maybe magazines too, is the reaction shot.

Makes sense, I suppose. People relate to people, and all that. It was brought home to me -- yet again -- after I shot at the US Open tennis. I wanted to see how the pros shot the same event. And by-and-large the images that made print or online galleries were post-action shots showing facial reactions.

In other words, about the time I was lowering my camera, the pros were shooting theirs.

donek · October 3, 2009

wxwax wrote:

I used to think that too, donek.

But anymore, I think the most commonly used image by newspapers, and maybe magazines too, is the reaction shot.

Makes sense, I suppose. People relate to people, and all that. It was brought home to me -- yet again -- after I shot at the US Open tennis. I wanted to see how the pros shot the same event. And by-and-large the images that made print or online galleries were post-action shots showing facial reactions.

In other words, about the time I was lowering my camera, the pros were shooting theirs.

Very interesting.

donek · October 3, 2009

rainbow wrote:

Beautiful shots, as always! I am thoroughly impressed by your self-challenge to shoot toward the sun. Those shots are equal to the others.

So in the last shot is he going to come off his feet for a throw-in? You caught the moment perfectly.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks. I was pleased with the results on the experiment. It was quite difficult to see the action as the sun was very low.

The kid in the last shot would basically do a front hand spring. As he landed on his feet, he would release the ball. It would sail way down the pitch. Like an idiot, I watched him do it at least 20 times with my jaw in my lap. Finally towards the end of the game my brain clicked on and said "you should really shoot this." That shot was the last time I saw him throw it in.

Frog Lady · October 4, 2009

You got some great shots - I love the expressions in the 2nd on both boys! Like above, I prefer the lighting w/ the sun behind you, but those where you are shooting into the sun are also very nicely exposed! Way to rise to the (self) challenge!

With the flip throw in - I wonder how much more momentum it gives the ball? Sounds like he's got the technique nailed though, if you got to watch him do it many times before you actually shot it.

C.

kini62 · October 4, 2009

Super shots. What equipment are you using? Wonderful focus and exposure. And of course the timing and framing are all your skill.

Gene

donek · October 4, 2009

Frog Lady wrote:

You got some great shots - I love the expressions in the 2nd on both boys! Like above, I prefer the lighting w/ the sun behind you, but those where you are shooting into the sun are also very nicely exposed! Way to rise to the (self) challenge!

With the flip throw in - I wonder how much more momentum it gives the ball? Sounds like he's got the technique nailed though, if you got to watch him do it many times before you actually shot it.

C.

Thanks.

He definitely had that throw nailed.

donek · October 4, 2009

kini62 wrote:

Super shots. What equipment are you using? Wonderful focus and exposure. And of course the timing and framing are all your skill.

Gene

Thank you. Those were all shot with a D700 and Nikons 200-400 f4. It's an awesome combo.

Zone99 · October 4, 2009

donek wrote:

Thanks. I was pleased with the results on the experiment. It was quite difficult to see the action as the sun was very low.

The kid in the last shot would basically do a front hand spring. As he landed on his feet, he would release the ball. It would sail way down the pitch. Like an idiot, I watched him do it at least 20 times with my jaw in my lap. Finally towards the end of the game my brain clicked on and said "you should really shoot this." That shot was the last time I saw him throw it in.

That last shot is just outstanding. They are all very well done. These are the shots I look at and wonder what I'm doing just ever so differently so that I don't get the same results. Especially for the ones into the sun. When I do that, I get very darkened faces which I then try to compensate for. I then end up with washed out images and overexposed.

Practice, practice, practice, I guess.

Zone99 · October 4, 2009

donek wrote:

Thank you. Those were all shot with a D700 and Nikons 200-400 f4. It's an awesome combo.

I'm thinking of renting this lens this weekend for a tournament to pair with my D300. It sounds like you really like it and that it might be worth it to rent?

Zone99 · October 4, 2009

Frog Lady wrote:

You got some great shots - I love the expressions in the 2nd on both boys! Like above, I prefer the lighting w/ the sun behind you, but those where you are shooting into the sun are also very nicely exposed! Way to rise to the (self) challenge!

With the flip throw in - I wonder how much more momentum it gives the ball? Sounds like he's got the technique nailed though, if you got to watch him do it many times before you actually shot it.

C.

It adds a lot of momentum. With a normal through in, you can only get the momentum built up by bringing your hands back to the back of your neck and then forward and then any momentum added by running and arching your back. The pivot point is essentially your shoulders.

With this technique you have the speed (more so since you need it to flip right), combined with the speed of coming back over, combined with the much further motion of the ball coming all the way around from the ground. The pivot point also changes to somewhere around the waist or knees giving a ton of extra push. The trick is when to release.

attorneyjay · October 4, 2009

The kid in the last shot would basically do a front hand spring. As he landed on his feet, he would release the ball. It would sail way down the pitch. Like an idiot, I watched him do it at least 20 times with my jaw in my lap. Finally towards the end of the game my brain clicked on and said "you should really shoot this." That shot was the last time I saw him throw it in.

It's nice to know I'm not the only one who has been caught with his jaw down. Last spring I was situated near 1B shooting a high school baseball game , slightly elevated, with a perfect view of home plate. The batter was right-handed so nothing to obscure a play at the plate. Runner at 3B. Pitcher goes into full windup. Suddenly, the runner on 3B breaks for home - my God, I thought, he's stealing home (it wasn't a squeeze play)! I'd never seen that in a HS game and I was mesmerized by the play but, you guessed it, so mesmerized I didn't shoot it.

I guess that's one tough lesson about concentrating on SHOOTING the action. You can't be both a spectator and photographer and still get the best shots.

attorneyjay · October 4, 2009

wxwax wrote:

But anymore, I think the most commonly used image by newspapers, and maybe magazines too, is the reaction shot.

Great tip! Thanks. I need to do this more although I do try to incorporate more than standard action shots in my galleries. A ball and a face are essential to most action shots, but reaction shots of players and those on the sidelines or even fans in the stands have been some of my most viewed images.

Jay

donek · October 5, 2009

Zone99 wrote:

That last shot is just outstanding. They are all very well done. These are the shots I look at and wonder what I'm doing just ever so differently so that I don't get the same results. Especially for the ones into the sun. When I do that, I get very darkened faces which I then try to compensate for. I then end up with washed out images and overexposed.

Practice, practice, practice, I guess.

Setting up to shoot into the sun is actually fairly straightforward if you're used to shooting in manual. I simply spot metered off the shaded side of someones face and then went to manual and fixed my aperture and shutter speed. I also set my white balance to shade (probably best to do this before spot metering).

You then run into the problem of having the sky completely blown out, so you need to try to put a background behind the action that is also shaded. Shooting standing up will accomplish this, but the images are less dramatic and as you can see the grass looks a bit funny. A low perspective with something behind the players is best. If you get the sky, you'll see missing body parts like the portion of the kids head that appears to be missing in image 5. A good shaded background will create nice rim lighting like image 6.

You want to also try to shoot the players so the majority of what you see is in shade, as anything directly illuminated by the sun will be overexposed. You can see this happening in the last shot of the kid throwing in the ball.

I think that pretty much covers it.

donek · October 5, 2009

Zone99 wrote:

I'm thinking of renting this lens this weekend for a tournament to pair with my D300. It sounds like you really like it and that it might be worth it to rent?

I lusted for this lens for about 3 years before I could afford it. I had the sigma 50-500 prior to that. The Nikon was 6X as expensive and I really do feel that it is 6 times the lens. It's only drawback is the f4. That's pretty fast and gives you pretty good bokeh, but it isn't fast enough for a D300 at a night Football game. It just does the job on a D700 if you use some flash.

donek · October 5, 2009

attorneyjay wrote:

It's nice to know I'm not the only one who has been caught with his jaw down. Last spring I was situated near 1B shooting a high school baseball game , slightly elevated, with a perfect view of home plate. The batter was right-handed so nothing to obscure a play at the plate. Runner at 3B. Pitcher goes into full windup. Suddenly, the runner on 3B breaks for home - my God, I thought, he's stealing home (it wasn't a squeeze play)! I'd never seen that in a HS game and I was mesmerized by the play but, you guessed it, so mesmerized I didn't shoot it.

I guess that's one tough lesson about concentrating on SHOOTING the action. You can't be both a spectator and photographer and still get the best shots.

I do this sort of thing all the time shooting Volleyball. I'm sure I've had people next to me thinkI'm nuts cursing myself for watching the game.

HS Soccer

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