Action! (finally)

WirenWiren Registered Users Posts: 741 Major grins
edited May 22, 2016 in Sports
Finally starting to move up to the more active level of play with a bit more excitement. I'll try not to bor you.

1. SAFE! U18%20Softball-520-L.jpg

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3. U18%20Softball-365-L.jpg

4. U18-1667-L.jpg

5. Not Safe..... U18-809-L.jpg

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7. U18-662-L.jpg

8. U18-1623-L.jpg

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12. A follow through (Thanks Jack :thumb ) untitled-51-L.jpg
Lee Wiren

Comments

  • jmphotocraftjmphotocraft Registered Users Posts: 2,987 Major grins
    edited May 20, 2016
    Some great captures. Many of these I would call PJ style, not "Sportrait" style. They're great PJ pics, but I *think* parents prefer sportraits. Pretty good follow through there in 12, but I think it would be better from down the 3rd base line to get more of her eyes and minimize the thighs. 4 is my favorite pose here. The squint isn't ideal, but I like the coil. Many of these I would crop tighter, but I understand if these are just embedded from your store, you have to leave room for parents to choose different print sizes.
    -Jack

    An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.
  • WirenWiren Registered Users Posts: 741 Major grins
    edited May 21, 2016
    Some great captures. Many of these I would call PJ style, not "Sportrait" style. They're great PJ pics, but I *think* parents prefer sportraits. Pretty good follow through there in 12, but I think it would be better from down the 3rd base line to get more of her eyes and minimize the thighs. 4 is my favorite pose here. The squint isn't ideal, but I like the coil. Many of these I would crop tighter, but I understand if these are just embedded from your store, you have to leave room for parents to choose different print sizes.

    Good tips and assessment of the PJ style shooting. Correct me if I am wrong here (as I rely on your experience here) but I am thinking that Sportraits are something that maybe would be done more so after you have collected the larger lions share of the T&I images......? And if I put together a sportrait, of which I am sure would suck when compared with the excellent work of so many I have seen, wouldn't I be losing potential sales... ?

    If I sell several "single shots" in the action PJ style but only one in the Sportrait style, I would then have to charge about 3 or 4 times as much for the sportrait to make up for the loss in sales of single shots..... Is that the point to the sportrait? Less printing, less inventory, higher mark up and profit margin?

    Maybe I just answered my own question there... i'll try to put one together for some players of my daughters team and see how that floats..... I have one parent on her team that has already ordered $25 worth of prints just from game one... and knowing them, they will order quite a bit more... as my "unrealistic" goal is an average of $12 per kid, she has taken care of hers plus one in the first order already! If she keeps this up, she may make me enough to cover the team on her own... 14 girls at $12 a pop... $168.... small things could add up.

    So.... tips on the Sportrait... like a main shot of the girl at bat with smaller shots of some PJ action around it.....? I'm guessing I would print these at no smaller than 11x14 and charge like $30 - $35 for it?

    The follow though.... I tried to go down the third base line in that game to be near where the coach was standing but the Ump freaked out at me.... I tried to convince him that it was no different than the coach being out there but he was having none of it..... I didn't want to argue or disrupt the game any so I canned it and sat by the end of the dugout and just swapped from home to visiting side. I will talk to the UIC tomorrow and see if I can make some arrangement as I do want that angle of view. I see what you are saying about the view of the face and slimming of the profile from that vantage point.

    Again, thanks for the tips and time - I truly appreciate it.bowdown.gif
    Lee Wiren
  • kdogkdog Administrators Posts: 11,680 moderator
    edited May 21, 2016
    Killer shots, Lee. Your timing on these is impeccable. What the heck is a sportrait?
  • WirenWiren Registered Users Posts: 741 Major grins
    edited May 21, 2016
    kdog wrote: »
    Killer shots, Lee. Your timing on these is impeccable. What the heck is a sportrait?

    Thanks much my friend... this is such a blast.. I am enjoying the games and the shots I am acquiring. I am especially having fun concentrating on the new stuff that Jack has been advising me on.. I will be processing some from today's games that just ended where his advice really paid off.... wings.gif

    Technically, as far as I can tell, this is a Sportrait, but I am seeing a few different variations.... some that include portrait style themed action.. very artistic action outside of game stuff and also some with shots of the player in action from a game where the player is extracted from the surrounding and put into a new layered shot....

    Not sure where I will take that thought process.. I am thinking that Jack can tell us some more specifics on the Sportrait dealio... maybe Jack would be kind enough to give us an example too..... ? mwink.gif

    I have some ideas formulating, it's just the creation of it and the time to do it....

    Thanks again.
    Lee Wiren
  • kdogkdog Administrators Posts: 11,680 moderator
    edited May 22, 2016
    Wiren wrote: »
    Technically, as far as I can tell, this is a Sportrait, but I am seeing a few different variations.... some that include portrait style themed action.. very artistic action outside of game stuff and also some with shots of the player in action from a game where the player is extracted from the surrounding and put into a new layered shot....
    Ah, that makes sense. I've done a few of those myself but didn't have a name for it.

    I recently shot the Bat Mitzvah of a young gymnast. A few weeks before the event I did a five-set series of "sportrait" photos of her at her gym and replaced messy backgrounds with one I created in Photoshop. The client ordered 20x30 posters and displayed them at the party. You can see three of them in this photo (along with a family portrait that's mine as well). https://photos.smugmug.com/Events/BarBat-Mitzvahs/Jordan-Smith-Bat-Mitzvah-1/n-JgJ5K6/i-658stb2/0/O/i-658stb2.jpg
  • jmphotocraftjmphotocraft Registered Users Posts: 2,987 Major grins
    edited May 22, 2016
    Well, what do I know, but I would say a "sportrait" style action shot is any candid shot taken during or around a game that flatters an individual player and makes them look attractive and athletic. Good faces are key here. Then there are the staged sportraits like you linked to, but you don't need to shoot those during a game obviously. I would say PJ style is action shots that tell a story, but that may not be particularly flattering.

    Some of my shots that I would call sportraits...

    5D3_8589-X2.jpg

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    1D2_7262-X2.jpg
    -Jack

    An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.
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