HS Football - First time

bjohnson20 · November 1, 2006

I went to my sister's HS football game, never shot football before, just horses, so it was a very cool experience. My dad actually used to photograph the Tampa Bay Bucs ages ago so it was cool for him to see me shooting football. Easier to give you a link than post a bunch.
http://stunning-vision.smugmug.com/gallery/1840333

Nimai · November 1, 2006

Nice work, with an over-cast sky and all. I see you tried to go a faster than 1/320, but you were already using ISO 400 for a lot of the shots. Even the ISO 1600, artificial light shots came out pretty darn well!
I like the expressions and the action you caught. I'm sure the kids and their parents will enjoy these. What lens were you using?

johng · November 1, 2006

Brandie,

It's always both fun and challenging to shoot something new. I think you did pretty good on your exposures. But, I think the 1/320 shutter speeds hurt your day shots - especially when you could have used a wider aperture or more ISO.

I like a number of the portraits, although some are are a bit soft.

Not surprisingly, the most difficulty came on the action shots. The timing and framing is a bit off - mostly the timing. I like the wide shots of the entire line moving, but when it comes to ball carrier type shots I think tighter cropping works much better. And the timing is more critical - the point of impact or peak action. As an example, photos 8 & 11 are a little late when peak action has already occured.

On a shot like 29, the difficulty here is: what exactly is going on? Can't see the ball, so I can't tell what is going on - as it is, there are just a bunch of bodies any one of which could be the subject but none of them stands out and draws my attention.

On a shot like 67 - the action needs to be tighter. The defender and runner - the look on the runner's face. And that last point, to me, is key - almost any shot is better when you can clearly see the face. It makes the shot more impactful and brings out the emotion. Besides showing faces, always ask the following when cropping:
1. Is the subject of my image readily apparent? If not, it's probably not a good image - even if sharp and well exposed.
2. Does everything in the frame enhance my subject? If not, can I crop it out. Football is full of extra bodies that in many cases add no value to your main subject. Crop them out! You want the viewer's eyes to immediately jump to your subject and get the message you're trying to convey and not get distracted by 'clutter'.

So, it's obvious you understand the technical side of photography but I think adding some additional rigor to your thought process when originally framing and processing your images you can produce some better sports shots. I think you'll be able to pick it up very quickly.

Thanks for sharing.

bjohnson20 · November 6, 2006

thanks for the tips. I am usually an equine person, I've never even tried to do anything at night! I had no idea what I was trying to shoot. You see all these awesome shots in the magazines but when you are out there it's easier said than done! You also have to stay within some sort of box on the sidelines.. didn't know that until they were all around me and coach was looking at me like I was crazy..my bad! But for a first time I was pleased with the results. I use the Canon 70-200 L IS

johng · November 6, 2006

bjohnson20 wrote:

You see all these awesome shots in the magazines but when you are out there it's easier said than done!

That statement pretty well sums things up. Sports photography is definitely not simple. It generally requires expensive gear to produce quality shots, and it takes a lot of planning/skill on the part of the photographer. It is always good to try new things - it's fun and it gives you an appreciation for how difficult and challenging other types of photography can be.

HS Football - First time

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