Cheer and Football Portraits

[DeepSpring]

All comments and critique please

1

2

3

4

 

[Big Mike]

I wore a jersey with that exact same color scheme, in high school.

 

[JimmyJaceyMom]

Hi. Ihtink they are nice but form what i am seeing it seems they could use a bit of sharpening? possibly. I like the first one - is that the 'grey's anatomy girl'? lol

 

[DeepSpring]

lol yup that's her.

 

[AprilRamone]

Hi Deep Spring,
#1: I think this pose would have turned out nicer if you had stepped to your right a little so you could get more of a side view instead of a straight on view.
#2: I think this is the best one. Love how he has the football positioned in his arm. Although to be nitpicky, I may have hidden the nike logo or put it right side up. Although I'm not really a fan of the red bricks as a background, they actually work somewhat here because they make me think of school more. But, I would have him move away from them more so they could be more out of focus.
#3: I'd move both this guy and the next guy away from the bricks as well. In this one, the harsh highlights on his cheek, nose & neck area take away from the photo. It's also cropped a bit close for my tastes with his head and arm almost out of the frame.
#4: I think it's cropped in a bit tight on the sides and I would have preferred him looking into at me. Also I can't tell for sure, but it almost seems like the bricks are in focus behind him.

 

[D-50]

Im sure you had a reason for choosing the brick wall for the background, but imo it doesn't work for these shots, considering they are football players I would go for a background a but more relevant, possibly on the field or in the locker room. I think it would be nice to have them pose in front of a textbook football locker (pads, hanging jersey, helmet, etc) make the locker look a bit dirty dark while the player has the light on him, it would look very dramatic. I like the cheerleader picture, the green grass reminds me of a football field even if it was not taken on one. The focus is great on the cheerleader but I agree that on the players it looks a bit soft. I feel soft works well for women but not great for football players.

 

[SpeedTrap]

Just a note, #3 and #4 are out of focus, it looks like you picked up the focus on the brick wall (It is nice and sharp)

 

[DeepSpring]

Thank you for all the comments. The football pictures weren't really planned. We had a few minutes between the pep rallies so I asked a few of my friends if they wanted to take some shots real fast so we just went to the closest place there was.

I have to look into ti a little but I have been getting slightly soft images out of my 70-200 f/4. The cheerleader was shot with 50mm f/1.8

 

[Jeff Canes]

IMO the softness seem to work well in #2, also brick walls are not that uncommon in football stadiums, I think they work well as a background