Football Pics for C & C

LuckySo-n-So · Oct 25, 2009

I'm still a beginner, so I'll post these here. Nobody reads the "Sports/Photojournalism Forum" anyway...:lmao:

Shot with D90 and Sigma 70-200 2.8.

These photos were taken on one play.
Ran it through the "Auto Fix" on PSE7 and cropped the last two.

tirediron · Oct 25, 2009

You're right, at least I never do!

Okay, C&C per req:

Given that you were (I assume) with the rest of the peons in the stands and not the possessor of some miracle pass to get you down to ground level, these are pretty good captures. You've got a good eye for 'the moment', especially #3 ad 4. #4 I think would be the best image if there were a little more around it to situate the viewer. #3 misses by just a hair because the ball is too high. Think of a Sports Illustrated spread; there just wouldn't be room for an image that tall. This is where high-speed burst mode and fast glass come into play. Track the ball down and fire off 6, 8, or a dozen exposures.

The only serious critique I have is that these suffer from (esp. #1, 2) excessive depth of field. The players are hard to discern from the background; a larger aperture (smaller f #) would have isolated them more and drawn the eye right to the play. I think both of these could be cropped substantially to allow the eye to concentrate more fully on the play, but aside from that, good job!

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

LuckySo-n-So · Oct 25, 2009

To be honest, I think they were all shot at 2.8 or 3.2 from about halfway up the stands---probably 40-50 yards away.

Thanks!

tirediron · Oct 25, 2009

I'd double-check the EXIF data on 1 and 2; assuming a camera to subject distance of 75' a 200mm lens at f3.2 has a DoF of less than 6'...

Dantheman4334 · Oct 25, 2009

LuckySo-n-So said:
I'm still a beginner, so I'll post these here. Nobody reads the "Sports/Photojournalism Forum" anyway...:lmao:

Shot with D90 and Sigma 70-200 2.8.

These photos were taken on one play.
Ran it through the "Auto Fix" on PSE7 and cropped the last two.

While you do certainly have the "eye", for the moment, the images are blurry and slightly out of focus. Something tells me these aren't the best you could have offered us.

And your cropping is way off. Take the first image: It's not tight enough with the cropping. Then, take the last image: With where you were on the field, I know it's tough, but that I simply way too cropped. Sports should lean more on tightness, but I think 4 over does it.

That's just my two cents

oxcart · Oct 25, 2009

I'm only a beginner, so dunno how much my words really mean... but:

- in the first two, there's a stand or something that's out of focus but quite noticeable
- there's also the row of decapitated heads/guy on the far right cut in half

I know you weren't in a great position, but I'd have another play with the cropping to see if there's something a little cleaner

fiveoboy01 · Oct 25, 2009

Though I'd want to see a fullsize version, the focus on #3 looks pretty dang close to me. That's a nice capture. You got the defender and the reciever's teammate motion blurred as well. Maybe a little too tight on the crop.

1 and 2 are just too busy, and #4 is cropped too tight and also out of focus or has motion blur.

I'll assume by looking at the pics that this was a night game? What ISO and shutter speed were you shooting at?

LuckySo-n-So · Oct 25, 2009

Here are the originals of #'s 3 and 4

Aperture Priority
f/2.8
1/500
145mm
ISO 1100 (auto ISO)

Aperture Priority
f/2.8
1/500
135mm
ISO 1100 (auto ISO)

AUZambo · Oct 26, 2009

My only complaint about those pictures is that I've been trying to drink that game out of my memory and you just forced me to relive that atrocity of a performance!

LuckySo-n-So · Oct 26, 2009

AUZambo said:
My only complaint about those pictures is that I've been trying to drink that game out of my memory and you just forced me to relive that atrocity of a performance!

EAT IT, BARNER!!!!! :lol: