This turned into a great topic. I'm think we can mostly agree that it's rarely any one thing that makes a great image, aside from mind blowing subject matter anyway. I'd like to throw in some thoughts on what makes a professional looking image.
The basics need to be there: exposure, focus, colors, composition, etc. I hate to associate blur with professionalism, really it's more about subject isolation, and it just so happens that blurring backgrounds help isolate the subject. One thing in particular that strikes me about professional looking sports photos is an intimacy with the athlete. This is something you can't get with processing. The image above definitely looks more interesting than the original, but I'm not sure I wouldn associate that with a professional look, it's something you probably wouldn't see in a bmx mag.
Though we have no rules in photography, there is an unwritten rule about blur with motocross. People like to see a small amount of tire blur at the minimum. When the tires are frozen, it looks static, and motocross is definitely not about being static. I struggle with this myself, and typically error on the frozen tire side instead of the blurry image side, it sucks heading home with 500 blurry shots.
One thing that gdgary has going for his image in the first page is that nice low perspective. Whenever possible, show your viewers something they don't see from their everyday perspective. Give them a feeling like their down and dirty in the action, up close and personal. You can see the concentration on the man's face, you can see him defy gravity as he accelerates, it gives you a real feeling of action, that's mostly why I think it works, great isolation helps.
Another tip that might seem silly, but post pics at a good size when you post them. It's the same concept as an IMAX theater, a larger image makes you feel like you're in it more, nothing looks very interesting on a 9" tube television. I had one image I gave to a friend, I never viewed very large at home, but when he used it as his background on a 24" Dell, it looked stunning, a night and day difference.
I'll post a few that I like. I think they mostly work because of good subject isolation, action is just okay, colors are always nice in motocross, and some clouds rolling through at the right time added a bit of shadows that made things a little more interesting. I also think it helps to be able to see their 'faces', no back of the head shots, or obscured access to the 'eyes'.
![[No title]](/data/xfmg/thumbnail/41/41761-8ca3fbaa811d0935e3ce369aaf34fdd8.jpg?1734176067)
