Red Lion Pep

[ejbonagua]

I was tasked again to shoot for a school pep band during their training for a newspaper feature. The place where they we're training wasn't looking that good and it was at noon, but I had to still shoot, so yeah.
Here is some of the photos I liked or I think is good. Critiques please

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2.
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5.
6.

 

[ejbonagua]

Bump

 

[Designer]

They look o.k. to me.

 

[Pejacre]

Being from the UK I had to google 'pep band' - I get it now.

You did have a challenge with the light and location but I agree with Designer - they look ok. Maybe a bit emotionless but as it was a rehearsal I guess that's what you'd expect. As a Lightroom addict I'd probably try to PP a little more life into them.

 

[tirediron]

General observations:

-Shoot with longer glass from a greater distance and with larger apertures for less depth of field;
-Watch your backgrounds; chain-link fencing is NOT attractive; and
-Fill light is your friend. With the possible exception of the last, all would have benefitted from at least some supplemental light.

 

[ejbonagua]

Thanks for the feedback. My gear is really limited, what I only have for now is my Nikon D3100, Tamron 28-75 2.8 and 18-55 kit lens.
As for the backgrounds, I didn't really want those fences but I wasn't in control of where they would practice. I wish they stayed at the middle of the court like the last two photos.
And any tips on how I could PP more life to them?

 

[Pejacre]

tirediron's tips are way more helpful than mine, I was saying if these were my photos and couldn't be re-shot but had to be used, I'd probably try to enhance them with post processing. It's not the right way to do it - someone more experienced than me would try to get it right in camera but often I don't and have to fix later! I've probably overdone it on these edits and will get hammered for it by the experts on here but just purely as an example of the things I'd try in post if I wasn't happy with a shot, I warmed up the first image, isolated the main figure with fake selective focus and tried to introduce a little punch by increasing contrast, clarity and vibrance. In the group shot I isolated the sky and dropped the exposure (like a fake graduated filter) then brought up the saturation. I painted in some fake fill flash to pick out the faces and cropped in to 16:9.

Again, these are not meant to be any kind of advice on what you should do, just an illustration of processing ideas I might try!

 

[tirediron]

Thanks for the feedback. My gear is really limited, what I only have for now is my Nikon D3100, Tamron 28-75 2.8 and 18-55 kit lens.
As for the backgrounds, I didn't really want those fences but I wasn't in control of where they would practice. I wish they stayed at the middle of the court like the last two photos.
And any tips on how I could PP more life to them?

Processing isn't my strong suit, so I'm not a lot of help there, but DO NOT be afraid to ask people to move, especially if you're there at their request, or on assignment. You're the photographer, you know what looks good and what doesn't, so take charge; wait for a break and say, "Hey, nice routine, I'd like some pictures from a different angle, could you move just over there and do that first bit again?"