Trying to break into youth sports C&C welcome

[KAikens318]

I am trying to get into shooting youth sports as a stepping stone on my way to being a photographer for the Boston Red Sox Took these at a local game with my D80 and 18-105mm lens (I know not the optimal equipment for shooting sports, I am buying a Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 and D7000 by the end of the year)

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[vtf]

I would just be sure actions shots were from the side or front to clearly identify someone's kid, this does depend on the shot such as a scoring kick captured would still be good if you could identify the scorer. Just my opinion.

 

[Rosshole]

I would try to minimize the distracting backgrounds of the shots.

 

[gsgary]

You need to pay a lot more attention to your backgrounds and open your aperture wider to blur background

 

[tirediron]

You need to pay a lot more attention to your backgrounds and open your aperture wider to blur background

Gee Gary... d'ya think maybe, just maybe, that's why he mentioned his gear limitations?

Overall, these aren't bad. As mentioned above, try and get more faces, and also try and get the ball closer to the player's foot/head; ideally, just clearing the tip of his toe as he kicks. You may also consider dropping your shutter speed down to something around 1/250 which should just freeze the movement of the players, but get some nice blur on the ball.

 

[gsgary]

You need to pay a lot more attention to your backgrounds and open your aperture wider to blur background

Gee Gary... d'ya think maybe, just maybe, that's why he mentioned his gear limitations?

Overall, these aren't bad. As mentioned above, try and get more faces, and also try and get the ball closer to the player's foot/head; ideally, just clearing the tip of his toe as he kicks. You may also consider dropping your shutter speed down to something around 1/250 which should just freeze the movement of the players, but get some nice blur on the ball.

I wouldn't go as low as 1/250 keeper rate will be very low

 

[KmH]

I hate to break it to you but the 70-200 mm will not have enough reach, unless you don't mind running up and down the sidelines, which from these shots looks like you did not do.

Backs of heads don't work well. For that reason I always shot soccer from the end line, near the goal.

That way I could shoot the players as they moved towards me so I got their faces and expressions without having to move much, if any.
One team approaches in the first half to attack the goal at the end of the field you're set-up at, the other team attacks the same goal in the second half.

I used a 150-500 mm zoom on a monopod to shoot the other end of the field (think goalie), on a second body an 80-200 mm f/2.8 for mid-field shots, and on a 3rd body a 25-85 mm for action around the goal.

It looks like you got low, which is good. It not only helps with the backgrounds, it also makes the players seem a bit bigger and more powerful.

I sat on a walkstool with one knee on the ground: Walkstool Comfort Stool

I always set up a 10 x 10 pop up canopy so I had somewhere to retreat to. The pop up also served as my store, where I had samples on display and album books of 4x6 prints people could look through. I sold 4x6's for $12 each, or 4 for $40. 20x30 faux magazine cover prints were $300 each.

 

[tirediron]

I wouldn't go as low as 1/250 keeper rate will be very low

Granted: To clarify, what I meant was when you get that shot where the player has just kicked and the ball is moving, but he's not (or not moving very fast), a slower shutter speed can give you a really cool impression of movement. Look here or here for some shots I did at a recent 4x4 show; I've frozen the vehicle motion, but used a slow enough shutter speed to keep the wheels moving. Just a thought...

 

[gsgary]

I wouldn't go as low as 1/250 keeper rate will be very low

Granted: To clarify, what I meant was when you get that shot where the player has just kicked and the ball is moving, but he's not (or not moving very fast), a slower shutter speed can give you a really cool impression of movement. Look here or here for some shots I did at a recent 4x4 show; I've frozen the vehicle motion, but used a slow enough shutter speed to keep the wheels moving. Just a thought...

Football shots with blur do not sell trust me

 

[KAikens318]

I hate to break it to you but the 70-200 mm will not have enough reach, unless you don't mind running up and down the sidelines, which from these shots looks like you did not do.

Backs of heads don't work well. For that reason I always shot soccer from the end line, near the goal.

That way I could shoot the players as they moved towards me so I got their faces and expressions without having to move much, if any.
One team approaches in the first half to attack the goal at the end of the field you're set-up at, the other team attacks the same goal in the second half.

I used a 150-500 mm zoom on a monopod to shoot the other end of the field (think goalie), on a second body an 80-200 mm f/2.8 for mid-field shots, and on a 3rd body a 25-85 mm for action around the goal.

It looks like you got low, which is good. It not only helps with the backgrounds, it also makes the players seem a bit bigger and more powerful.

I sat on a walkstool with one knee on the ground: Walkstool Comfort Stool

I always set up a 10 x 10 pop up canopy so I had somewhere to retreat to. The pop up also served as my store, where I had samples on display and album books of 4x6 prints people could look through. I sold 4x6's for $12 each, or 4 for $40. 20x30 faux magazine cover prints were $300 each.

These fields are not very big at all as they are youth soccer, so a 200mm would be just fine. I was right on the sideline for these, about halfway between one team's goal and the center line. I wish I could stand behind the goals, but during some of these games they will not allow you to for safety reasons.

Backgrounds are not really something I can control other than with Bokeh, but like someone said, I have some gear limitations right now. Next time I will try to shoot with a little lower of an aperture and see if I can blur the background more. I may rent a 70-200mm 2.8 just to see how much better it would be.

Thanks for all the comments and critique!!

 

[tirediron]

Fair enough

 

[KmH]

These fields are not very big at all as they are youth soccer, so a 200mm would be just fine.

I used the 3 camera/lens set up I described for both youth, and adult soccer, so I already knew the youth fields are smaller.

Good luck to you. :thumbup:

 

[jgooz]

i like 2 and 6, mostly because it immediately directs me to the target. which is the ball. which both boys are trying like hell to get. which illustrates a great portrait of the pursuit of victory in sports. thats my opinion of course. im no sports photog but i work for a sports team so i've seen my share of action photos. nicely done. the rest dont do much due to not seeing their faces, weird angle or timing was too soon or late.