Youth Football

[weags77]

Been awhile since I posted on here but recently started to volunteer my time to photograph 3 youth football teams. Using a D600 as well as 28-200 and 55-200 DX VR. This was my third game and most challengin due to the rain and generally poor lighting. Not to mentionni am already hampered by slow lenses. These were shot with the 55-200 using ISO between 1600-3200 just to maintain shutter speeds.

This is my first time doing anything like this, usually just landscapes and abstracts. The parents all seem to like them which is my main goal, but id like to see what you guys think. I gotta say I enjoy this immensely and is by far some of the most fun, while also challenging times ive had with a camera.

Any input is appreciated. Thank

 

[sscarmack]

On some of them I think you pulled the highlights too far back, or are the jerseys grey and not white???

 

[weags77]

Thanks Sean. I notice the greyish tones on one of the photos but the others look white to me. But that's not saying too much. I'm also not sure if it was the post processing or the fact that some of the jerseys were more soaked than others as it was downpour throughout the game. Which ones were you noticing it in?


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[wmccree]

If you straighten the horizon and make it more natural the diving one would be awesome. If possible I'd crop tighter removing the other WR in the background.

The one with the kid drinking rain drops is a perfect youth moment. I coached a team from 1st grade through 8th and that shot brought up some good memories.

 

[weags77]

That's good to hear wmccree. In the end I hope that's the type of thing I want these kids and their families to experience when they look at these...good meMories.

I will try your suggestions on the diving photo. And what did you mean by more natural? Just the horizon or the post processing? Thanks for taking the time to comment.


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[wmccree]

It's more of a personal taste thing than anything else. To processed to me for such a good capture. Kind of "half photo half painting" look.

 

[weags77]

It's more of a personal taste thing than anything else. To processed to me for such a good capture. Kind of "half photo half painting" look.

Gotcha. Its actually a look I was going for. Im just not into the straight, normal photo look. I try to balance between photo and norman rockwell ish paintings that maintain a sense of realism yet add something different. Definitely a personal taste thing.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Looks like it was rainy so I'm guessing not the best lighting to work in; I wondered if the exposure was off because the color (white) seems off to me too.

Work on framing lower so you don't have so much space above heads and end up cropping off hands/fingers.

I've found sports is a lot about the timing and anticipating where the action will go next; I often get set where the play is coming and wait til they come to me (into my viewfinder). And I go early to figure out good vantage points and see how the background will look in my shots. Takes practice, hope you have fun with it.

 

[weags77]

Thanks vintage. It was pouring out for 3 quarters so spent a lot of effort keeping the umbrella up and lens clean. I also spend most of my time crouched although these here may not be the best examples of that haha. I will look into the white too tonight on my monitor and see if I can notice it.

But I am having a blast with it. It's definitely challenging and I'm getting a bit better with timing and anticipation but I still miss quite a bit. Either too early or late. Or wrong side...haha. I guess knowing is half the battle though. Got kinda stagnant with the learning process for awhile so this has reinvigorated me so to speak.




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[weags77]

How is this edit? Cropping it this close really exposes the slow shutter speed I was using.


I leveled the horizon and went with auto WB of the RAW file.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Seemed to brighten those whites! (sounds like doing laundry but since it was rainy and muddy maybe that's what was needed lol). Kind of a toss up on the edit, under those conditions the more you try to enlarge and crop the more it shows the noise - and boy can you see the rain!

I've done hockey, the players never cooperate, you get set up and they go do something interesting at the other end...