Youth football

[Christie Photo]

Grandson no. 2 played his last game in the youth program this weekend. I'm sure he'll play in high school, but I'm feeling a bit melancholy it all.

 

[ronlane]

It's so nice to get daytime games and nice lighting. Nicely done. Suggestions? I'd crop #2 vertical to get the legs out of it.

 

[Christie Photo]

Suggestions?

Absolutely. I was hoping to hear from you. I'm a fan.

I'd crop #2 vertical to get the legs out of it.

That was my first compulsion. I have no real photo journalistic background and couldn't decide if removing his "wake" would lessen the story. Aesthetics made me want to remove all other elements, including some of the background clutter.

Thanks. I will do it.

-Pete

 

[Christie Photo]

Did I go too far?

 

[ronlane]

No, not too far at all. That is what I had in mind when I suggested it.

 

[ronlane]

You might try tightening up #1 on the right side too.

 

[vintagesnaps]

That's much better, that other player had to go! And yes, crop that tail end of a white SUV out of the picture, as well as that phantom gloved hand and leg.

The photos of him are nice, but the rest of the composition needs to be cleaner. If he plays in high school, go early and walk around, find good vantage points. See how the background is going to look before the players are on the field.

Usually in sports photographers are shooting at midrange to smaller apertures to get enough depth of field, but even if you're going for a close up and shooting at a larger aperture, that background is going to be there; you'll just get blobs of color instead of more defined shapes.

I've found there are often lines and posts and poles to contend with (incl. the ever popular trash cans) and you need to figure out where to stand to avoid those, or figure out how they can work in the composition. You can't go over there and move those white vehicles, but you can move your feet and get yourself someplace where something less noticeable will be in the background.

Practing your framing too. These are pretty good but you're shooting pretty loose. A lot of sports is the timing and anticipating what's next. I like to be set and ready and let the players come to me, into my viewfinder. Don't try to 'chase' them around; as the season goes on for home games once you've got the good vantage points figured out, anticipate the play. Usually doing hockey if I'm trying to get a certain player I notice line combinations and shift changes. If it's a right winger I get on the side of the ice where he/she will be in whatever direction the forwards will go.

 

[Christie Photo]

See how the background is going to look before the players are on the field.

Well... youth sports like this are played on ALL sorts of fields. We've seen it all. One actually had no "uprights." If a team wanted to try to kick for the extra point, they had to move to a sort of mini side field were they had a goal post. Anyway... I won't be thinking about any backgrounds when shooting. Thanks for the thought! From here in, I'm sure I'll be in more of a stadium setting.

I cut my teeth on high school football at age 16, wearing a bush jacket with pockets full of flash bulbs. I'm used to walking the sideline about 10-15 yards in front of the scrimmage line. I keep my mouth shut ans stay out of the way. My concern now is... next year when he's playing high school, will I be stopped from going out to the sideline? Typically, I just go and ACT as if I'm meant to be there. I have told some folks in the past, "I'm authorized." It has worked so far. I wonder if I can still get away with this.

-Pete

 

[tirediron]

Nice set Pete - the backgrounds for most youth sports do suck; 32" Hg worth, generally, but there's nothing you can do about it except shoot as wide as you can and hope for the best.

..."I'm authorized." It has worked so far. I wonder if I can still get away with this.

If you don't already have one, get a high-vis safety vest and hang some sort of photo ID off of it. You can go ANYWHERE dressed like that.

 

[Jeff1546 46]

Very good action shots......

 

[Christie Photo]

FOR INSTANCE... from the same game, one of the more unfortunate backgrounds.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Depends. In my area for minor pro hockey I had team issued credentials. For local hockey, not so much. At our local college Division 1 hockey I used to be able to hang out at ice level. Not anymore.

This has filtered down to high school sports in some districts in my area (and elsewhere from what I've read) where photographers need credentials to be at ice/field level.

I'd try to be set up where there are darker cars instead of the white ones or as few visual distractions in the background as possible, and shoot/frame tighter.

I took a sports photography workshop some years ago at the NCAA headquarters in Indy with Sports Portfolio | Dave Black , might be worth a look to see how he frames shots and uses backgrounds. I realize it's different with local sports rather than in large pro venues (at least I found it to be blindingly bright the first time at an NHL arena! where I could only take photos pregame at ice level). I find it helps to think about where to set up to minimize what could potentially wreak havoc with compositions.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I don't know, at least the kid at the door of the porta potty is interesting, compared to the boring van sitting there! lol That could be picture in and of itself!

My inclination would be to frame more to the right, to lose the van and keep the third player to the right in the scene. And what the heck, let the kid at the porta party be in on it too.

 

[tirediron]

FOR INSTANCE... from the same game, one of the more unfortunate backgrounds.

 

[ronlane]

You can get there early and scope around and look at where you like to shoot from but it's sports and you may sit in that one spot all day and not get a shot. Specially with kids football. The best thing you can to to help with the background is to get as low as possible so you are shooting up on them. There is a better chance of getting skies with no distractions. Even in HS football at the top levels you have background issues.

The other issue is if you don't have big, fast glass you have to chase the action. I was fortunate this weekend to borrow and 300mm f/2.8 and a 1.4x TC and was able to shoot a college game in the rain from the end zones primarily. But most of the time I am let with shooting a 70-200mm f/2.8L, so I have to move to stay in front or behind the action to get the shots.

But no matter any of the suggestions that I have mentioned or others, you are going to shoot a lot of images that are not good and not usable, like the port-a-potty. Pick out the 5-10 or so that are good of them and move one.