Next up GWU vs. PITT
I normally arrive early and shoot warm ups.. not that I use any of these shots much. but it gives me an idea of who's competing, where and what direction, settings etc..
9.. here one of GWU's assistant couch working vault warm ups.. http://mjlawler.zenfolio.com/img/s11/v36/p358379582-5.jpg
Mike: Some of these athletes look top-shelf! As for the shots, I'm liking 2, 4 and 19. Great timing and form on #5, but sometimes I just really hate backgrounds!
18... it is so fleeting when that happens. I've shot a gymnast that does that move, and it took me quite a while to get that absolute peak moment where time seems to stand a little bit stiller between the opposing forces of propulsion and gravity.
Seriously. 18. If I were that gymnast, or that gymnast's mother, I'd be asking for your PayPal account... sendy spendy. Whatever you want.
Seriously, 18. Rocks. Completely.
Speaking of rocks. Rock - paper - scissors. Time to bring them out. The scissors.
Since you open the door for C&C (I don't know how you can stand it, but your shots are amazing enough to), then may I suggest that 18 might be improved by cutting the two seated girls on the left. Yeah, brown bootsy white pants and her half dead looking teammate. They look bored. They are not contributing to the moment like the blue coat lady is at the table. They cancel blue coat out, and detract from the awe that the blue coat adds. Nothing you can do about yellow shirt and tie bearded dude at staring at the computer. He's on Facebook, everyone knows that, so he doesn't add or detract.
So, assuming you've tried cutting the disinterested teammates, now that you've pushed your subject even further to the left of your already asymetrical frame cranking the rule of thirds to the max, bring back your HD wide screen look by cutting everything above the gray bar (unlit LED ad screen?) just above where your watermark banner is. We don't need to see sneaker toes and hands folded guarding blue jeaned jewels. Clean the background by cutting peripheral clutter. have the frame terminate simply and solidly with the gray mass... all of it, but nothing above it.
Now, your athlete is even higher! Bring the frame back into 8x10 mode by cutting the right side of the frame. Start by getting rid of the girl walking away. How dare she walk away from this great moment! Try leaving the last guy on his MAC, who tore his eyes away from his Facebook page (or his girlfriends) long enough to see the moment that you saw, and that you are asking us, as viewers, to see.
That girl walking away on the right represents motion and energy that detracts from your tableau... she is more egregious background clutter than the water bottles that you cannot control, because she is another person whose attention is not only not directed toward your subject... it is actually directed AWAY from your subject, not just with eyes, but with action. Tell her to keep steppin!
Your capture rocks. Cut the paper with your scissors!
@Russ.. thanks!!..much appreciated. ..they all looked in good form.. #5 with the empty seats and equipment.. funny there where people there .. they all moved to the other side of the arena where the home team was... not much you can do :|
P.S. Sorry to anyone on a slow connection for all the images.. they probably take awhile to load.. i don't know if there is a image per post limit on FM.. or respectable amount to post
Sweet series Mike that I followed on my little Blackberry screen but wanted to see full-sized before commenting. Numbers 2,4,6, and 12 for me.
Going against the grain, I just don't find the aesthetics and athleticism of #18 all that amazing and the background kills it for me. I agree with Focus on its rarity though.
It's a real shame that these athletes don't get the fan support they deserve (i.e. Russ's 14,000+ bokeh spots).
You're doing a great job of highlighting their talents and showing tremendous bravery by including vault and tumbling line shots.
Hope you have several more meets before the season ends.
