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Archive 2012 · first sports photography

  
 
kcimage
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · first sports photography


i went to local flag football game and took some shots... since i promissed i would post some whenever i get a chance... so here they are... didnt take many just snapped away and picked out what i liked...

1.


2.


3.


That is about it.



Aug 16, 2012 at 10:49 PM
skibum5
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · first sports photography


I think you need to crop them a ton and get rid of lots of the dead space and bring the action to the forefront, as much as you can and still have enough detail so it doesn't fall apart.

Hard to see but in the first one I think the ball is not near the receivers.



Aug 16, 2012 at 11:09 PM
kcimage
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · first sports photography


yea, like i mentioned i just taking pictures, i would have cropped but personally dont like to have all different size photos... so i left it as is..

and for first picture, you are right, i just took the shot since they were jumping

hope i can do better at next one.



Aug 16, 2012 at 11:38 PM
Shane Psaltis
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · first sports photography


If you are going to post photos on here and want C&C please take the advice. I would not have even posted these unless they were cropped. You can crop them at 8x10 so they would be uniform . I would definetly not have even posted the first one.

Exposure is good the action not so good. Must be tighter and capture peek action. Looking foward to your next post.

Shane



Aug 17, 2012 at 01:19 AM
BillP57
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · first sports photography


Uncropped it is difficult to see enough detail in the action to give a fair critic. A SS of 1/400 is too slow for sports and you should be able to raise your ISO to get a faster SS. Noise from a high ISO is less objectionable than motion blur and can be fixed to some extend where as motion blur is just a throw away shot. You need to be patient and wait for the action to come to you, these look too far away for a 200mm lens.

Also remember that critics are made to help you improve and shouldn't be seen as just tearing apart you photos. We all started like this and the best photographers learned to improve the rest of us are still trying to improve. Keep shooting and posting.

Bill



Aug 17, 2012 at 09:12 AM
Jefferson
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · first sports photography


BillP57 wrote:
Uncropped it is difficult to see enough detail in the action to give a fair critic. A SS of 1/400 is too slow for sports and you should be able to raise your ISO to get a faster SS. Noise from a high ISO is less objectionable than motion blur and can be fixed to some extend where as motion blur is just a throw away shot. You need to be patient and wait for the action to come to you, these look too far away for a 200mm lens.

Also remember that critics are made to help you improve and
...Show more


A crop version...you can see where the above applies...

http://jeffersonposter.smugmug.com/photos/i-wH2VxKc/0/L/i-wH2VxKc-L.jpg




Aug 17, 2012 at 10:01 AM
kcimage
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · first sports photography


So question, do you always crop the photos or alot of times needs to be cropped?

Thanks for showin me the cropped photo jefferson.

Im planning on going to next one, hope I can post better than what i posted



Aug 17, 2012 at 10:40 AM
mkchang
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · first sports photography


Unless you have a 400,500 or 600mm and can frame tightly then yeah you generally crop. Even if you are using one of those lenses you'll still probably crop.


Aug 17, 2012 at 10:53 AM
Ted ellis
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · first sports photography


Kevin: welcome to the forum, I hope you read my reply. I see you are shooting with a 70-200mm lens nothing wrong with that or your camera.

When you shoot with a 70-200mm you have to be more patient. You have to let the action come closer to you. In the long run, you may get fewer "keepers" but they will be better quality.


When you shoot any sporting activity, you want to see peak action, facial expressions and most of the time the ball. You don't want to see extraneous bodies which detract from the action. Even the best of the best photographers will get an excellent capture that cropping can't help because of an extraneous body, limb or other artifact. In that case delete....................


When you shooting action in low/artificial light as Bill mentioned you have to have faster ss than you used.


Cropping was mentioned but I don't think tighter crops would have helped this series because you were to far away from the action.


I see a redo/crop on your last image was posted. It is an improvement from the original image but in reality is not a keeper because there are still extraneous players in the redo and with the tighter crop, your now have an image lacking in sharpness.


It was mentioned using a longer lens. That can certainly help. I want to stress the patience aspect of shooting because you could be shooting with a longer lens and if you lack in patience your subject matter could still be too far away.


I do not know how much experience you have shooting "sports" or your financial ability to purchase a lens that costs 6-10 grand, my recommendation, master what you have and be patient. Learn from the suggestions given here, you will grow.


Ted





Edited on Aug 17, 2012 at 06:54 PM · View previous versions



Aug 17, 2012 at 02:36 PM
skibum5
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · first sports photography


kcimage wrote:
So question, do you always crop the photos or alot of times needs to be cropped?

Thanks for showin me the cropped photo jefferson.

Im planning on going to next one, hope I can post better than what i posted


Try to shoot the main subject as tightly as possible (for the most part). One thing to watch for is that when using a zoom it is very easy to get sucked into shooting something at say 135mm when it would have fit at 200mm, there is a natural tendency to let a zoom slide wider because you see more at once and don't worry about clipping things, but try to remember to keep as much at the longest end as possible (obviously you can't end up sending the perhaps only good for sports AF some camera has, sometimes that can force you to shoot how you might not ideally otherwise and sometimes they players will be very close).

But often you have to crop. Even if you have the biggest fanciest lenses you'll still need to do cropping. When using a prime if you only shoot exactly when the players are in the spot to fill the frame but not overflow it you will skip like 85% of the game's action. The tighter framed shots blur out the background more nicely and you get more detail and they tend to have a bit more impact but you can get away with a fairly good deal of cropping with the MP counts on the bodies around these days, it's no longer 6-8MP on larger sensor times. This one is a pretty heavy crop:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7129/7533546056_33f7924da5_b.jpg

And I can't tell if the shutter speed worked out since the subjects are posted so small, but someone said 1/400th was used, normally that is awfully slow for sports, I hate going under 1/640th or even 1/800th and much prefer vastly higher speeds than that. You have to balance percentage of shots that avoid motion blur (the worst) against noise.



Aug 17, 2012 at 02:51 PM
kcimage
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · first sports photography


Thanks Skibum5, yea I was using 1/400th - 1/500th at ISO 1600, at next game (whichever it is - school game or another local game) i will shoot with all the advice you guys told me so far and post it again.


Aug 17, 2012 at 04:06 PM
Geo31
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · first sports photography


Great feedback here. Very helpful.

I just want to repeat what Ted said. With the lens you're using, you have to be patient and be very judicious with your positioning. No sense in shooting images that you know from the start will be throw-aways. You HAVE to get close for most sports shots or they just look like snapshots. You can accomplish that with your lens if you are patient and learn where to position yourself. But, you can get good shots with that lens if you pay attention.

Be a tough critic of your own work and learn on the fly.



Aug 17, 2012 at 10:58 PM
Ted ellis
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · first sports photography


Geo31 wrote:
Great feedback here. Very helpful.

I just want to repeat what Ted said. With the lens you're using, you have to be patient and be very judicious with your positioning. No sense in shooting images that you know from the start will be throw-aways. You HAVE to get close for most sports shots or they just look like snapshots. You can accomplish that with your lens if you are patient and learn where to position yourself. But, you can get good shots with that lens if you pay attention.

Be a tough critic of your own work and learn on the fly.
...Show more





Aug 18, 2012 at 07:29 PM
kcimage
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · first sports photography


Geo and Ted,

Thank you for the advice, I just got a 300mm 2.8 few days ago, I'm thinking about taking that to next game and see how it goes.



Aug 18, 2012 at 09:37 PM
Ted ellis
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · first sports photography


kcimage wrote:
Geo and Ted,

Thank you for the advice, I just got a 300mm 2.8 few days ago, I'm thinking about taking that to next game and see how it goes.


Kevin, Look forward to your up coming posts. Congrats on the new lens.



Aug 18, 2012 at 09:42 PM
DejanS
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · first sports photography


Ted, ditto on many of the comments. My take and may be redundent, but here is my nickles worth:

- focus on the players animating the scene. Get it so you can see "the whites of their eyes" because it is the doorway to the soul of the athlete. Need to see the face(es).

- Get rid of dead weight surrounding the action. If the background does not add to the action, then go f/2.8. Then crop tight if it will help add to the drama of the action.

- Sharp! Sharp!! Sharp!!! unless you are creating a sense of motion for fast moving sports, then sharp on the face with a pan.

- Again, focus on the facial expressions of the athletes while in action capturing the action while getting rid of the background action, unless it elevates the drama of the moment...Make me feel the athletes pain, stress, capture the defining moment (don't be afraid to machine gun your camera...that defining moment happens sooo f'ing fast!)

Good luck, and accept CC if you ask it. It is the only way to improve, fine tune, and figure out what the audience to your photos like.

Dejan



Aug 19, 2012 at 11:11 AM
kcimage
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · first sports photography


DejanS,

Thanks for your advice, and of course I would, if not I wouldn't post here, I'm taking everyone's CC serious so I can get better soon / fast, at least I hope I do.



Aug 20, 2012 at 04:00 PM





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