1. is he passing or shooting? There is nothing in the shot which tells me this.
2. No face, no ball, no action
3. Action behind the goal but......
4. Action but the defenders face is not visible and very little of the offensive player face
5. The shot does nothing for me.
6. While the face and ball are there, no action or intensity
7. Head down and no interaction with a defender
8. A follow through on a pass or a shot? No ball,
9. A loose ball shot seldom works unless taken from the front.
Things to think of in the future, more face, a ball in the shot, interaction between o and d with face and ball. Shoot the o coming to you.
1 & 6 are the only two shots that have action coming at you, which makes a stronger image. The midday sun casts a hard shadow under the helmet, which makes it very hard to get a good face. If you try shooting into the sun and exposing for the faces the edges of the players and uniforms may be blown, but the face will be identifiable and more saleable. You need to position yourself so the action is coming at you, as much as possible. Work more from the corners, behind the endline is better, but officials may not allow it and the ball really hurts.
Not a bad effort for only your third try. Keep shooting and keep posting. The comments you get here may seem harsh, but are generally intended to help you improve.
1. Pray for overcast skies
2. Shoot tight and crop tighter
3. Position is everything. I like to capture straight on/ low images as I think its the best opportunity to get peak action, eyes, ball, etc in the frame but I know that can be difficult without risk of getting nailed!
4. I try not to cut limbs (or sticks) if possible.
5. Keep shooting!
Thanks for all the feedback. I am trying to figure out why my photos are soft when in reality they look perfect from a detail standpoint when viewed on my mac before posting in this forum. I can't figure it out. Tried saving for web, tried 80 px on long side 72 dpi etc. any help?
bright overhead sun is a bitch, Mirage off turf will cause you to have soft looking images as well. Try f4 for a half and see if you like them better. You are at 3200 shutter, plenty fast enough. if the mirage is bad you have to stand up. Looks like most of these are around the 30 yard line? try the low left corner about 10 feet behind the goal line, be careful, you may get hit there, buy you can get some pretty cool right handed shots. W girls, i have no problem getting behind the net, boys, no way, unless there is a fence . be sure to try and shoot an early AM or late day grass game, I am sure you will figure out any issues. Nice Job by the way, lax takes some time, you have good advice from Ted, he has been shooting lax since they used wooden sticks!
I like what you did in shot 6. Used harsh light to your advantage. I like the look. Not a bad series. A little dark overall for my taste, but I am shooting my first (Real) Lacrosse this weekend, so we will see how I do.
When you have terrible light you are stuck with shooting with the harsh shadows or shooting back light and the 2nd option many times can be the right choice.
It would be easy to prefocus and be slightly OOF due to the fast action pace of the game. Try to get close action, stay low. I usually size 900-1000px on the longest side at 72dpi file size 8 or 9.
