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Archive 2015 · Question about cropping sports photos

  
 
nobake1
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Question about cropping sports photos


Hi All,

I am aware of the "shoot tight, crop tighter" philosophy on sports photography.

I was wondering if there are any tips on how tightly to crop?

Also, should you only crop to a standard size, i.e. 2x3, 3x2?

Here are a couple photos from a game the other night, please excuse the focus issues, I was holding the camera above my head above the fence. I shot at 200mm (on a 70-200) and I'm cropping tighter but keeping the whole body on first picture and tighter yet on the next. Is it ok/better to crop out legs if the action is above the waist?

Which of these is better from a cropping standpoint?

thanks for any advice and comments/critiques.

matt







3406







cropped




May 10, 2015 at 05:02 PM
Russ Isabella
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Question about cropping sports photos


Ignoring the sharpness issues, I would crop it from just below her catcher's glove, and ideally leave more space to her right (our left) for her to "throw into." This would give you more of a true horizontal presentation rather than a truncated, rectangular vertical frame. (Having said that, there may be good reason to go with a full-body shot like this, and if it were sharp and had pop, it would be a nice shot.) I typically stick with 2x3 and 4x5 aspect ratios, but depending on the purpose, go with what works best for the image.

You are right to ask these questions because apart from the quality of your shot at the time you make it, cropping and framing are very important to the impact of the image. Also, the question must be asked for each individual image, but the answers can vary depending on whether you are presenting just a single image or a set of images, the latter case calling for some variety (meaning you wouldn't want to make the same cropping/framing decisions for every image).



May 10, 2015 at 05:11 PM
P Alesse
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Question about cropping sports photos


I think the lower half, especially those socks add to the entire portrait, so I would crop the shot head to toe. Just be careful to leave a little more room on the top and bottom to allow for framing should a parent elect to do so.


May 10, 2015 at 05:17 PM
nobake1
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Question about cropping sports photos


Thanks for the comments.

I think it sounds like leave it in if it adds to the photo otherwise go tighter. So a judgement call.

Thanks Russ for the comments about a series - I wasn't aware they should be cropped differently; I've got three quick ones of her during this throw to third. I'll give it a try cropping all three differently.

Thanks Paul for the information about leaving more room around the edges for potential framing. Another thing I hadn't thought about, of course I'm not expecting many ending up in frames.

thanks also for just taking time and helping out; I've learned so much in just a season with help from the sports corner. As I've mentioned before I take photos with a formulaic approach (stay low, both eyes if possible, etc.) and am looking for similar ideas for cropping and other post processing.

thanks again,
matt



May 10, 2015 at 08:10 PM
yoshidude
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Question about cropping sports photos


I think that this is a good topic of discussion.

Paul and Russ, could you guys speak to the issue of context when it comes to a tight crop for sports? I, too, have posted some images where the feedback has been to crop tighter. While I have done so with some of my photos, I also leave more-than-acceptable space in some cases to try to show context. In my latest posting of longboarding shots, one FM'r mentioned that the wider crops were less appealing.

How do you maintain a balance between a tight crop to fill up the frame and a wider crop to show what exactly is going on with the subject of the photo? Tight crops, such as the one above, do not indicate whether or not this was taken during warm-up drills or during actual game play. Sometimes soccer is that way, and with my longboarding photos, without a wider context or use of panning, a rider could simply be posed on a stationary board.

Maybe I'm over-thinking it, but I do wonder about it during post processing at times.

Thanks for any insight and opinion,
Scott



May 10, 2015 at 09:05 PM
Russ Isabella
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Question about cropping sports photos


Scott: Judgement. Looking at your longboarder post, I agree with your cropping/framing choices, and see that you offered the kind of variety I was suggesting to Matt is important when you are presenting multiple images. In the case of the photo above, there are advantages to not knowing whether it is warmups or game action, and many photographers will go out of their way to get good warm-up shots making sure not to have anything in the frame that gives away the fact it's a warm-up shot. They can't offer it up for editorial use and try to pass it off as game action, but they certainly can post it for sale to parents, who probably don't care whether it's game action or warm-ups, as long as it's a good shot. As for when to go wide and when to crop tight, as you've said, context is the key. If the story you want to tell with your story can be told better by including more of the setting in the frame, by all means, do it. But if the wider frame introduces distracting elements, that's a problem. So it really just depends on the composition of the original frame, the purpose of your image, and the options various crops might offer.

Matt: I wasn't saying that if you are going to present multiple images from a sequence (such as this young girl throwing the ball), you must offer different crops. What I meant is that if you are presenting a set of photos (say a portfolio or a gallery on a website), it's best to mix things up so the viewer won't become bored with the images, and one way to do that is to take a variety of approaches to cropping. Scott's (yoshidude) longboarder post is a great example of this kind of variety.



May 10, 2015 at 11:12 PM
nobake1
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Question about cropping sports photos


thanks for the clarification on series, Russ, that makes sense.

thanks,
matt



May 11, 2015 at 06:03 AM
AceCo55
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Question about cropping sports photos


I think if you are "telling the story", there is a need for a variety of cropping options.

Sometimes a wide crop tells the story of context. eg one competitor way out in front. One competitor in the loneliness of their environment (cross country runner showing how far they have come, how much to go)

Then there are crops that focus in on the peak action - catching that moment of time when something terrific/spectacular happened. These would be much tighter. Second baseman jumping as running slides in. Here the focus is on the inter action between these two players - other elements are not required and in fact may be a source of distraction.

Then there are crops that focus in on the emotion of sports - sometimes this is a really tight crop on a competitor's face in anguish/pain/determination etc. Sometimes it's a wider crop that focuses on the competition between two. eg sprinters lunging for the finish line.

The "always" tight crop is really relevant to newspaper publishing. They don't want wasted space in an image that doesn't contribute to the story. They are looking for high impact, catch your attention images. You won't find many loose cropped sports images here. I generally submit tight but NOT real tight images to newspapers. I leave a bit of "wiggle" room for the editor to best fit the image on the page (sometimes they completely "butcher" an image but that is their prerogative.

For your general sports photography though, I like a variety of crop approaches. Some for context, some for emotion, some for action. I'm sure parent would like to see a variety rather than "crop tight" for every image.
I agree with the idea of leaving slightly more room for the player to move into, the ball to fly into etc.

When cropping people the usual advice is to not crop at joints (ankles, knees, elbows wrists etc). It is usually better to crop between joints (thighs, shins, fore-arm, upper-arm)

Factors that might influence your crops ... there is an acronym covering four aspects of sports photography ... F.A.C.T
Face: include the player(s) face(s) in the shot (that doesn't mean that non-face shots can not be compelling)
Action: captured or blurred to show movement or implied movement (eg player off the ground, ball hitting bat)
Contact: with another player, bat hitting ball, pole bending
Toy: ball, bat, hockey stick, football etc

The usual advice is: get all four components in a single image usually makes for a great sports photo. Get three or two is more common. If you have one or none, it probably won't make a compelling image.

So cropping - depends on the final use. Variety of crop options usually good for overall story.
Should you crop to a specific ratio to match print sizes? Depends on what your end-game is. For me, I don't ... I crop for the action regardless of the ratio (turns out I usually have a third of them are portrait orientation, a third are landscape orientation and a third are square!! Also most of mine only ever end up on the web. If people want the digital file, they get my random crop ratio. If I have to print to a specific ratio for a print, I will go back to the original and reprocess as needed. If I am producing a multi-photo collage then my random crop ratio is what I use.



May 11, 2015 at 07:23 AM
P Alesse
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Question about cropping sports photos


The idea of shooting and cropping tighter, besides aesthetic reasons, has to do with having to separate yourself from the GWC masses. Anyone that can get reasonable access to a field or venue will be capturing the same stuff as you so you have to separate yourself. Where the GWC is shooting from a standing position with a 200mm lens, you need to shoot from a kneeling position with a 300mm lens. Where the GWC is shooting from a kneeling position with a 300, you need get ass to grass with a 400. One of my mantras has been to separate yourself by separating your subject. Shooting tighter not only allows you to get up close and personal with your subject, but the bokeh in the BG is something that the ordinary GWC is not getting. Shooting head to toe will have its limitations in that regard. So that's when you need to get creative by shooting waist up where appropriate. If it's ALL about the face... then take advantage of that!

Understand though, my target audience is different than that of PJst. A PJ needs more context and needs to tell the story with the photos being shot. Often though, the two worlds can coincide... some of the great images I see in publications tell the story and are images I have never seen before.



May 11, 2015 at 10:18 AM
yoshidude
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Question about cropping sports photos


Thanks to Paul, Russ, and AceCo55.

This has been a helpful conversation about cropping. I'd say that overall, I'm approaching my photos as you have said........ using my judgment, considering the purpose of the photo, as well as providing something that other folks are unable to reproduce (ie. parents on the sidelines with camera phones!) It's nice to know that I'm on the right track, for the right reasons.

I really appreciate the input, and thanks, Russ, for providing some feedback about last post.

Keep up the good work,
Scott



May 11, 2015 at 11:01 AM
retnug
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Question about cropping sports photos


P Alesse's way is the way I try to do it also. I all depends on your audience sometimes also. I posted photos for critique and appreciated the feedback also. One of the responders didn't "get" one of my tight crops. I was basically a head/torso of a soccer player. He understood the shot but it didn't "do" anything for him. No action, no ball etc but he was't the intended audience ultimately (and maybe I shouldn't have included it for critique).. But when the picture was put in the slideshow that the parents and players saw at the end of the season those are sometimes the ones that get the most reaction and appreciation. The girl running by at full tilt but you can still see the gum between her teeth. or her tongue sticking out. Ot the player flinching away from a bell coming straight at her. The faces is what they (player/parents) seem to like most.

G-




May 11, 2015 at 01:53 PM
P Alesse
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Question about cropping sports photos


FWIW... soccer tends to be a head to toe sport with ball in frame more than any other sport. On the flip side... LAX tends to lend itself to tight crops where a ball or lower half is not as important. A tight sick hit can be... a sick image. More examples of htt sports where full body with no hacked parts is important... dance, gymnastics, and to a lesser degree depending on the subject matter... cheer.


May 11, 2015 at 08:13 PM





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