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Archive 2016 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)

  
 
ghostwind
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)


This past Friday night, I got to shoot my local high school's varsity soccer match. I've never shot soccer before, so this was a first. Added to me not knowing all the positions to be in, and missing shots due to that, was the fact that it was about 38 degrees, windy, and rainy. Miserable time, hands frozen even with gloves on, & empty stands didn't look good either. Looking for comments and especially critiques on how to improve. All shots were taken with the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II and either 400mm f/2.8 or 70-200 f/2.8 lenses (I borrowed the Canon 400mm 2.8 for this.)




Edited on Dec 05, 2016 at 09:02 AM · View previous versions



Oct 30, 2016 at 10:43 AM
Andrew Villa
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)


Tighter crops all around. 1&4 are my faves for sure. Were you terribly under exposed, I only ask because the amount of noise is pretty bad for ISO 8000.

Good work over all though!



Oct 30, 2016 at 03:51 PM
ghostwind
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)


Andrew Villa wrote:
Tighter crops all around. 1&4 are my faves for sure. Were you terribly under exposed, I only ask because the amount of noise is pretty bad for ISO 8000.

Good work over all though!


Thanks! No, not underexposed. That is fine/frozen rain you are seeing, depending on how the light was hitting the camera. In some shots (#3) it's not as visible for example. In 1 and 4 it's very visible. Rain sucks...

I like tight crops, but not sure how to do them without cutting off limbs or the ball. And suggestions?



Oct 30, 2016 at 04:01 PM
timgangloff
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)


First time out? Wonderful. Room for improvement? Sure. But you are doing well. Of course, you are shooting with the best equipment made by Canon, so that helps, but no serious complaints with these. You could improve on timing a bit, as a few of these look a tad late. The backs of the players in your second image don't really work for me, but overall, I'd be pretty happy if this was my first time out. Lather, rinse and repeat.


Oct 30, 2016 at 05:35 PM
schlotz
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)


Agreed the timing needs some work, most of these are after the peak action event. Always be looking for ball, faces and peak action. Anticipation is the key, basically if you see the action in the view finder you've probably missed capturing it. Cropping is something you learn, best advice is to review the many other soccer posts here on FM to get a feel of what works. There are a number here who have been doing it for years. My suggestion is to shoot in manual 1/1000, f/2.8 and autoISO. Set the autoISO in the camera so it doesn't go above 25,600. HS School lit fields can require a bit more post processing. These are not bad. You might want to experiment by reducing highlights a bit and a slight reduction in shadows which helps to isolate the target and smooth the noise.

A very good first start! Keep shooting

Matt

Edited on Oct 30, 2016 at 08:17 PM · View previous versions



Oct 30, 2016 at 08:10 PM
ghostwind
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)


timgangloff wrote:
First time out? Wonderful. Room for improvement? Sure. But you are doing well. Of course, you are shooting with the best equipment made by Canon, so that helps, but no serious complaints with these. You could improve on timing a bit, as a few of these look a tad late. The backs of the players in your second image don't really work for me, but overall, I'd be pretty happy if this was my first time out. Lather, rinse and repeat.


Thanks Tim. Yes, I decided to give it a try and see what I could do. I did the same with football as well a few weeks back, and really enjoyed it. The 400mm 2.8 seems indispensable - an f/4 wouldn't cut it in this type of light, as no camera is THAT good at high ISO! I put some of my first football game pics in the thread you created about the 300mm lens thoughts you were having. Since that was a day game (the first football game I shot), the 300 2.8 + 1.4x extender was great (which I said in that thread), but good light is hard to find, so if I keep at it, the 400mm 2.8 looks almost like a necessity for field sports.

Back on topic, yes the timing is key, and I know what you mean. I would like the ball to be at peak action, but it's not. Close, but not there yet. Agree on the backs picture, but I threw it up here to see the comments. Expressions are most important, and there are none there. But it was very hard to be all over the place and capture all the action. Especially when the teams are not known and playing unpredictably to me at least. Towards the end of the game I sort of figured out who the better players were and stayed on them or waited for them to come to me. I realized moving around too much could cost me shots as well as just staying put in a corner and switching as needed for corners, etc. It's like a double-edged sword - move around a lot, or stay put and let action come to you. And I think for HS sports, it depends. Probably more move around than college or pro. But that's just an assumption on my part.



Oct 30, 2016 at 08:13 PM
ghostwind
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)


schlotz wrote:
Agreed the timing needs some work, most of these are after the peak action event. Always be looking for ball, faces and peak action. Anticipation is the key, basically if you see the action in the view finder you've probably missed capturing it. Cropping is something you learn, best advice is to review the many other soccer posts here on FM to get a feel of what works. There are a number here who have been doing it for years. My suggestion is to shoot in manual 1/1000, f/2.8 and autoISO. Set the autoISO in the camera so it doesn't
...Show more

Thanks Matt. Yes, that's pretty much how I shot - Manual, f/2.8, & auto-ISO. I didn't need to mess with the exposures that much - at most a 1/3 corrections if that. I did reduce highlights a bit on almost all, but not shadows - will try that to see. I just did the very basics - contrast, saturation, WB, etc.

I did have many shots like the ones here at peak action, but not as interesting to me for some reason. The rain sucked because it looks like noise against a dark background when light is hitting the camera. Here are two more at "peak action". One seems totally noise-free, but it's the same conditions, just different angle and light. Or maybe the rain stopped a bit - don't recall. The other is a tighter crop. It looks like underexposed and pushed, but it's not at all. The rain looks like mosquitoes - ugly. The other looks totally clean at higher ISO - like almost a different game day. Also, the second, the clean one, I'm not sure how I'd crop that tighter.

Edited on Dec 05, 2016 at 09:02 AM · View previous versions



Oct 30, 2016 at 08:26 PM
schlotz
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)


There are shots that just don't lend themselves to a good crop solution. 1st is a good one to try reducing shadows a bit BUT before I would set the whites and black. In LR hold shift down and dbl click on the white slider, same with the blacks. BTW: in #2, a slight re-leveling would help.

Regarding field position: there are many but most are suboptimal in that the percentage of keepers is significantly lower due to cross traffic being in the way. They are worth pursuing if you have a specific player or angle you are looking for. Generally I position myself on the goal line outside the 18 box so action is coming towards you.

Matt



Oct 30, 2016 at 08:57 PM
ghostwind
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)


schlotz wrote:
There are shots that just don't lend themselves to a good crop solution. 1st is a good one to try reducing shadows a bit BUT before I would set the whites and black. In LR hold shift down and dbl click on the white slider, same with the blacks. BTW: in #2, a slight re-leveling would help.

Regarding field position: there are many but most are suboptimal in that the percentage of keepers is significantly lower due to cross traffic being in the way. They are worth pursuing if you have a specific player or angle you are looking for. Generally
...Show more

Yeah, I ended up doing that in the 2nd half - sitting just as you say, and only moving to the side of the corner on a corner kick with the shorter lens. The other benefit is not worrying about distracting backgrounds as you are shooting vertically up the field, not across. I'll see next time. It's hard to put everything into practice the 1st time around Making mental notes and will put into practice. I'll play around with the 1st pic here, but I think it's one that cannot be made to look too good. I tried playing with shadows and black/white points, but bad light is bad light I suppose..



Oct 30, 2016 at 09:18 PM
la puffin
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)


ghostwind wrote:
... and missing shots due to that, was the fact that it was about 38 degrees, windy, and rainy. Miserable time, hands frozen even with gloves on, & empty stands didn't look good either.


I grew up in West Boxford (between North Andover and Topsfield). You're lucky it wasn't snowing. I guess I should stop complaining when it gets down to the mid 50s.



Oct 31, 2016 at 01:21 AM
Brev00
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)


#4 in the first set is my favorite. The rain looks fine as in well defined against the dark background. The interaction of the rain and the colors seems to be creating the distracting texture in the first few. Which makes me think black and white might help if that is of interest to you. You also captured a good moment of concentration as the fallen player is focused right on the ball which is pretty clear. Elevation is always cool and the player in red also seems to be peering back to the ball. The out of focus player is even participating with some pretty wide open eyes and some motion toward the play. The colors really pop against the dark backdrop.


Oct 31, 2016 at 10:26 PM
ghostwind
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)


la puffin wrote:
I grew up in West Boxford (between North Andover and Topsfield). You're lucky it wasn't snowing. I guess I should stop complaining when it gets down to the mid 50s.


And I grew up in the LA area and now find myself here



Nov 01, 2016 at 09:07 AM
ghostwind
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)


Brev00 wrote:
#4 in the first set is my favorite. The rain looks fine as in well defined against the dark background. The interaction of the rain and the colors seems to be creating the distracting texture in the first few. Which makes me think black and white might help if that is of interest to you. You also captured a good moment of concentration as the fallen player is focused right on the ball which is pretty clear. Elevation is always cool and the player in red also seems to be peering back to the ball. The out of focus player
...Show more

Thanks. Yes, it's also my favorite, despite the empty stands. Interesting r.e. black and white - didn't even think of it. I will try it, but not sure it may work for sports in general. I love colors, but agree the rain is distracting.

On #4, I just reduced the shadows, so here's an updated version.

Edited on Dec 05, 2016 at 09:03 AM · View previous versions



Nov 01, 2016 at 09:14 AM
Brev00
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)


I don't think black and white is a typical way of processing sports pics and I have done it in only a small percentage of my own. But, like anything else, I like to allow just about anything. If it works. Here is my favorite such attempt. I was going for an anachronism: young athlete in old timey tone. I only recommended it for you because the black sky really helped in that one image. If you don't want this pic on your thread, of course you may delete it.












Nov 01, 2016 at 11:08 AM
gene2632
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)


For your first time out it is a very good start. Keep in mind that the light and weather are things we cannot control. I actually like the rain showing up a bit because it adds some character to the images and the game for me. The things you can control and strive for are players faces, ball in the picture and being in focus.


Nov 01, 2016 at 07:12 PM
John Skinner
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)


Just because the light there supported a near 1/1000th @ ISO8000, that does mean it was light that was kind to you..

I think for your first time out.. you've done very well with long glass and conditions.

The others up top have added to great tips moving forward.. as far as framing, and keeping in mind a crop/not crop might be needed.

B- on the set.. But you've got a foot in the door.



Nov 02, 2016 at 12:28 AM
ghostwind
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)


Brev00 wrote:
I don't think black and white is a typical way of processing sports pics and I have done it in only a small percentage of my own. But, like anything else, I like to allow just about anything. If it works. Here is my favorite such attempt. I was going for an anachronism: young athlete in old timey tone. I only recommended it for you because the black sky really helped in that one image. If you don't want this pic on your thread, of course you may delete it.




No, examples are fine! Yes, sometimes regardless of noise or whatever, if you have captured a moment, then the picture is more important than techie details. I'm not saying I did, but that sometimes a not-perfectly focused shot, or a shot that's can't be cropped ideally, or has more noise, etc., is more important than a bad shot that's technically good.



Nov 02, 2016 at 07:58 AM
ghostwind
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)


John Skinner wrote:
Just because the light there supported a near 1/1000th @ ISO8000, that does mean it was light that was kind to you..

I think for your first time out.. you've done very well with long glass and conditions.

The others up top have added to great tips moving forward.. as far as framing, and keeping in mind a crop/not crop might be needed.

B- on the set.. But you've got a foot in the door.


Yes, I know what you mean. But 1/1000 @ ISO 8000 is bad light period! I think the key is to position yourself in a way to make even the bad light somewhat flattering. At this game, I was learning and moving around. I happen to like the #5 (last in my 1st post) shot, and wouldn't frame it differently in fact. I light tight, but sometimes you need to show space as well. Rain on dark sky doesn't help, nor does an empty stand though. After some thought, I think that if I captured the ball at "peak action", it wouldn't have worked as well, because it would ruin the composition with the other player. At least that's how I see it. But yeah, more to come for sure!



Nov 02, 2016 at 08:02 AM
Brev00
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · my first high school soccer game (seeking comments and critiques)



I think I agree with your point although it might not be phrased ideally. It depends. There are many aspects to a good sports shot and those elements may vary depending on intent, conditions, etc. If one wants to show a moment with superior clarity, then technical perfection rises to the top. If one is showing the impact and emotion of the moment, technical perfection may drop in importance. If the lighting conditions are awful, then one may have to accept more noise and less contrast and perhaps more pp time than one may want in the ideal world. I find one of the beauties of photography is adapting to what is offered in the present moment and responding to it. That is why I always loved sports photography (daughters are grown, only one tournament left in my eldest's ice skating career ). And, another great thing is the ability to learn from the not quite right results when out at the next game. Keep posting!



Nov 02, 2016 at 09:35 AM





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