Hey yall! I just recently gotten into photography (Jan). And as you can imagine I need all the help I can get!! I have a couple of photos that I would like some C&C. Please let me know what you think whether good or bad Thanks yall and I hope to hear from ya!

Hey Stacey! Welcome to the world of photography. For being brand new to the game, you've got some really good stuff. It looks sharp, and well exposed with great color balance. Mind sharing what you were shooting with and how you got to shoot at a college venue being so new? Here's some suggestions:

Shot 1 - Probably the toughest to critique. If you look at the floor, the first thing that I notice is that it looks really crooked, but then I took a closer look and thought back to a post by Russ Isabella (I think it was him) about what to go off of, horizontal lines or vertical. And if you look at the backboard, the vertical lines are pretty straight, which is what Russ thought was better in a situation like this. As for exposure, it looks a bit underexposed. The action is pretty good with a feeling of anticipation in this one, however I personally would have rather seen them all jumping up for the ball.

Shot 2 - I'm assuming they just lost? If so, great shot, it just looks a tad underexposed. This is one exception the 'always have faces in your shot' rule.

Shot 3 - Great exposure on this one, I was have just either centered both of the girls and left equal amount of room on each side, or cropped tighter around the girl on the right. Also, those legs peeking out from the top right are a little distracting.

Shot 4 - Another nicely exposed shot with good action. As with shot 3, I would have either cropped looser and left the legs with equal space all around both players, or would have gone for an all-around tighter crop.

Great first set of shots!

Matt

Stace, welcome to the boards....and the wonderful world of hoops shooting....

1. Looking at this image, I see a lot right, and a lot wrong.
The right: good exposure, white balance, and you have faces, the ball, and the basket. It is a good angle to shoot from, and the stars and stripes in the background is a nice addition.
The wrong: I do not like the cropping, either in camera or Photoshop. The Bearcats #34 on the left has his right hand and foot amputated. Same with the players foot on the right.... Also, wideangles are necesary for this kind of shot, but they distort the image a lot. While the hoop is straight, the court now looks like it is going uphill. You could correct this in photoshop, or use less of a wide angle, but loose some of the impact. That is just a nitpick, because I love wide angle sports shots. Finally, I really do not a great moment of action. The ball is in the hoop, so there will be no rebound, no major action. I get a lot of these that end up as stock stuff, but for game action, it just does not do it for me.

2. I like the shot, but I would like to see two things, one of which you could have done, the other you would have to be lucky. One, go wider, or go vertical and get the final score into the image. Second, and you have to be lucky, having a Cinci player celebrating while these two walk off would make this a winner.

3. The square crop does not work for me, and there is something funky going on with the Bulldog players left arm, almost like she has sleeves dangling or something. Maybe it is the logo on the floor, but it looks weird. This is one of those that you have a choice, go tighter, or go wider. Focus more on #32 and go tight, or go wider and show more of what is going on. This one just does not work for me.

4. Again, go wider, or tighter. Never crop at joints, knees, elbows, ankles, wrists. Looks funky. A full body shot of both girls might work better.

Hope this helps...

Hey thanks for the welcome and the comments. I totally see what you mean about being under exposed. I tried to fix a couple let me know what u think. The one I cropped to get those legs out of the pic (which again I totally agree that they were distracting) but now Im not sure about the crop - since i cut her arm off

At the time of both games I was borrowing my bros Nikon D50 and just last month I got my own canon EOS 40D 28-135mm IS and 75-300mm lens with 430ex flash- however I havent gotten to do any sporting events with it yet - and Im still trying to learn all the features.

Ive actually been able to get media passes bc of my husbands company. He works in television as a satellite engineer to broadcast live sports/news/etc. So alot of times I get to go with him... and since he knows ppl from most events he can usually hook me up with a pass.

OH and yes they did lose.. only by 2 points! good game

The 28-135 and the 75-300 are not great indoor sports lenses. For basketball, at the Division 1 level, I would look at fast glass like 2.8 or 1.8/4. A cheap hoops glass for any camera would be a 50mm 1.8 or equivalent. That will help you with exposure and high shutter speeds.

crap... i forgot to post the pics *DOH

hey carl... thanks for the tip!!!