These are some shots I took a few weeks ago. It was my first time ever shooting soccer. I only shot for 20 minutes because I was just getting some stock shots and it was freezing cold out and I didn't have gloves. I'd love some C&C and especially suggestions to improve for next game, looks that since the soccer games on friday have been postponed I will be shooting Women's Soccer again on Saturday.

Here are some other images.

Looks like Friday night's soccer games are postponed. My son plays for U of Denver.

Thanks, just got the contact from my assistant editor, looks like I'll now be shooting both hockey games this weekend as well as Women's soccer saturday.

The first 3 look a little soft...

4 & 5 show good action and are sharp, good job!

6 is a nice shot but doesn't show much in the way of soccer action.

Andrew:

Some suggestions:

1. There needs to be a clear point of focus for the viewer. In your first shot, that's missing because it's very busy, the ball is only partially visible and it takes a while to find, and it's difficult to know what to be looking at.

2. Shoot tight and crop tighter. Your second and fifth shots could benefit from a tighter crop.

3. Ball in frame. It's tough to argue that a shot without the ball is worth posting, particularly if nothing interesting is happening, as in your last shot.

4. Try to add some 'pop' to your shots, either with your camera settings or in post. These need to be a bit brighter and are lacking contrast.

I think your fifth shot is your strongest. Crop tight around the player, give it a little post-processing love and you've got yourself a nice shot there.

It's a good start for your first time out. Keep at it.

Thanks Russ. I try to shoot as tight as I could but with just a 70-200 it is hard, going to be trying a 400 this weekend if the rental place has it in stock. What kind of camera setting adjustments would you recommend to add contrast?


I did a quick contrast boost and further in crop on #5 and this is the result.

Andrew: Looks better. I should have caught this the first time around. It's more obvious with the tighter crop that the horizon is off. If you rotate the photo to the point where the fence post is perfectly vertical, the image will be 'true.' And (nit-pick alert!) I'd leave just a bit more space on the right side of the image for her to 'move into' as she kicks the ball. But obviously you've got the idea. Looks much better.

Yeah, i had noticed the horizon too when it was cropped. Thanks so much for your suggestions Russ. I'll take your suggestions to mind when I shoot the game on Saturday.

Your recent posted pics are better. More contrst....

Here is what I have used for soccer on d300/700's though I am not an expert

EV -1/3 (that reduces the washed out lighter tones)
D-Lighting on IF it is sunny with strong shadows
Wide open (2.8 or 3.2) aperatures to limit depth of field
Try to shoot at 150mm or longer to also limit depth of field
continuous focus mode........9 focus points
Try to anticipate the action and have focus points on a player, and let camera track it.
Ideal shot includes: players face, ball, and action
Position yourself for good lighting, and to avoid distracting backgrounds if possible.

Some field sport photos at my website
www.barkriverphotography.com

Thanks for the suggestions John. I actually shoot soccer and stuff in RAW because I can still get a decent frame rate shooting RAW with my D700+grip and that way I can always lower the exposure later and I have more flexibility. I will try the 9 focus points setting as I use the 51 point now but I think that may be hurting me as I cant change focus points quickly enough.


EDIT::: Here is where I was supposed to be shooting tonight, as you can see it is pretty obvious you can't play soccer in that. However i'm not even sure it will be better for tomorrow's game.

Here are the shots from today's game. I'm not sure I improved as much as I had hoped to, however I was able to get some different type of shots with the 400. I also shot the 400 with a 1.7tc and got some cool action shots. I had the snow wreak havoc on the metering system so I overexposed to make sure that the player's were not underexposed. I'd appreciate C&C. I also have shots that i have yet to import of my D90 shot with my 70-200

Snow !!!! arggghhhh....I know it's coming to my area sooner or later....

The last set of shots have you shooting into the light/sun. This puts the dark shadows into the faces. I bet they would have been much nicer from the other side of the field.

Just a though.................your mileage my vary

i hope you don't mind:
1. too much foreground. Nothing catches my eye, not a keeper imo
2. too much space on both sides, nice action. needs a levels bump to add some pop
3. odd angle, try to get straight aways of faces, also need some pop
4. very nice
5. needs to be way tighter crop. watch the bg-s and resist shooting
6. awkward position for her and not appealing to look at

Thanks for the comments Randy, I appreciate critiques, the harsher the better. I'd love to know what you think of the more recent shots that I took today that are posted here as well. Also on 5. The reason I did not crop originally is because I submitted it including the empty seats in the background as we had planned to run a story about low attendance for soccer, as you can see I cropped much tighter after some post.

skyvan wrote:
Thanks for the comments Randy, I appreciate critiques, the harsher the better. I'd love to know what you think of the more recent shots that I took today that are posted here as well. Also on 5. The reason I did not crop originally is because I submitted it including the empty seats in the background as we had planned to run a story about low attendance for soccer, as you can see I cropped much tighter after some post.


tighter crops work as long as there is enough room on top and more room in the direction of the action
i understand on #5, sorry about that