Soccer Shots C&C Welcome

Trev M

Hi All,

Id very much welcome some feedback on my first soccer pics. Ken, Soccerc, PCPhoto, Paul Im looking at you guys .

Im learning a lot as I go, and have to say a lot of what Ive learned has been from this board so cheers to everyone, this board is an amazing resource for the users that are on it.

Huge to thanks to Paddy(PCPhoto) who has been super with advice and is generous to a fault.


I'll crop the first two to straighten em up:rolleyes:





I like this one a lot

whyulittle

Looks like the weather was kinder in Tallaght at least for your first game. Rain bucketed down at Town/Fingal on the same night.

No.3 is a perfectly good shot. Sharp, bright, and player facing you with the ball. A couple of the others either have no ball in the shot, or the players are facing away from you. No.2 is pretty good too, just crop off the RHS.

Trev M

Cheers for the feedback, yeah wasnt sure what it was gonna do weather wise , started spittin first half but cleaed pretty quickly.

Appreciate the comments, Im gonna do a bit of cropping and processing work on the images and tidy the them up. At this stage of the game Im painfully slow :rolleyes: but I guess as I get more experience I'll pick up the pace.

soccerc

Only no 3 (Darragh Maguire) is of any merit.

1 and 5 have no ball and the only circumstance stouse them would be if there was a story to the scene.

No 4 players backs are to the viewer and I would only keep it if the ball was hitting the back of the net.

No 2 with Maguire and Twigg could be a keeper if the full ball is visible when straightened.

I'd alos up the exposure compensation a little, mayhbe a 1/3rd or 1/2 so the faces are more natural colour

Trev M

Cheers for that thats exactly the kinda feedback I was hoing for.

Trev M

Regarding a story line ...

No.1 Play it ...play it now ....jaysus play the ball to him already

No.5 Dessie Baker runnin all night with limited success or support in the second half.

AnimalRights

As the others said, what shutter speed did you use?
Could do with a bit higher, although assuming you were using a flash you were probably at your max anyway?

soccerc

AnimalRights wrote: »

As the others said, what shutter speed did you use?
Could do with a bit higher, although assuming you were using a flash you were probably at your max anyway?

You can't use flash at a football game.

1/640 or 1/800 @2.8 ISO 800 for Tallaght.

All other grounds 1/500 or 1/640 @2.8 ISO 1600

You can also overexpose by 1/3rd or 1/2 stop if images still look dark

AnCatDubh

soccerc wrote: »

1/640 or 1/800 @2.8 ISO 800 for Tallaght.
All other grounds 1/500 or 1/640 @2.8 ISO 1600

Has Tallaght got better lighting installed than other Irish soccer venues? (just curious as to the detail). Thanks.

soccerc

AnCatDubh wrote: »

Has Tallaght got better lighting installed than other Irish soccer venues? (just curious as to the detail). Thanks.

Yeah, Tallaght has the highest lux value of any floodlighting system on the island. (better than Croke Park too before anyone asks)

It could host Europa League games if the other infrastructure for the category of game was in place.

AnimalRights

soccerc wrote: »

You can't use flash at a football game.

1/640 or 1/800 @2.8 ISO 800 for Tallaght.

All other grounds 1/500 or 1/640 @2.8 ISO 1600

You can also overexpose by 1/3rd or 1/2 stop if images still look dark

I am an empty head at times!

Curious at what Shutter speed he used, I've not got round to do a footy match yet, I have a few contacts for Shels and Bohs but just haven't got round to it! Season will be over b4 I sort something!

soccerc

AnimalRights wrote: »

I am an empty head at times!

Curious at what Shutter speed he used, I've not got round to do a footy match yet, I have a few contacts for Shels and Bohs but just haven't got round to it! Season will be over b4 I sort something!

Shutter speed alone won't help you, it's dependent upon the avialable light, the speed of lens and the ISO capability of the body to freeze the action

AnimalRights

No lol I meant shutter speed for the ball/player motions, I found the ball and some of the players a tad not frozen enough.

soccerc

AnimalRights wrote: »

No lol I meant shutter speed for the ball/player motions, I found the ball and some of the players a tad not frozen enough.

As in my post above it's not just the shutter speed that freezes the action particularly at night under floodlighting.

It's the combination of all three elements

For example, on a Nikon D200 you would shoot at 2.8 with an ISO of 800 and a speed of 1/500 or 1/400. Thats the limit for that body and not all of the action would be frozen.

AnimalRights

Yeah I did'nt read your previous post properly, was throwing my eye on TV watching MotD 2.

Trev M

Cheers for the info and discussion.... just a quick reply fore the land of zzzzz

My shots were trial and error as the game progressed, as I said 1st game and still learning so really appreciate all the information on here...I did struggle to capture the action with enough light so did a lot of choppin and changing....guess I woulda been shagged in a less well lit ground!!

Anyway... Here's the data on Shot 3

EOS 450, Shutter 1/400, F2.8 ,ISO 640


In terms of pp I mainly bumped the sharpness and vibrance up.

Also I've noticed by comparison I tend to favour darker pictures in general as a matter of personal taste. I guess this may not be to everyones liking or even generally acceptable ("correct") so I'll be aware of it in future.

Thanks again for your feedback.

Paulw

It's always a matter of learning. Some venues are better than others.

It does take time to get used to the sport and capturing images. For what it's worth, I find football the hardest to photograph, simply because the ball can go anywhere. Most other sports are easier to predict.

Just keep at it, and you'll find yourself improving.

Trev M

Hi Paul,

Thanks for chiming in there, Ive looked at a lot of your stuff and was really interested in getting your take.

Im pretty heartened by your post cause I did find it waaaay harder than I anticipated to shoot the game. I spent too much tracking play rather than focusing and anticpating shots .... I was hoping for more corners too, very few in the game :mad:.

Anyway next time I'll be more prepared thanks to ye lot on here:D

Paulw

I'd totally agree with what soccercc said about the images themselves.

I find rugby, GAA, etc all easier to photograph than football.

Anticipating the action takes time. I'm still learning that one. It can take time to train the mind - see what's going to happen, wait for the right moment, then press the shutter button.

I love going to the park outside my place, to cover local football. It helps me practice anticipating the action.

So, if there's football near you (AUL or such), then it can be worthwhile going to those games. They're also during daylight so easier to learn the camera setup.

Trev M

Will definitely try shoot some local games, good suggestion. That said first baby is due in under two weeks so my photogrpahy my be limited to junior for the foreseeable:) which of course Im looking forward to imensely.

Just wondering what people think of this ? In terms of value for money....

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/91296/art/canon/ef-70-200-mm-f-4-0l-usm-l.html

Another thing I was wondering was does the body used have a significant impact on focus speed ?

Paulw

Speed of focus is a combination of camera body and lens.

Some bodies are known for better/quicker focus, especially the high end models.

The 70-200mm f4 lens is brilliant, but for night sports/floodlights, you really do need f/2.8

Trev M

Paulw wrote: »

Speed of focus is a combination of camera body and lens.

Some bodies are known for better/quicker focus, especially the high end models.

The 70-200mm f4 lens is brilliant, but for night sports/floodlights, you really do need f/2.8

Had a feeling that was the case all right.

Saint_Mel

Shocking weather for our game against Fingal. Poor Niall O'Reilly was nearly washed away with the torrential rain!
Dont think anything over f2.8 would have caught much in the 2nd half anyway



Pic was taken with following settings:
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO Speed: 1600
Exposure Bias: -1 EV

Paulw

I had thought about going to that game, but when I saw the weather forecast, I changed my mind. Glad I didn't go.

In many floodlit venues, you really do need an f/2.8 lens. Even at that, you will end up shooting with high ISO.

Trev M

Looks like a shocker alright, hard to get a sharp image in those conditions no doubt ....

Love pic 152

Like the fact that thet arent too bright;) or the exposure isnt bumped up too much...a dog of a day by the looks of it.

Saint_Mel

Paulw wrote: »

I had thought about going to that game, but when I saw the weather forecast, I changed my mind. Glad I didn't go.

Even some phototogs who were there changed their minds and retreated back to the stand when the heavens opened :P

I still havent dried out enough to go through all my pics

Saint_Mel

Trev M wrote: »

Love pic 152

Hands up if you use rightguard :eek:

Trev M

heh heh youre showin your age there Saint_Mel if ya remember that add:D

whyulittle

Saint_Mel wrote: »

Even some phototogs who were there changed their minds and retreated back to the stand when the heavens opened :P

I still havent dried out enough to go through all my pics

You can't beat those pro's we have around here.

Paulw

whyulittle wrote: »

You can't beat those pro's we have around here.

I've never yet taken shelter from the rain when covering a game. You just have to have the right rain gear.

Trev M

...or the right weather forcast :pac: