Challenge, Sports, Showing Super-Competitiveness 2006_08 Sports Super Competitive_01

[Jim Kenny]

This is great ! first post here and what a warm welcome ! Thank you all for the kind words.

Asher - I have done away with the monopod and doing just fine .. as for shooting in the rain ... I have not been in such a heavy down pour as that day. And who are the kids ? ... well I was at the game to shoot my nephew when this play unfolded ... I prefer to keep the kids names out of this post but I can tell you the white team is the Capital City Steelers and the red team is the North Raleigh Bulldogs.

Nill - with comments like that ... I can only hope you are on the judging committee : )

Andrew - "floundering in his wake! Ha" just goes to show there is always room for a good pun to bring a smile

Tony - Thanks ! And yes the parents bought a poster ... for that I used MPIX.Com ... the parents wanted the matboard as well.

And now, not wanting to make a difficult decision for the judges any more difficult, but to continue in the spirit of the thread allow me to explore this challenge alittle further with a 2nd entry ...

http://www.basecampphotos.com/thrill_of_victory.jpg

"Thrill of Victory"


Now incase your wondering ...

Same gear as shot above but without the monopod ISO 100 1/1000sec f2.8

Yes, Every kid deserves a day in the sun like this ! The format of this game was two sudden death over times and if still tie, then on to the penalty shoot out. This goalie just blocked the penalty kick which advanced the team to the next game ... The State Championship. Which they won !

Team is Chaple Hill United Lightning.

No I did not make a Sale to the parents on this shot. But I do have a BIG print of this under glass .. The goalie is my son !

Jim

 

[Nill Toulme]

Another classic shot Jim — wonderful! Even better when it's your own kid. ;-)

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

 

[Tony Panzica]

Thanks for the input. My web site is a canned program that I paid a ton of money for. I do have a back end manager, however, its more for arranging images. This company also hosts my site, I will call them to see if there is an easy solution. I may just create a link to my PhotoReflect site, and put several Portfolio images there.

Not to be negative, cause I'm really a positve A type personality, however, after working for Fuji for 7 years, and running my own deal for 10 years now, I have just never been interested in showing off my work. I never felt my images ponied up to the quality of those shooters. I have since completely changed my mind about that whole concept. Except at an event, I may print a couple of nicer images so parents can see the quality of the final print. I was always more interested in selling the images than showing them to my piers.

This BB seems to have different attitude than most others, in a real positive way. I will need to update and change my attitude towards how I feel about my work. You do get in a rutt in this business if your not careful.
I think that being more active on this BB will defintely change my outlook. Just taking about my work has got me rethinking. Thanks to all.

 

[Tony Panzica]

Jim, that shot is simply CRAZY!

 

[Jim Kenny]

Classic and Crazy ... two adjectives that up to this point I have not considered for that image ... thanks !

BTW ... wonder why the image is not showing up ? all I see is the link to the image ... did paste the link using the wrong format ? I thought I used the same format when I pasted the link to my first post ?

 

[Jim Kenny]

hey - thats great ... now i see the shot - thanks !

 

[Asher Kelman]

Jim,

I simply placed your url in

enclosures.

One can do this automatically in the drop down dialog box activated by the little image of a mount in the upper bar of formatting choices. Replace the http://www with just the url for your image, no other code is needed!

Your post was certainly worth the effort. The more immediate the experience, the better. I enjoyed your contribution!

Asher

 

[Larry Cothren]

Holding

This is a shot from my second outing shooting football. The guy in blue does have the ball tucked up tight under his right arm. If he didn't it would be one heck of a holding call especially with the ref in the background.

 

[Nill Toulme]

Larry this is good action, well timed, sharp and fairly well exposed.. Couple of things I notice about it, FWIW:

These players are fairly small, and you're shooting slightly down on them. You'll get more interesting angles if you get down low and shoot from their level or lower.

Football helmets throw terrible shadows on the faces. Drives me nuts. Players of color just make it harder. Partial solutions include fill flash and shooting with what light you have at your back. Here I see long shadows and the sun at their backs, suggesting to me that maybe if you'd positioned yourself farther upfield to the left, you could have taken advantage of that nice low sun.

Your horizon is tilted slightly down to the right.

Tough call with the ref in the background, but I think in this shot I would sacrifice him and go for a tighter crop around the players, probably a 6:4 ratio, guillotining the ref right at the top of his gut and probably clipping the leftmost player's arm midway between the elbow and wrist (never at the joint). Because it's not a holding call, the ref is not really part of the "story" of this shot.

Argh! Trashcans in the background make me crazy! I've actually been known on more than one occasion to move the darn things off the field to get them out of my shots. ;-)

Good start!

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

 

[Larry Cothren]

Nill,
Thank you for the critique. This was a just for fun learning experience. I was shooting from the bottom level of the stands and I wasn't allowed on the field. Which explains the downward angle. It was a bright partly cloudy sunny day at about 1:00 in the afternoon. I didn't bring my flash with me because I didn't think that I would need it being the conditions of the day. The monopod was just plain left behind.

They have their playoff game this weekend. I have a good chance of getting field access and I rented a 1.7x teleconverter to mate with my 70-200mm. The only downside is that it is at night but at a good lit field.

Your right about the tighter crop. I'm not used to the irratic action of football. I'm used to shooting dancers on stage and a little slower movement.

Thanks again for the critique and I'll put it to good use on Saturday.
Larry

 

[Asher Kelman]

Larry,

A good shot under tough circumstances. I have cursed the times I left flash home too!

I rented a 1.7x teleconverter to mate with my 70-200mm.

You mean 1.4 or is there something I need to learn about?

Asher

 

[Nill Toulme]

1.7x is a Nikon thang, you wouldn't understand. ;-)

Larry be mindful that you'll lose 1 1/2 stops with that 1.7x. Watch your shutter speed.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

 

[Larry Cothren]

I realized that today when I mounted the converter up. I thought that I would only loose 1 stop. I'm going to play it by ear. If I can get on the field I might put the converter in my pocket.

Thanks again,
Larry

 

[Nill Toulme]

1.4x = 1 stop
1.7x = 1.5 stop
2x - 2 stop

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

 

[Tony Panzica]

Nill, Check the photo on my front page that I got tonight, I love this shot. Sorry have not done the .mac set up, but I will get it done after I get back from NY. Hope you like it! The lighting at this field drove me nuts, with added problem of black jersies. The home team, NPHS has black jersies as you can see. I have realized that nothing slower than 320 will work, 500 is too dark. The white team looks awesome at 640. I was constantly changing the shutter speed, sometimes during the same play, Av set to 2.8, ISO was H mode. It was very challenging to say the least!

 

[Nill Toulme]

Heh, I see why you're excited, it's a fantastic shot. Not only the black uni, but the $#Y&*$^# facemask too. Well done! Looks like there was a fair amount of ambient light. Your exposure was ISO 3200, 1/320 f/2.8?

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

 

[Jim Kenny]

Tony - it hasn't been said but it has "Heisman Trophy Pose" all over it !

I have seen some use Photoshop to get rid of glare from people eyeglasses ... if you could have some of that glare removed from over his right eye ...

But then you would loose that "catch light" : )

Jim

 

[Aaron Strasburg]

More Soccer

Here's the drive to the game and state championship winning goal I mentioned in this thread:

I run so fast I'm blurry
Pictures are really so much better when they're in focus, at least this sort of picture. Even at this size you can tell, and I sharpened the heck out of it to get this far which caused some really ugly background artifacts, but it's not worth going back and blurring the background. No sense wasting time on a picture that isn't even good enough technically to call marginal.

This one was better focused but less significant to the game:

Wait for me

 

[Antonio Correia]

Excellent shots.
Panning blur.
Very good.

 

[Jeff Mims]

Well, I'll be second!

Love this shot. This is great..in that it tells a story, or at least one chapter. Great shot!

 

[Antonio Correia]

Sport shots

 

[Jim Kenny]

Antonio - When I saw the first shot I thought that was a great point of view .... great shot of ULTIMATE FRISBEE ! I liked the fact that the Frisbee was not in the shot ... I liked what was implied.

Then I moved on to your second shot an thought how tough it is to get good exposure on the beach in mid day ..

Then I moved on to view about two or three other web pages ... and your first shot really stuck with me because I thought that shot would work at a soccer game as well ... I went back to the shot and I was amazed because I cant tell ... it might be a soccer game !

That shot is great .... what are they playing ?

Jim

 

[Asher Kelman]

I agree with Jim about the first shot! I can see it as a 24x48" print!

Asher

 

[Antonio Correia]

... That shot is great .... what are they playing ? Jim

Jim. Thank you for the comments.
They are playing football. At least that's what we call it in Portugal.
Here you have 2 more pictures.

 

[Jim Kenny]

FOOTBALL !

the more I looked at the shot the more I expected that answer

When I looked at the image I saw artificial terf - both games could be played here ...

I saw a white jersey but i could not read the words on the front ... although I did see the last three letters NET (starting to think football here ... because I do not think there is a net in Frisbee)

I saw the player in the dark jersey has HUGE Quads ! (again thinking football but high level Frisbee is going to have well developed quads as well)

Wrist band on player of dark jersey ... again it could go both ways

White jersey looks like athletic apparel manufacture logo ... (football but it could be high level Frisbee)

And as I continue to look at the image I cant help but laugh when I think of Nills formula eyes contact and the BALL .... well this one has it all .... I think ...


Were you shooting with a 400 ?

Jim

 

[Antonio Correia]

The pictures were shot with the magnificent 70-200 IS L USM f/2.8

witch EXIF is (last one):
Date Taken: 2006-11-06 15:45:18 Date Digitized: 2006-11-06 15:45:18
Date Modified: 2006-11-05 21:51:42 Make: Canon
Model: Canon EOS 20D Size: 3661x2480
Bytes: 4299864 Aperture: f/4.0
ISO: 200 Focal Length: 200mm
Exposure Time: 0.0003s (1/3200) Flash: Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
Exposure Program: Shutter priority Exposure Bias: -0.333333333333
ExposureMode: 0 White Balance: auto ColorSpace:

 

[Asher Kelman]

Antonio,

First this shows the utility of the 70-200 Canon lens. Next i'd say that the new 4.0L IS is a great economical substiute which is also lighter!

Next, the capturing of key moments of interest is important.

Here, further zoom would have removed the goal as a reference point. How one could crop closer, any ideas?

Maybe dropping down and using the camera in portrait mode and a x1.4?

Asher

 

[Antonio Correia]

Antonio,

First this shows the utility of the 70-200 Canon lens. Next i'd say that the new 4.0L IS is a great economical substiute which is also lighter!

Next, the capturing of key moments of interest is important.

Here, further zoom would have removed the goal as a reference point. How one could crop closer, any ideas?

Maybe dropping down and using the camera in portrait mode and a x1.4?

Asher

Asher,
The 70-200 is very good for this kind of scenes.
Well, I like it very much. It's dam sharp.
May be the f/4.0 is lighter and is has IS BUT it's not very opened. I wouldn't buy it.
Thought I know the f/2.8 is very heavy. Today I have been shooting by the sea/river from inside the car because it was raining heavily and I felt it was hard to hold with my left hand when I had to move the wheel...
I do have the 1.4 converter as you may already know.
I use it too but not so often.
I like lens wide opened !

I don't like very much to shoot in portrait position... It's a drag for the right hand around at the top (20D remember without extra battery)...

Best regards.
Thank you for commenting.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi Antonio,

I agree that the 70-200 2.8 is more often appropriate for a lot of work. I need it for indoor events because of the extra capability for low light. The f4 is however wonderfully sharp and light and still gives a great "bokeh".

Asher

 

[Antonio Correia]

Hi Antonio,

I agree that the 70-200 2.8 is more often appropriate for a lot of work. I need it for indoor events because of the extra capability for low light. The f4 is however wonderfully sharp and light and still gives a great "bokeh".

Asher

Asher,
As we can't own both - well, we can, but it is not the point - the best thing is to have the heaviest in the hand and in the pocket.