Jr. High Football Photos

[Suburbanmom]

I took some photos at my son's football scrimmage and would appreciate any critique or advice you may have. Don't hold back. I definately want to improve my skills. Thanks!

All were taken with my Nikon D50. ISO 200; 1/800; f/5.6; 70-300mm lens at varying distance. I blurred the name of the school for web viewing.

 

[ukcatfan]

I took some photos at my son's football scrimmage and would appreciate any critique or advice you may have. Don't hold back. I definately want to improve my skills. Thanks!

All were taken with my Nikon D50. ISO 200; 1/800; f/5.6; 70-300mm lens at varying distance. I blurred the name of the school for web viewing.

It could just be that these are being viewed on my pc at work, but all look a little bit under exposed to me. You might also want to consider a few cropped versions. For example, on the QB shot try a crop where nothing below his knee/waist area is in the shot. I believe that would put more emphasis on him and tell a story of what he is doing. Remember the rule of thirds when doing crops though.

One last thing, if you really want to make the school unknown, then also blur the patch on the red team b/c that makes it pretty obvious what the team name is. It was the name of my middle school team though

Kevin

 

[Geoff_M]

Here's a great primer on shooting football from one of the staff photographers from USA Today, Robert Hanashiro. Video Link

The only additional critique I would offer is the most common one heard in sports photography (and in Bert's video above): "Shoot tighter".

 

[Suburbanmom]

It could just be that these are being viewed on my pc at work, but all look a little bit under exposed to me. You might also want to consider a few cropped versions. For example, on the QB shot try a crop where nothing below his knee/waist area is in the shot. I believe that would put more emphasis on him and tell a story of what he is doing. Remember the rule of thirds when doing crops though.

One last thing, if you really want to make the school unknown, then also blur the patch on the red team b/c that makes it pretty obvious what the team name is. It was the name of my middle school team though

Kevin

OOOooopps! The patch never occurred to me. Oh well...good intentions!

Could someone else please comment as the pictures looking a bit under exposed? I've looked at them on my pc and my laptop and they look alright to me. If someone else could weigh in, it would help me know if I have them exposed correctly.

Thank you Kevin and Geoff (great link) for your comments. I really appreciate them.

 

[ukcatfan]

OOOooopps! The patch never occurred to me. Oh well...good intentions!

Could someone else please comment as the pictures looking a bit under exposed? I've looked at them on my pc and my laptop and they look alright to me. If someone else could weigh in, it would help me know if I have them exposed correctly.

Thank you Kevin and Geoff (great link) for your comments. I really appreciate them.

They look better on my home pc, but I looked at the histogram here also. They do cover the entire spectrum, which is good, but all weigh heavily to the left. IMO, that is probably due to the excessive purple and shadows. I would have bumped the shadows up a little, but that is more my preference than really being underexposed.

Kevin

 

[woj68]

I think the exposure is "OK", But if I could make a suggestion or two...

Shoot in aperture mode with the shutter wide open. This will allow the most light and give you a faster shutter speed. Try to get your shutter speed to 1/500 or better. Bump up the ISO if needed.

Show the action big. In other words, get in tight and make the players big and important in your image. To do this, you want to get as close as you can and use a long lens.

Show the ball. Whenever you shoot a ball sport – like football – try to show the ball in your picture.

Facial expressions help "make" good sports pictures.

Here's a picture I took over the weekend at my kid's football game that I think captures all of the above. A little cropping helped make this shot more interesting.

I'm by no means an expert, but I have learned a ton just by reading different forums and going out and shooting like crazy.

Good luck!

 

[Suburbanmom]

Thanks for all the good advice. We play again on Saturday and I'll be thinking of your comments.

 

[MICKEY88]

I think the exposure is "OK", But if I could make a suggestion or two...

Shoot in aperture mode with the shutter wide open. This will allow the most light and give you a faster shutter speed. Try to get your shutter speed to 1/500 or better. Bump up the ISO if needed.


Good luck!

don't know about anyone else, but I'm confused on this one..

shouldn't it read, aperture wide open, rather than shutter

plus they were already shooting wide open with a shutter speed of 1/800th

All were taken with my Nikon D50. ISO 200; 1/800; f/5.6; 70-300mm