It's Saturday... so it must be knockout Football action!

[gmen]

The FA Cup was the order of the day again this afternoon. Here's just a bit of today's action:

Getting there in the nick of time...

http://www.tgsphoto.co.uk/forum_images/fe002.jpg

Thwack...

http://www.tgsphoto.co.uk/forum_images/fe004.jpg

Two against one is a bit unfair...

http://www.tgsphoto.co.uk/forum_images/fe003.jpg

A bit more thwack...

http://www.tgsphoto.co.uk/forum_images/fe005.jpg

Now, that can't be legal...

http://www.tgsphoto.co.uk/forum_images/fe006.jpg

Some full length thwack...

http://www.tgsphoto.co.uk/forum_images/fe007.jpg

Preparing to dive...

http://www.tgsphoto.co.uk/forum_images/fe001.jpg

How to gain intimate knowledge of your opponent...

http://www.tgsphoto.co.uk/forum_images/fe008.jpg

Thanks for looking :)

---- Gavin

[foxbat]

Amazingly sharp action shots with perfect depth-of-field. I hope you get paid well for those.

[LMP]

Great shots Gavin, particularly #5 :)

I'm guessing here but would you be the same Gavin credited with a pic from the 'Grays' game shown in the 'Non Leauge Paper' this week ;)

[3oh6]

another quality set from the football king himself. i'm still struggling with exposure outdoors and was just wondering how high the sun was in the sky during this match? TIA

[Steve Parr]

Oh... I thought there would be pictures of real football.

:lol:

Nice shots, though, man; nice and crisp...

Steve

[RockOne]

An excellent series. For those of us not familiar witht the FA Cup, which teams are these ?.

[rklepper]

Wow, these are really great shots. Thanks for sharing.

[Croasdail]

Love the shirt grab shot.... a shot you don't see everyday. I have a couple of shots that are very contrasty like your second shot that I hadn't made up my mind on because of that fact... but yours look great. Also, Where on the pitch do you shoot from?

[gmen]

Great shots Gavin, particularly #5 :)

I'm guessing here but would you be the same Gavin credited with a pic from the 'Grays' game shown in the 'Non Leauge Paper' this week ;)Thanks for your comments marc... yep, I am the one and the same Gavin... I do the odd job for the NLP when it fits in around my local paper schedule and obviously it's a pretty good outlet for stock pics as well.

---- Gavin

[gmen]

An excellent series. For those of us not familiar witht the FA Cup, which teams are these ?.Thanks Steve. This is an FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round tie between Brentwood Town (blue) and Windsor & Eton.

---- Gavin

[gmen]

another quality set from the football king himself. i'm still struggling with exposure outdoors and was just wondering how high the sun was in the sky during this match? TIAThese were shot after 3pm, so the sun was on its way down and not too high. Also there was some nice cloud cover (perfect conditions really), so I didn't have to work too hard to control the contrast.

The best solution I've found to dealing with harsh, high sun is shooting into the sun and exposing correctly for the subject. If you shoot with the sun behind you or side-on, the contrast range will inevitably challenge the sensor and, at the very least, require some post-production work to balance/retrieve highlight and shadow detail.

---- Gavin

[gmen]

Love the shirt grab shot.... a shot you don't see everyday. I have a couple of shots that are very contrasty like your second shot that I hadn't made up my mind on because of that fact... but yours look great. Also, Where on the pitch do you shoot from?Thanks Croasdail! I added some contrast to these images for the web (I generally shoot with the in-camera contrast set to -1)... it seems to be easier to add some contrast after the event rather than subtract it from a very contrasty capture.

As for shooting positions, if I can I shoot from the sideline, about 10-15 yards down from the halfway line on the dugout side. Why? Well my logic is that there will always be midfield action - if you sit behind the goal and all the play is at the other end of the pitch you won't get many images unless you've brought a 600mm+ lens along. I like to position myself on the dugout side so I can build up stock images of the managers as well. This is just my preference.

As usual, there are no hard and fast rules and, of course, there can be restrictions imposed on shooting positions as well. There are some shooters who always shoot from behind the goal - each to their own really!

---- Gavin

[RockOne]

Thanks for the info. Just had a look at the results for the week. I didn't realise there were that many teams :-).

[Croasdail]

Okay Gavin... so here is an example of the shot I was referring to. The field has reasonable lighting, but because of it the backgrounds just drops off the edge of the map ending up with shots like these that have uber-contrast. This one is worse because the yellow cast on his skin colour. If I correct for that, I loose the white in the Jersey. Would you accept this, can it or should it be fixec, or is it just too much and move on? I have lots of these as stock player images. I haven't done anything with this one yet other then to reduce it... so forgive some of the basic flaws.

[3oh6]

These were shot after 3pm, so the sun was on its way down and not too high. Also there was some nice cloud cover (perfect conditions really), so I didn't have to work too hard to control the contrast.

The best solution I've found to dealing with harsh, high sun is shooting into the sun and exposing correctly for the subject. If you shoot with the sun behind you or side-on, the contrast range will inevitably challenge the sensor and, at the very least, require some post-production work to balance/retrieve highlight and shadow detail.

---- Gavin
thanx much for the info mate. i will give that a go next time i'm out there. i just noticed on my last shot of the womens rugby i was almost shooting into the sun but not quite and almost exposed for the player in the shadow. you can see the sun was to the side pretty much. had i been wrapped around the field a bit more and facing the sun directly then all those blown out highlights would have been on her back, out of site and with a little longer exposure the player would be perfect...you kick ace son, thanx!

i just knew you got some cloud cover in this series. again...nice work.

[DwightMcCann]

And here I was sure this was REAL football! Oh, well, Steve knows best! :-) I have good connectivity again although not a lot of time ... still unpacking boxes ... was looking for my underwear box and it was absolutely the last box in the pile, sigh, but at least I won't have to go to work commando tomorrow. I put up Huey Lewis today over in Urban Life.

As always, these are such terrific images and you make it look so easy that you keep getting the new guys in trouble because they think they can do this! :-)

[gmen]

And here I was sure this was REAL football! Oh, well, Steve knows best! :-) I have good connectivity again although not a lot of time ... still unpacking boxes ... was looking for my underwear box and it was absolutely the last box in the pile, sigh, but at least I won't have to go to work commando tomorrow. I put up Huey Lewis today over in Urban Life.

As always, these are such terrific images and you make it look so easy that you keep getting the new guys in trouble because they think they can do this! :-)Dwight... Thanks for your comments... I'm pleased to hear that your move is going as smoothly as a move can ;) and that your underwear situation has improved :rolleyes: I'm off to Urban Life to see Huey.

---- Gavin

[gmen]

Okay Gavin... so here is an example of the shot I was referring to. The field has reasonable lighting, but because of it the backgrounds just drops off the edge of the map ending up with shots like these that have uber-contrast. This one is worse because the yellow cast on his skin colour. If I correct for that, I loose the white in the Jersey. Would you accept this, can it or should it be fixec, or is it just too much and move on? I have lots of these as stock player images. I haven't done anything with this one yet other then to reduce it... so forgive some of the basic flaws. OK... I can't see much wrong with that image as a stock photo. The colours aren't perfect, but it's certainly acceptable for many publication purposes (although the guys at SI might turn it down ;) )... crop it a bit, sharpen it up, caption it and sell it! If it's newspaper stock, it might end up in black & white anyway ;)

---- Gavin

[Croasdail]

Gavin... thanks for the advice as always, will do. I hadn't spent much time with them as at first I thought they were a little over the top. At least the player stands out. Were pretty much done with daytime games so the rest of the season will be under the lights.

[gmen]

i just knew you got some cloud cover in this series. again...nice work.I do a 'cloud dance' every Saturday morning ;)

---- Gavin

[gmen]

Gavin... thanks for the advice as always, will do. I hadn't spent much time with them as at first I thought they were a little over the top. At least the player stands out. Were pretty much done with daytime games so the rest of the season will be under the lights.No problem Croasdail. There's plenty of mileage in these 'stock' type pics...

---- Gavin

[PhotosGuy]

Very nice work! I wonder if these guys ever see the pics of them with their eyes closed! :D

[gmen]

Very nice work! I wonder if these guys ever see the pics of them with their eyes closed! :DThanks Frank! The 'eyes closed' pics always provide some amusement for their colleagues if not themselves ;)

---- Gavin