Womens Volleyball - CC Reqd - Many Image Warning

[Croasdail]

Okay - last regular season game now in the can... I tried to mix things up a little. I pretty much figured out some basic shots I can get consistantly, so I decided to venture out from what I normally do and see if I can add some interest by adding some variety to the shots I am shooting at these games. Let me know what you think, and what could be done to add more interest to the shots. Some of these are not your normal shots - let me know if they need to go. Thanks in advance for any advice.

#1
http://www.buzzershot.com/images/a_va_at_duke097_sm.jpg

#2
http://www.buzzershot.com/images/a_va_at_duke108_sm.jpg

#3
http://www.buzzershot.com/images/a_va_at_duke113_sm.jpg

#4
http://www.buzzershot.com/images/a_va_at_duke204_sm.jpg

#5
http://www.buzzershot.com/images/a_va_at_duke246_sm.jpg

#6
http://www.buzzershot.com/images/aVTatDuke050_cr_sm.jpg

#7
http://www.buzzershot.com/images/aVTatDuke102_crop_sm.jpg

#8
http://www.buzzershot.com/images/aVTatDuke202_sm_cr.jpg

#9
http://www.buzzershot.com/images/aVTatDuke298_sm_cr.jpg

The last shot was not the girls signaling they are number one - rather they were celebrating the last game point of the season - and final home point to be played for the senior girls. The team ended up undefeated at home. If they make the NCAA's, they most likely will not have home court for any of their games - so this was it.

Thanks for looking - cheers.

[plater]

great shots

[QUASIPHOTO]

Mark,
I like these a lot. These show more of the game than just the normal bump, set, spike, block. I think that these shots tell more about the game as a whole. The coach shot is classic, let's you know that there is more to the game than just the players. Good job on these.....I've really enjoyed your shots all year in this venue (volleyball), I have learned a lot. Thanks for posting your work.

[mdm]

Great shots! I love everything about these shots.

[liza]

These are wonderful! The capture of expression and action is quite well done. And variety is a good thing to introduce to any type of photography you do.

[JohnnyG]

Nice set for sure! Excellent...

[Croasdail]

JohnnyG, mdm, and plater ~ Thanks for looking and the comments....

Quasiphoto ~ thanks, were all learning together here too. Trust me, I cherry picked a lot of tips from your posts as well. Hope to see your stuff posted more often, I will post my thoughts and ideas if you will please do the same back... I have a lot of learning to do and frankly I don't know what I don't know. Oh, and I liked the family portrait you did... that stuff scares the you-know-what out of me.

Liza ~ Thanks for your comments... I really did start finding myself getting a little bored shooting the same old stuff, so I started looking around for the "other" stories going on. There was a lady who brought her 12 year old down syndrom son to each game. She was great with him and I started stealthly photographing them - her teaching him how to signal time out, when to cheer, etc.... This week her son came up to me and introduced himself. The is a side story that has become quit fullfilling. Anyway... Please comment on anything that needs improvement.....

for instance...

the last shot here is a little soft and I don't know why. It is my 3rd recrop of it, and I am not satisfied. I am also restricting myself to standard 8x10 form factor - and am unsure it that is the right decision. I broke that rule with the second shot - it is 6 x 9. Right decision? Wrong?

[shakin360]

Great shots! What lens were you using and what were your settings?

[drisley]

Volleyball is a very difficult sport to shoot imho.
You did a very impressive job.

[gmen]

An enjoyable set Mark. The coach shot is the pick of the bunch for me.

As for the crops, they all seem to work OK. I wouldn't restrict yourself to a particular cropping ratio (except maybe very 'narrow' crops) - unless of course you are simply aiming to sell prints of a particular size. For editorial use, the usual rule of thumb is to provide a selection of horizontal and vertical crops, maybe leaving a little bit of breathing space so that the photo editor can have a bit of flexibility with layout... but this, of course, is just a rule of thumb ;)

---- Gavin

[Croasdail]

shakin360 ~ These were all shot with a 70-200 f2.8 shot wide open, ISO 800, aperture prefered in raw.

[drisley]

shakin360 ~ These were all shot with a 70-200 f2.8 shot wide open, ISO 800, aperture prefered in raw.
Except for #6 which was shot at F4.5 ;)
You had great lighting there!
At the university arenas I've shot, I get about 1/500s, F2.8, ISO3200

[fslshooter]

Mark -
I see you didn't take much of a break after your marathon -- good stuff here. I especially like the intensity you captured in #s 1, 4 and the coach in #8. I like the last one too -- it's definitiely different but probably not suitable for a portfolio. As for #s 4 and 5 IMO they're a bit common -- especially for you. Exposure, colors, DOF and focus appear to be spot on in all pics. Excellent work.

[Croasdail]

drisley - you rated me out.... actually I forgot for those shots I changed so I could get better DOF. Generally speaking... I shoot 2.8. But the lighting in there does give the opportunity for some latitude in how I shoot.

Jerry - for about 5 days I didn't want to even look at a camera again... then I started to feel guilty that I wasn't going to shoot their last games.. and I caved. I am glad I did... it was fun again. And thanks for the comments... I agree on the last one. I think it would work in a screen show or something where it could be put into context of a bigger presentation.. but it doesn't stand on it's own. Thanks again for the comments..

Gavin - thanks for the comments... I still don't feel real comfortable with my crops, I need to spend more study time figuring out the right balance of subject vs white space. I use 8 x10 and 11x14 for my images just because a SID asked me for that size and it sort of stuck... but was just one guy.

[kenyc]

Great shots Mark, my favorite is #2. All are great shots. Wonderful color and exposure. Well done!

KAC

[DavidEB]

The facial expression in #1 is fabulous. best of a series of great captures.

[drisley]

These definately give me a craving to go to some volleyball games soon.

[wareseeker]

Great shots! What lens did you use for these shots?

[Croasdail]

Kenny, David and wareseeker - many thanks...it was fun... and Cameron Arena makes it easy...

The lense.... for this go around, a Sigma 70-200 f2.8 on a 20D.

[Frogballs]

Great shots, volleyball like I haven't seen here yet!

[Croasdail]

Frogballs - many thanks.... Love to know the story behind the screen name

[DwightMcCann]

Mark, wanted to let you know I looked at these ... thought I had commented but I see not. Please don't go there with Frogballs or you'll surely have to move these lovelies to the Glamour section! :-)

[Croasdail]

Dwight - you did.. just in the casino thread...

Happy Thanksgiving Dwight and everyone else!

[DwightMcCann]

Oh, Lordy, more Senior Moments! :-) Happy Thanksgiving to you, too.

[EOSX]

I like all the shots, especially #2. One question, did you AI Servo most of these shots?

[GyRob]

very nice you caught them well.
Rob.

[LMP]

As said these are all pretty impressive, Iv'e not done any indoor work as yet but have heard what a b**ch it can be. Looks like you have the hang of it.

It's nice to see a differnet angle on the game being played, although I dont post them here it's something I have been trying to do with my football shots. I guess they can make great stock photo's as well :)

The energy and facial expression make #1 my pick of the bunch.

[Darkhamr]

Great shots! 2 and 6 are my faves.

[liza]

I just came back to this post and read your comments about the lady and her son with Down's syndrome. This was especially meaningful to me, as I am a special education teacher. I try to always capture images from the sidelines and the crowd as those are often just as interesting as the game.
As for the crops, I stick with standard 8x10 for print purposes, but don't worry about it too much on the web. I know the guys on Miranda say to stay away from square crops, but I don't really think it makes that much difference as long as your crop is tight. The newspaper editor doesn't complain when I submit a picture like that.

[ACDCROCKS]

all of your photos have good reaction and action, your doing fine