How do you know when a shot is good....

[Croasdail]

so here is where I am going with this. Below are two images I came across while cleaning up from the now closed baseball season - and this time around I really like them. They were taken with my old 1D - so that have a little of that 1D look to them, but I do like the feel of them. Now I might just be getting crazier as time goes on... but these are two that made it to the "B" and "C" stacks last time through. I often find the ones I like right after the event... are not always the same ones I would pick a week, month or 6 months later. How do you all detach yourselves enough from the event so that when your picking submittable images, your not second guessing yourself like I am. Cheers.....

Throwing to first...

http://www.buzzershot.com/images/668B0166_edited-1_small.jpg

hard slide into 2nd base

http://www.buzzershot.com/images/668B9906_edited-1_sm.jpg

[coryjohnson]

I have the same problem a lot...I will get into a game so the good stuff that happens become my favorite pictures

[psurrette]

Mark, sometimes when I am looking at a group of photos if I have two or three keepers from a player I may over look a potential good one, when I go back one of those good ones may stand out better later, In this case the top one I may have had a shot of the same player in a different inning with a similar throw but no shadow in the face, would have kept the one with out shadow first time around, 2nd photo with out good faces I most likely would not have kept unless this was a critical out or something that would have told a story about that particular game. I am the same way, always rethinking why did I keep that one and not another. Nature of humans.....

Pete

[frenchdub]

Hi there

How do you know when a shot is good....????

Now there's a question...!!!! I think first off you have to look at a lot of pictures before you start to really appreciate what is a good shot...
I worked for many years on the Reuter picture desk and was privileged to see some of the best sports and news shots of our time come over the wire...
I was also able to edit and work with some of the best in the business...

So what makes a good shot is very hard to define...

the shots shown were relegated to your also ran pile from the off.... well I'd kind of agree with that first judgement... both are ok shots, sharp, well exposed and decent enough action... but neither really stands up as a 'good' photo... neither would get on the wire for example...

Second base slides even as a Brit I know are "bread and butter" shots... but his one is an almost made it shot... I'm sure you had better in the series...

When I was editing and shooting for the wire we were able to give the papers the best shots... we weren't under an obligation to conform...which is often the case when you work on a paper.. they want choice... which often means the best shots don't get published...

On one paper I worked for we never gave 'lesser' shots to the picture desk... as they always chose the worst shot...

If you look at a series of shots... like a second base slide... if there is a picture... it will jump out of the frame at you...
I used to like editing soccer. There are so few good pictures in a game that the good ones stand out. I think this is the essence of picture editing. I used to hate getting the end of a roll of film with my loupe and not seeing a shot that jumped out... coz it generally meant that there was no picture...

I think its a bit like when you shoot a good picture.. you know when you hit the shutter that you've 'nailed it' there is like an electroshoke through the camera body that scream 'Great shot' at you.

There sharper you get and the better you get tand he more often you get that buzz... if the pic makes covers or front pages it's better than any drug...

happy shooting

Gareth

[Croasdail]

Hey Cory, Pete and Gareth,

Thanks for your replies. It is just something I really struggel with. Everytime I get an SI or a sport specific magazine, the first thing I do is thumb through all the pages and try to figure out why the editor picked the image they did. From a photographic perfectionist standpoint, very often the shots break all kinds of rules, critical sharpness, faces (the old no backs rule), compoistion, are just hammered. But often they work in the context in which they are used. I remember one of the first football games I shot for one of local universities where I submitted some of what I thought were killer peak action shots. I waited by my email wanting to hear their feedback... only to get a note back saying these are good, but do you have any more of player x. I gathered up all by B and C photos of the player and sent them in. Next day, one of my most ordinary shots was there in all it's glory featured. It was cool to see it, but boy did I guess wrong on what they want. I have gotten better at it.... but it is still a mystery to me. I now submit everything that isn't technically broken - but unfortunately way too often I find one of my shots used that I really wish my name wasn't sitting next to.

Thanks again.

[frenchdub]

Hi Mark

When you are shooting specifically for papers and mags, you will also need to follow the sport, know who is the player of the moment, who is the player of the match, who scored what etc... These are the players to concentrate on...

Top action of any old player can get run in papers if it is a night match and the deadline in before the end of play... But nine times out of ten, you'll need to get top action of the the main player(s)...

As usual when shooting sport or news for mags and papers you still need to be a journalist and know what you are shooting...and cover the story...

The key is to get a cracking action shot of the key player... then you're sure to get published...

Regards
Gareth