Contest Photos....Your Opinion

[August 15 Photography]

The below link will take you to a page of 8 photographs taken at each Seahawks home game. They are all being judged by people from Canon, other professionals, as well as the Seahawks team Photographer. As you might guess one of them is mine. I just wanted to see which one you though was the best. They are being judged on clarity, overall quality and originality. Your thoughts please?

http://beta.seahawks.com/12Zone/ContestsAndPromotions.aspx?id=36154

[August 15 Photography]

40 min and 14 views and no comments :(

[glitch]

Coming from the viewpoint of someone who knows little about sports photography apart from what I see in the press, none of them grab me as being particularly spectacular. I don't know if there were particular conditions imposed upon the images but they seem to be in need of some PP. However, I know nothing about American Football and am commenting solely as if I've seen them in the newspaper - hope this helps you in some way.

'Seeking Justice' stands out the most, mainly because of the clarity and the subject matter. Doesn't really say much to me though but I like the imagery. It's not what I'd call the best though.

'All Eyes on Alexander' could be a winner but my eye is being drawn to the crowd in the top left and away from the action. I can see that the photo is supposed to show the moment when the player (you'll have to excuse my terminology here, I'm English!) is breaking through the lines, but there's too much to distract me.

'Six for the 12' needs a crop to remove the distracting elements from the left of the frame. I'm not really interested in the other photographers and the banner either so maybe that could go too. Just seems to lost punch for having too much going on. Weird lighting on the player's socks too. What's caused that?

'Sack Attack' does nothing for me at all. I guess this is supposed to show the QB being dumped on but there's no momentum in the shot and it doesn't feel particularly action packed. I'd want more of the action and less of the surroundings.

'Touchdown D-Jack' seems slightly soft in places and a little unbalanced. Having the elbow of the player to the left cut off is pulling my eye away from the catch, and I think there's too much of a gap between him and the action to not crop tighter on the player with the ball. That would make a punchier image for me.

'Making History makes for a great shot but seems a bit flat and lifeless. Too much background for my liking and needs to be more emphasis on the huddle (is that what you'd call it) of players. I also don't know why the title relates to the picture, seems a bit odd to a non-football viewer.

'Dear God...' needs to be cropped tighter for me. I'm finding my eye wander to the man in the blue hat/helmet just over the shoulder of #50 and not on the hands which I would imagine are the focal point and reason for the shot.

'Concentrated Catch' is a another favourite for me, but there's some very distracting red in the background (although that can't be helped) and the player has his eyes closed which doesn't look right to me. I also don't know the significance of the catch which means the picture loses a little feeling for me.

All in all I think 'Touchdown D-Jack' is the best American Football shot and 'Making History' is the most arty of the offerings.

[Hellashot]

40 min and 14 views and no comments :(

Someone is quite impatient. I think "Making History" was the best as all other shots seem to be rather snapshotty. Making History had good composition, had no distractions, and has context.

Your shot is a nice sharp shot, but it doesn't tell a story. It could have been taken during warm ups. :)

[August 15 Photography]

Thank you for the feedback. All 8 were taken by amatures. As far as I know none of us had any experiance in sports photog. I did win the XTi as part of the package which really set me off and running with my photography hobby. I hope I will get another chance to get down on the field to practice and make some improvements. Oh and We were instructed not to do any PP. For some reason whoever we submitted them to put like a highlight halo around most of them which I am not too fond of, but oh well. Should find out sometime soon who the winner is.

[MALI]

40 min and 14 views and no comments :(

As repeated by several others ad nauseam, posting pictures here instead of linking to your site would result in more C&C's.

MALI

[Broncobear]

there not bad but most of the time, I don't get a good feel of what's going on in the play.

I'd imagine that Sports photography is tough one to do well, but keep at it , I'm sure you'll get it