Rugby league local derby shots

[neilswood]

Difficult light as it was played in the evening with some harsh shadows. Did my best though C&C is always appreciated.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/195/514735398_88e88fa000_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/247/514766163_efbf1e221f_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/253/514738176_381d17533e_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/245/514765963_8baac1aa98_o.jpg

Thanks for looking

[c3p1]

Wow, I like them very much! The expression is no.1 is great. I also like the fans/coaches on the sideline and their anticipation!
Number 2-4 really show how tough the sport really is! Great captures on the action!
Paul

[Big Hands]

The captures really are excellent as far as the action goes, however I do have a couple of technical suggestions.

Two things:

1) If possible, instead of fighting the sunlight and apologizing for it, try to embrace and make it work for you by getting it behind you to keep harsh shadows minimized. Then tech issues won't have to be explained, you can just use your skill as a photographer to compose.

2) I see this in photos (but especially in sports photos) taken with the 20D and 30D quite often and I'm tuned into it because I struggled with it myself much more than I do now.

Your camera is only capable of displaying a finite number of steps of dynamic range (from light to dark) of exposure. I've heard 9 quoted as the number of steps that the 20D/30D is blessed with, so that's not a lot. The ideal camera would have many more steps of dynamic range.

If you have a lot of photos where there are blown highlights and areas of dark shadows where the detail is also lost, your in-camera contrast is set too HIGH. You are giving away at least two of those valuable steps of detail from both ends of the spectrum at the same time. Ideally, if you set your exposure too high, you should not also have areas of lost shadow detail and vice-versa. You should be able to adjust it to a happy medium using exposure compensation or at the very least, eliminate either blown highlights OR lost shadow details.

By using a custom 'parameter' setting, you can keep the other settings where you like them and lower the contrast setting. Much to my own surprise, I get the best results from my 20D by having the contrast set at "-1". This will make those steps closer together if you will, which means more differentiation where you can see it instead of larger steps which include blown highlights and lost shadow detail in the same shot.

I may still get some lost shadow detail if there just isn't enough light, but it usually isn't accompanied by blown highlights. In your case, I think you would stil have some dark shadow areas, but this would have left more detail in the brightest areas of your shots.

I hope I've explained this so it can be understood, but at any rate, try lowering the contrast setting in-camera and see if you don't think it helps with this.

Regards,
Jeff

[neilswood]

c3p1

Thanks for your comments, glad you liked them. Looking forward to the summers league now, lots more big hits and break away tries!

Big Hands

Thanks for you comments and advice, shows why this forum is so useful.

1. I normally would have given the sideline a go, probably walking up and down with my 70-200mm but they were packed with supporters (see #1) so would have been taking back of the head shots probably.

2. Thanks for the advice about the contrast, I'll definitely give that a go at the next game I do and post the results up here. I can't remember a more difficult game I've covered due to harsh light and shadows. Living in the north of England I'm normally more concerned with bad light and rain! Roll on the summer league.

Again, thanks both for your comments, much appreciated.

[jim9449]

Good action shots neilswood, Jeffs comment is very good,
Jeff, I am intrested in your comment about shadows and highlights, just got a 30D. By using a custom 'parameter' setting, is that the picture style in the menu? (User Def.)