My first press credential as photographer!

[sGu]

having been away from this place for a week, really miss it a lot.

I've been shooting for an international youth football tournament held in Carrington and Old Trafford here in Manchester, for Nike, oh, also 2 Vodafone cup matches! My very first press accreditation, yeeehaaaa!

It's a shame that i didn't have any 400mm lens or even 300mm one, but from what i've seen around those pros, WOW! Only 3 of them are shooting Nikon, all the rest are carrying big heavy white 400mm f2.8 IS "L" glasses, i MEAN every other Canon shooter has one of them, also another body with 70-200mm f2.8 IS mounted, some even carry a third one with either 24-70mm f2.8 L or 16-35mm f2.8 L attached, however, most of them are still using 1D bodies, guess MK II stock in UK is really that bad.

hope one day someone will pay for my equipment ... :roll:

http://gu.smugmug.com/photos/7026102-L.jpg

http://gu.smugmug.com/photos/7026045-L.jpg

[Andy_T]

Hey, SGU,

congrats :lol: !!!

Be sure to post some pics!

Best regards,
Andy

[aam1234]

Hey sGu !!! what a great news !!!

Please keep us updated as how it went.

[sGu]

thanks guys, i'll post some photos i shot from the final match and match between 3rd place team vs 4th place.

the whole event lasted 4 days, i've been travelling from hotel every day at 8.30am to the match ground and go back to the hotel at 6.30pm, then going through thousands of photos till 2am before i hit bed.

Andythaler, FC Koln(sorry can't find the two dots on top of "O" on my keyboard) did really well, unfortunately they lost 0-1 to Dinamo Zagreb(Croatia) when compete for the 3rd place.

I'll post some more photos once i have time to go through them all.

here is a link to the gallery: http://gu.smugmug.com/gallery/184546

together with some samples, all shots are taken on 70-200mm+1.4x TC.

http://gu.smugmug.com/photos/7031494-L.jpg

http://gu.smugmug.com/photos/7031599-L.jpg

http://gu.smugmug.com/photos/7031597-L.jpg

[MattCsnoH0MIE]

For a moment I didnt know you were talking about soccer which is known as football in the UK. It sounds like alot of fun to shoot photos of Manchester United!

Congratulations! I also cant wait to see some pics...

[sGu]

well, i didn't get the chance to shoot Manchester United in the end, game was cancelled due to lightening strikes at stadium, but i did shoot the tournament final at Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester United Vs Manchester City (under 15's)

[Andy_T]

Sgu ... nice pictures!

Still, are you sure it was not some kind of martial arts tournament?
Your photos suggest that :wink:

Best regards,
Andy

[aam1234]

In the 1st two photos, these guys seem to go at it...like they hate each other or something.

Very very nice photos!!! full of action and expressions.

If I may say just one comment, I'd say that the WB was a bit off. Look at the colour of the skin, looks a bit green-ish.

Other than that, really really nice photos. Congrats on a job well done.

[Penguin_101_1]

It does look a little green-ish (maybe grass stains??? :lol: ) Great pictures! :D

[sGu]

i agree on the green cast over the photos, it's my first time to use C1 pro for post processing, i might be doing something wrong, if anyone knows the way to fix it, please let me know, i can supply original RAW files for you to give it a go, see if it'll turn out better.

also i've heard about green overcast problem with 1D, i do have a tone curve for it, but i haven't yet loaded it up.

about the action, even though they are under 15's, man, they play like professionals, so competitive on the pitch, only wish i had a 300mm prime or 400mm prime, next time i'll consider to rent one, otherwise it just won't do them the justice :)

thanks for the comments, guys, keep them coming!

[aam1234]

I'm afraid I can't offer much help for your questions.

Am I correct to assume that by using C1 it means you were shooting raw.

[Ballen Photo]

CONGRATS sGu! I'm sure this made your day. :D
........Bruce

[aam1234]

i can supply original RAW files

Please ignore my last post :oops:

[sGu]

Thanks Bruce, it indeed made my day, actually my entire week :D

i just reprocessed those three images with different ICC profile in C1 pro, first two are the same profile, while the 3rd one is slightly different, and i much prefer the 3rd one, what do you guys think?

[Penguin_101_1]

I like the third one also. :D

[Murph7355]

I think they're superb pictures! Nice one.

Only thing I'd mention is the colours across the whole image look a little muted, almost as though there was a slight haze. Was it an overcast day?

Brilliant action photos though.

[drisley]

Great pictures, including the ones in the gallery!
I was thinking, you might want to put a slight watermark on them to protect them from being used by others.

[sGu]

Murph7355, it was indeed an overcast day, and it was even raining the day before, also because i only have 200mm+1.4x TC with max 280mm reach, i had to crop a lot of them when the action is happening in the mid-field, that could be another reason.

drisley, i put them on in a hurry so i can get some comments from you guys, i'll replace them all later with watermarks and hopefully better processed, too

thanks for viewing :D it really means a lot to me

[defordphoto]

Overcast can be fixed...This was a quickie:

http://racefamily.racinglines.com/MiscPhotos/SoccerSample.jpg

[Penguin_101_1]

That looks a lot better!

[Golf Clap]

[aam1234]

Waw, what a difference. The originals looked as if shot under florescent but with daylight setting.

sGu, excellent photos but the colour cast thing ...you know.

[sGu]

RFMSports, can you share your tips on how you fix that please?

[Dooglla]

Just use your levels as I did here on this one. Hope you don't mind that I used your picture to show how it turned out with the levels used to fix it.

http://geda-online.com/canon/football.jpg

http://geda-online.com/canon/football2.jpg

Dooglla

[evilenglishman]

For a moment I didnt know you were talking about soccer which is known as football in the UK.

It's known as football in 99.9% of countries on the planet :D

[defordphoto]

RFMSports, can you share your tips on how you fix that please?

In PS go to levels. Click on white dropper. With dropper go to something white and click in various locations to pop the contrast. Once the whites look good without blowing highlights, click on black dropper. With dropper go to something black and click in various locations until you like it. You can try the grey dropper too, but I have found just white then black work great.

Then I took the photo into variations. Tick the saturation button and slide the slider down to fine. Click on the more saturation frame twice in this case. Sometimes they need more or less. Click okay.

Then I took it into USM and gave it a quick 100/.01/0. That's the setting I use with the MKII and I'll give an MKII photo 2, 3, 4, 5 or so clicks with that USM setting depending on the photo.

Voila! Your mileage may vary. Everyone has their own methods. That's what works for me most times.

[Mike H]

I was thinking, you might want to put a slight watermark on them to protect them from being used by others.

What is a watermark, and how does it protect the image from being used? Thanks.

Mike H

[Bruce Foreman]

If I may say just one comment, I'd say that the WB was a bit off. Look at the colour of the skin, looks a bit green-ish.



Some chance that could be a reflective color cast from the grass/turf. I have one shot in my files somewhere of a young Taiwanese girl in very colorful Taiwanese aboriginal dress.

Green cast on part of her face from the tree I moved her under to get away from harsh sunlight. Blue cast on forehead from sky overhead and very distinct red and yellow cast on lower planes of the face reflected from parts of her costume.

Bruce Foreman

[sGu]

watermark is basically a copyrighted sign with your name or studio name next to it, or anything else you prefer regarding copyrights. with that, means your photo is copyrighted, also you can add your website link embedded in the photo together with copyright info, so whoever wish to use it can link to your site and contact you.

of course, it'll also stop people using your photo without your knowledge "supposingly" :roll:

[sGu]

for some reason, photos look fine on my mac, but when i upload to the site it loses contrast and just look flat, if anyone interested, i can send you a file to you can take a look on your screen see if they display okay.

just pm or email me

[Mike H]

watermark is basically a copyrighted sign with your name or studio name next to it, or anything else you prefer regarding copyrights. with that, means your photo is copyrighted, also you can add your website link embedded in the photo together with copyright info, so whoever wish to use it can link to your site and contact you.

of course, it'll also stop people using your photo without your knowledge "supposingly" :roll:

Thanks, sGu. How difficult is it for people to crop that out or cover it up with something like a cloning tool? Also, what program do you use to put this onto the photo?

Mike H

[sGu]

they can clone it, they can crop it, if you leave it at corner.

it's not just a mark on it, file name will also change with a copyright sign in front, which you can't see, also copyright info is embedded, here is an example of it.

it's done in photoshop, i'll post the whole process if anyone's interested.

http://gu.smugmug.com/photos/7068295-M.jpg

[Mike H]

Thanks, sGu. No need to post the whole process, I was just curious.
That's all good to know if I ever start trying to sell images.

Mike H

[Curos]

i would be interested in the whole process if its not too much trouble. maybe even start a new post about it?

[cmM]

First of all, Congratulations !
Second of all, you got media crediantials... I hate you !!! ;)

It's known as football in 99.9% of countries on the planet
Yup, I think the US is the only one that calls is soccer.

for some reason, photos look fine on my mac, but when i upload to the site it loses contrast and just look flat, if anyone interested, i can send you a file to you can take a look on your screen see if they display okay.

just pm or email me
What color space are you using? When you save for the web, make sure you switch the photos to SRGB first. When you do this, you will lose some contrast and colors. Bumping up the contrast and saturation a little will usually fix this.

[abel]

great info jim!!!

wow that just taught me a lot!!!

thanks again

[defordphoto]

great info jim!!!

wow that just taught me a lot!!!

thanks again

You're welcome. Just remember that method does not apply to all photos, but works for my motorsports and boat racing pics. Different subjects may require other tweaking and everyone has their own methods. It's fun when you learn it, but can be frustrating as hell if you don't know what you're doing.

Just like shooting, the digital darkroom takes practice, practice, practice.

[sGu]

First of all, Congratulations !
Second of all, you got media crediantials... I hate you !!! ;)

It's known as football in 99.9% of countries on the planet
Yup, I think the US is the only one that calls is soccer.

for some reason, photos look fine on my mac, but when i upload to the site it loses contrast and just look flat, if anyone interested, i can send you a file to you can take a look on your screen see if they display okay.

just pm or email me
What color space are you using? When you save for the web, make sure you switch the photos to SRGB first. When you do this, you will lose some contrast and colors. Bumping up the contrast and saturation a little will usually fix this.

colour matrix is set to 4, which is adobe RGB, and all the custom function is recommended by SI photo department, i haven't yet to experienced it to use my own settings, and so far so good.

i'll do some test on the colour and contrast and hopefully find out what's wrong with it

[jwhee0615]

As a newbie to PS can any of you very knowlegable people please point me in the direction of a good book to learn all about PS?

[sGu]

"The Photoshop CS Book For Digital Photographers" by Scott Kelby is one of the best out there, very well covered from use file browser, create contact sheet to manipulate colour, layer masking, a whole new world of post processing skills with PS CS.

Also there is another book with the same title but by "Mark Evening"(i think), haven't really read it much yet, but supposingly very good too.

hope info helps

[Persian-Rice]

sgu, from the time I browsed your GP gallery, I know you were the next up n commer sports guy on the board.

I think you took some great shots, you really need to get down and dirty and start post proccesing these things to make them really sweet.

[drisley]

It's known as football in 99.9% of countries on the planet
Yup, I think the US is the only one that calls is soccer.

In Canada we also call "it" soccer.
However, the word is rarely used in our vocabulary.