Indoor Track & Field

[ELItheICEman]

So I'm just a new hobbyist photographer finishing my last year of undergraduate work. Always wanted a nice camera and finally had the opportunity (and funds). I know absolutely nothing about editing photos with photoshop or any other software, so all of my shots are as they were straight off the camera.

Looking for critique on my photo-taking skills and suggestions/how-to's on touching them up in PS. Feel free to edit one or two if you'd like :)

Also, keep in mind there's a very restricted selection of places I can take pictures from. Up until now I've only been using my Tamron and my Canon 85mm lenses for these shots. I'm guessing flickr will tell you what my settings were, as I shoot manual but can never seem to remember what I shot at before.

TIA!

...since I can't seem to figure out how to hotlink them from here, I'll just point you to them:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47434127@N02/sets/72157623280838201/

[Ampersand.]

for images 1289 and 1166, i would consider cropping them a little tighter because the background (and in 1166's case, the foreground) can be a little distracting. in image 0835 you isolated the subject the way you might want to do in the first two that i mentioned. if you're doing the high jump, it would be a good idea to try to get behind the mat so that way you can see the athlete's face as they come over the bar, rather than getting their crotch and their side as the main focus of the photo. i've included links of my own photos below so you can see what i mean with my comments.

here's (http://www.flickr.com/photos/moop7/3398770355/in/set-72157622771985631/) an example of what i was talking about with the high jump.
here's (http://www.flickr.com/photos/moop7/3399579836/in/set-72157622771985631/) an example of what i'm referring to with the long/triple jump for images 1289 and 1166.

[ELItheICEman]

Good advice. I figured cropping was in order for most of them - like I said, they're straight off the camera right now. But I'll definitely try to re-position myself for the high jump next time - you have a very valid point about that.

[Biffbradford]

You've got to get in tighter. I count 24 people in one shot of a high jumper. Cropping works to narrow down the field of view, but then you loose quality big time. Put your subject in the cross hairs and fill the field of view with him before you pull the trigger. It takes practice to do that and get the timing right, but sharp shooters aren't made over night. I think the really good sports photogs, and I'm NOT one, don't need to crop hardly at all. :D

[ELItheICEman]

Alright, so I toyed with some simple PP options and cropped this shot. I'm wondering if the crop should be tighter, but I don't want to lose the effect of the jump or have any weird dimensions to the shot.

Also, feel free to let me know specifically what could be better on my PP - I'm sure it' s just horrible, I'm such a n00b at this still :)

Thanks!

PS - I didn't take this shot, since that's me in the air. Someone else took this shot on full automatic, and it started as a RAW before I compressed it with JPEG.