Football : Opinions?

[tigerroar]

Are these shots any good? When I first looked at them after I put them on the PC I thought they were some of the best that I'd done but having edited them and uploaded them to my gallery they seem rather bland.

What are your opinions on them?

http://www.tigerimages.co.uk/albums/city/mangotsfield290805/normal_05_lancelewis_mangotsfieldunited_290805.jpg

http://www.tigerimages.co.uk/albums/city/mangotsfield290805/normal_24_neilmustoe_mangotsfieldunited_290805.jpg

http://www.tigerimages.co.uk/albums/city/mangotsfield290805/normal_28_christhompson_mangotsfieldunited_290805. jpg

http://www.tigerimages.co.uk/albums/city/mangotsfield290805/normal_33_daryladdis_mangotsfieldunited_290805.jpg

http://www.tigerimages.co.uk/albums/city/mangotsfield290805/normal_42_mattbath_mangotsfieldunited_290805.jpg

http://www.tigerimages.co.uk/albums/city/mangotsfield290805/normal_69_daryladdis_mangotsfieldunited_290805.jpg

There are more shots here (http://www.tigerimages.co.uk/thumbnails.php?album=50)

[drewmk2]

3 and 4 are great! They really capture the action! Nice captures. Im hoping mine work this well.

[Croasdail]

I like them... the last one is one of those that would kill me... it is the right shot but looks like you were too far away - hence it's softness. I hate those ones. I have plenty of those that make it hard to hit that delete button. If you like it - great... but it looks unprintable... I know .. I have tried many. Cheers.

[tigerroar]

I think I try too hard sometimes with the lens I have. I really ought to get a better 200mm zoom that a friend recommends but I think I'd miss not being able to capture the longer shots.

[Croasdail]

The hardest thing for me is to not shoot when I know I am too far away.... I assume you were using the 75-300 lens? I used to have that lens, and while it is not a great sports shooters lens, you can get some great stuff from it, especially with some gentle post processing. If you haven't done a little "USM" on these images yet - do... you will be pleasently surprised how good some of these will become. I gave it a try on one of your image and it sharpen up nicely. The other thing is try to keep aperature as wide open as possible to get as much of the background blurred out. Otherwise, your timing and knowledge of the game looks great. Cheers.

[gmen]

Good stuff. Mangotsfield in the claret and blue?

I'd be tempted to crank the zoom out to 300mm and keep it there... and, like Crosdail says, shoot wide open at f/5.6 - this will ensure tight crops in camera and reduce the DOF as much as possible. Adding a little USM in the post-processing will help as well assuming that you've nailed the focus at the time...

---- Gavin