NPSL soccer: Bay Area Ambassadors - Sonoma Sol

Here are few shots from Saturdays game. CC welcome

1

good set, interesting procession on these. 3 and 4 are my favorites

Wow! Fantastic set, especially given the complex lighting you were fighting.

What gear were you using?

Number 4 is my favorite.

Processing and sharpness seem a bit off to me, are you cropping some shots heavily?

Bay Area jerseys suck, even more so when they played down here on turf on a hot day. Locking focus was extremely difficult.

joeblack2022 wrote in post #14762711
Processing and sharpness seem a bit off to me, are you cropping some shots heavily?

I'd have to agree here. These all look a bit strange. Are you shooting JPEG or RAW and then processing? I find in iffy light that it is better to shoot RAW as you have more flexibility in processing out any light issues.

Also, what fstop? I'd suggest, if your lens is capable, shooting at f3.5 or f3.2 to blur the backgrounds a bit more. I am guessing (don't have EXIF reader) you were at f5.6 or so?

I like #4, but mostly for the capture, not the PP

I agree that there's a lot of softness to many of these. Long lens with too slow of a shutter speed (shake blur)? I see the top of the ball is blurry from rolling in 8, so shutter is certainly on the low side.

With some of the messy backgrounds in play, I'd agree that 2.8 or 4.0 aperture would be nice, but not sure what lenses were used.

ajaffe wrote in post #14762931
Bay Area jerseys suck, even more so when they played down here on turf on a hot day. Locking focus was extremely difficult.

Maybe it helps them see each other better at night games...

When I'm having focus trouble like that, I usually just use the shorts/jersey contrast for focus. I haven't had any shorts/jersey same color yet though -- I'd probably switch to face focusing for that (new AF point)

Thanks for the comments. I shot these with a rebel t3i and a 70-200mm F/4L lens on a monopod. Shutter speed 1/1000, aperture f/4. They're somewhat cropped but not too heavily. I was shooting for the Bay Area team and concentrated mostly on the players in those crazy jerseys which I did have difficult time keeping them in focus.
As far as the processing, maybe I overdid it a bit. I tried to give the photo a bit more intensity. I'm still new at this and just trying out new things.

Exif photo #1 (last set, not the kids)


Camera Make {0x010F} = CanonCamera Model {0x0110} = Canon EOS REBEL T3iLast Modified Date/Time {0x0132} = 2012:07:22 02:01:43


EXIF Sub IFD
Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) {0x829A} = 1/1000 second ===> 0.001 secondLens F-Number / F-Stop {0x829D} = 4/1 ===> ƒ/4ISO Speed Ratings {0x8827} = 100Original Date/Time {0x9003} = 2012:07:21 18:06:21Shutter Speed Value (APEX) {0x9201} = 9965784/1000000
Shutter Speed (Exposure Time) = 1/1000 secondAperture Value (APEX) {0x9202} = 4/1
Aperture = ƒ/4Exposure Bias (EV) {0x9204} = 0/1 ===> 0Flash {0x9209} = Flash did not fire, compulsory flash modeFocal Length {0x920A} = 200/1 mm ===> 200 mm


Here are few of kids playing at halftime

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Ajaffe, I see you're in San Diego. Will you be going to the NPSL national playoffs this weekend?

I am broadcasting our livestream instead of shooting haha. Are you coming down?

Also I noticed the shadows, any reason you didn't shoot back to sun? Usually bad backgrounds are the main reason.

ajaffe wrote in post #14775988
I am broadcasting our livestream instead of shooting haha. Are you coming down?

The last game here (which was going live to TV and web), the OB trailer lost power four times. Not sure what the cause was, but the weather was pretty bad on the day! (Or so I hear... was sick in bed.)

ajaffe wrote in post #14775988
I am broadcasting our livestream instead of shooting haha. Are you coming down?

Also I noticed the shadows, any reason you didn't shoot back to sun? Usually bad backgrounds are the main reason.

I tried to get the crowd in the background as much as I could, there wasn't much of a background on the other side of the field

Unfortunately I won't be going down, a bit too far plus I'm shooting the Earthquakes vs Fire game tonight. Which brings me to this. Any tips on shooting in a poorly lit stadium?
I'm shooting with a t3i and a 70-200mm F/4L lens. Game starts at 7:30 so I'll start off with 1/1000(should it be higher?) f4 and iso 200 or 400 and then eventually end up at 1/640 and iso 6400 as the sun goes down. Anything else that might help me out. Thanks in advance

I think you have the definition of a clean background confused. Clean backgrounds are just that, clean. I really would rather see the action on the field as opposed to being distracted by the team videographer on crutches in the background.

I am not sure what tips to give. Is it really ISO 6400 in San Jose? Are the images usable for your client at that iso with a body that really does not handle high iso well?