First try at a track meet

A customer had me grab some shots of her daughter.

I tried some OCF for dramatic effect. Should have thought a bit more about the background though...

The first one has the pop-up in the background right behind her head and is distracting. The second one has a clean background and she is positioned correctly in the frame but I think you can crop in closer. In the third one you cropped the right hand runner in half - almost. This looks bad. It would look better with both runners, or one runner.
Must my 2 cents worth.

Much appreciated and agreed. I could have set that flash up anywhere, and I'm not sure why I set it up in that location. Next time...

I'm on the fence with the third one (and I do this a lot for action shot customers), where I'm not sure if I should be focusing on the entire situation/play, or focusing just on my subject (customer).

My advise is to isolate the subject you are shooting. As a parent myself I would not buy a picture that has a stranger in it to display in my house....just my two cents.

Yep, I got a dozen or so isolated too. Full body and cropped tight. I asked the customer if she would rather just do action shots outside of competition, and she said she wanted it at a meet. There are probably several factors there, but I'm sure it's a combination of the intensity of a finish against a competitor, as well as seeing the competition.

Anyway, lots like this too