A gloomy night under the lights... and quality goes right out the window...

...but does it really matter?

The reality is that perfectly exposed piccies of beautifully timed, frame-filling peak action can be very enjoyable to look at... but, let's face it, the bread and butter of shooting at the sharp end is capturing the goals and images that illustrate the underlying story of the game. You're not always going to be in the perfect spot every time and working in optimum conditions, so you have to work hard with the cards you've been dealt.

I rarely post goal pics as they don't generally make for interesting stand-alone images... but, in the spirit of breaking the habit of a lifetime, here are a few (ropey) images from Tuesday night's Colchester vs Hull match and some associated waffling. It was a fairly eventful night:

1. Hull took an early lead through Nicky Forster. A story was already developing as Colchester were undefeated at home for seven matches... so this image was (for a short time) newsworthy...

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G,
Oh.....Just priceless!!!! I love your narrative! Your talent shines through even in the midst of traversity. Thank you for sharing. I love "You're not always going to be in the perfect spot every time and working in optimum conditions, so you have to work hard with the cards you've been dealt". oh and I also kind of hate you because I am trying to find a buyer for my soul so I can get just one 1 DIIN!
Linda

WoW, nice as always
I don't want to say that but i feel that some of your shots here are more noisy than your shots on another threads, you got so clear shots even with high ISO but i don't know what happened now, maybe because of light and exposure.

Tareq wrote in post #2340112
WoW, nice as always
I don't want to say that but i feel that some of your shots here are more noisy than your shots on another threads, you got so clear shots even with high ISO but i don't know what happened now, maybe because of light and exposure.

I think I am rubbing off on Gavin!

but even with that gloomy night and low light still you did a great job.
not me, my first sport shots were all crap.
I am waiting your threads and shots

Photodawg1 wrote in post #2340070
G,
Oh.....Just priceless!!!! I love your narrative! Your talent shines through even in the midst of traversity. Thank you for sharing. I love "You're not always going to be in the perfect spot every time and working in optimum conditions, so you have to work hard with the cards you've been dealt". oh and I also kind of hate you because I am trying to find a buyer for my soul so I can get just one 1 DIIN!
Linda

keep your soul and go buy 1 DIIN

Strewth - so these are your "ropey" pics?

Good work in what looks to have been some foul conditions. I have learnt a lot from previous posts of yours about the importance of telling a story and not just taking pictures of the game. Its a hard skill, however one that from this post...and despite the conditions.....you do so well!

So thank you for sharing!

Gavin,

I was up at Boston last week, the lights there put even my local club to shame. I never use 3200 but had to last week even to achieve something like 1/400s.

Any chance of posting up the original version of JC's goal so we can see how heavy the crop was ?

BTW, been meaning to ask. Are you over MK way on Tuesday night ?

marcatkins wrote in post #2340452
Gavin,

I was up at Boston last week, the lights there put even my local club to shame. I never use 3200 but had to last week even to achieve something like 1/400s.

Any chance of posting up the original version of JC's goal so we can see how heavy the crop was ?

BTW, been meaning to ask. Are you over MK way on Tuesday night ?

Hi Marc...

Here's the uncropped version:

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Tareq wrote in post #2340112
WoW, nice as always
I don't want to say that but i feel that some of your shots here are more noisy than your shots on another threads, you got so clear shots even with high ISO but i don't know what happened now, maybe because of light and exposure.

Thanks Tareq... yep, these are noisy I agree. The 'quality' of the light and some fairly hefty cropping conspired against me Well, that's my excuse anyway!

I suppose the point that I was trying to illustrate with this post is that the importance of subject matter can far outweigh quality considerations, particularly if you're shooting editorially. What is one person's throw away image could be someone else's money-making shot. I'm sure that this will resonate with some of the shooters here that shoot for agencies when they receive that "Did you get the goal?" phone call from the picture desk

---- Gavin

Tareq wrote in post #2340147
keep your soul and go buy 1 DIIN

My soul has been sold... a MkIIN now resides in my camera bag.

---- Gavin

Tall_Paul_2000 wrote in post #2340199
Strewth - so these are your "ropey" pics?

Good work in what looks to have been some foul conditions. I have learnt a lot from previous posts of yours about the importance of telling a story and not just taking pictures of the game. Its a hard skill, however one that from this post...and despite the conditions.....you do so well!

So thank you for sharing!

Thanks Paul... it was a funny night. Sometimes you work hard but it's simply impossible to make a silk purse from a sow's ear!

However, I was in the right spot for four of the 6 goals. So, despite the (expensive) camera failure, it was a strangely enjoyable evening...

...and there was some unexpected success in the papers. Including, bizarrely, two of the goals being used in the Daily Record of all places...

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Great work Gavin.

Do you usually sit on the goal line?

Darren

marcatkins wrote in post #2340452
BTW, been meaning to ask. Are you over MK way on Tuesday night ?

...got a feeling I'll probably end up at Millwall vs Huddersfield on Tuesday...

---- Gavin