Rugby (13-01-07)

The glamour and glitz of the recent League football was replaced today with a large amount of grunt and guts at the rugby. The side aren't doing too well at the moment and as a result makes getting any decent pictures exceptionally difficult!

Usually I'll take 200-300 shots during a rugby match - today I clocked up 119 across both bodies.....it was quite a good lesson to take every shooting opportunity you can.

Techy stuff - all these were the 1D, 300 + 1.4tc, shooting at around 1/500 @ f4, ISO800. Slightly overexposed (about 1/3 stop) which worked well to reduce the noise)

Anyway, thank you for looking - comments, criticism etc always welcome!

1. There were times where I wondered whether I had come to the football by mistake!!

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Nice shots, you had better light than me i was at iso 1250 and upto 3200 by the end of the match

Curses! Out shot again. Nice job Paul. I hate talented people. In my defence, THIS is bad light...

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Nice work paul, really like #2 and #3.

Darren

Good shots Paul, u were luck ,weather bad over here all sport cancalled

Tall Paul.

Good not great - seen better from you of late, especially the hockey, but the weather was against you.

Have you ramped up the saturation mate as look slightly colourful given the conditions.

Rugby like all sports is an art and you are getting better all the time however.

Pete.

gsgary wrote in post #2534770
Nice shots, you had better light than me i was at iso 1250 and upto 3200 by the end of the match

Thanks Gary - I will concede about the light - I just about win!

bildeb0rg wrote in post #2535304
Curses! Out shot again. Nice job Paul. I hate talented people. In my defence, THIS is bad light...

I wouldn't say outshot - there are some good images there. Not sure how much they've been compressed for web, but they look a little soft. What PP did you go?

DarrenL wrote in post #2535912
Nice work paul, really like #2 and #3.

Darren

Thanks Darren - any shooting from you this weekend?

jim9449 wrote in post #2536076
Good shots Paul, u were luck ,weather bad over here all sport cancalled

All cancelled? Thats no good! As wet over there as it has been there I assume Jim?

bristolpete wrote in post #2536192
Tall Paul.

Good not great - seen better from you of late, especially the hockey, but the weather was against you.

Have you ramped up the saturation mate as look slightly colourful given the conditions.

Rugby like all sports is an art and you are getting better all the time however.

Pete.

Pete,

I agree not my best, in my defence even with going to look for shots (and boy did I have to!) there were only about 7 shootable moments in the whole game....such was the dominance of the other team (or more to the point, such was the inability of the team I was covering to even get close to competing). Anyway, excuses apart, it wasn't a great day's shooting in all - I think the lack of shots highlights that. Thankfully got enough "sportrait" type shots of the day to tell the story for the paper!

Saturation is actually less than it has been recently - had been shooting on colour matrix 3 in camera, however dialled this down to 1 today and then in PP added 5 and 5 for Hue and Saturation (which has always been in my workflow).

Any hints for what to do when the team you are covering is getting hammered off the park and no ball at all?

More importantly than all this however, how you getting on after your op?

Paul

Paul.

Well, its a tricky one for sure. I think that if it is parks spec, try and follow the ebb and flow of the game. However as you say, when a team is on a hiding there is little you can do. If it were a pro game I would move up from the 22 and shoot tight with the team on the back foot. This is harder than it sounds as you and I know that 'some' grounds have very strict seating.

In all honesty, the guy I worked with taught me that it is better to come away with 5 or 6 shots and if thats it, so be it. You cant force it as thats when average work gets out so to speak. However, this is where stock mode kicks in and you can nail some catalouge stuff. Example, recently sold four Bayonne Bristol images to a french outfit as apparently, I was the only snapper down in France and I had the forsite to shoot some of the French players at work.....

As for the op, in all honesty I am as low as a snakes belly. Loads of pain, another op to come this monday and thats gonna hurt again mate. Hard going. Missed Newport vs. Bris last night. Gutted.

Thanks for asking though, I appreciate it.

Pete.

I plonked myself on the halfway line and went from there. However with everything being picked and driven it just went from bad to worse.

One of those days that I shall learn from, but not worry about. Job got done (more through the non action shots) which, I suppose, was the main thing!!

Such is life, we live and learn!!

Tall_Paul_2000 wrote in post #2536460
I plonked myself on the halfway line and went from there. However with everything being picked and driven it just went from bad to worse.

One of those days that I shall learn from, but not worry about. Job got done (more through the non action shots) which, I suppose, was the main thing!!

Such is life, we live and learn!!

Exactly. Every shoot is different and the key is to learn and take it with you. Spot on attitude.

I used to beat myself up if the game was crap as I felt I was failing.

All very odd (I am over that now)....there is only so much you can do, just remember that great saying -

"chance favours the prepared mind".

Hey Paul, i like your shots, i wish to get that same action composition shots.
Just i wish you can get 1D Mark II N, so you will have less noisy shot and much clearer than old 1D.
Keep shooting and posting, in sports section here few members are great in sports shots and you are one of them.

PP? Straight from the box, exposure plus 1/2-1 stop, (zoombrowser, freebie) a little rinse with Noiseware, (freebie) then resized to 3:4, hammered down to 800x600, (M O picture manager, freebie) and posted here. I'm nothing if not cheap. First one is 1600, f4 @ 1/320, the second is 1600 f4 @ 1/500. Both deliberately underexposed to give me a useful shutter speed.

i like these shots Paul but as we have spoken about before i think they would benefit from a slight tone down in the saturation for a more natural look but that could be just personal preference.
Regards.
Steve.

musicmate wrote in post #2540538
i like these shots Paul but as we have spoken about before i think they would benefit from a slight tone down in the saturation for a more natural look but that could be just personal preference.
Regards.
Steve.

Hi Steve. I think a lot depends on yourr monitor, and personal preference. I thought mine were "natural" but after looking at a few other threads, they seem a bit washed out. How do I calibrate my screen?

This rugby malarkey is tricky and shouldn't be underestimated.

#1 is the pick of the set for me. Wondering why you left the 1.4x extender on with the light fading so much? I'm guessing it wasn't possible to walk the line and follow the play a bit with the bare 300mm.

---- Gavin