Soccer from tuscon

hello all the teams i coach were in a tournament this past weekend in tuscan arizona. ive only got around to editing a few shots so far here they are, let me know what you think!

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and 2 more

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no criticism from anyone?

As i'm sure you found tucson has some tough shooting light espically when there are no clouds...... Sunday AM was GREAT last weekend with scattered clouds but by mid day they were all gone and we were back to harsh harsh harsh light....

something about the reds just doesn't look right .....almost like it's over saturated or something ... i'll take another look when i get home ... it might be this monitor .. lol

what gear did you shoot it with ?

yeah my monitor at work isnt calibrated either so i cant tell right now. Taken with 40d and the only lens i could afford 70-300 IS USM wide open

shooting conditions really werent too much worse than my hometown of albuquerque new mexico either so not too much adjustment needed

Nice action shots from my favourite 'genre'. Number 3 is the best.

V..... i took a look (at home) and it looks more like the way the light is hittin the shirts to make the colors funny..... try to get your back a bit more to the sun and I think it will help out with that a little bit ...

thanks for the advice, the only way i coulda really got the sun to my back is if i was shooting at the halfway mark unforunetly with how the fields were facing in many of the games, ill deff keep that in mind though. i was shooting into the sun during 1 or 2 of the games cause i was trying to get specific players i hadnt been able to in the previous games so some of these maybe from then too.

Heh my eyes not so good, i cant even notice a differences like that...true novice here :\

shooting in to the sun is no fun at all .... its possible for sure and not that hard if you use just a touch of +EV but often times it results in ugly grass thats blown out ..... i've had to do that a few times when i've shot football on REALLY bright days just to get the exposure in the helmet right..... Keep posting man, it's the only way to get better and learn somtimes

Pros... good action capture and I like the cropping..

Cons... They seem soft and a bit OOF. Could be the lens? What were your settings?

yeah the lens is quite soft. had iso at 350-400 shutter was always above 600. useually 800-1000. the lens was wide open and the 70-300 is knownfor beeing soft wide open. i tried stopping down to f 8 one game but i didnt like the DOF so i decided to go with wide open (which is f/4.5-5.6)

Nice shots, not much rain over there then.

aside from lighting issues and sharpness (most likely due to lens) does anyone have composition criticism?

I will fix the horizons. Also shoot from lower position so you see less of the ugly grass (sorry). Since your lens can go to 300mm, I would shoot at slower aperture (for additional sharpness) but at longer focal length.

yeah a monopod is something ive been looking at investing in. i was shooting from me knees the entire match...couldnt really get much lower. the sharpness wont be an issue much longer ill be upgrading to the 70-200 f/4L soon.

TY for the feedback the horizons dont seem to be too off to me? are you referring to a certain picture or in general?