My first shot at curling...

shot with a Nikon D70s and kit lens...

The motion blur for me is distracting. You need to bump up your ISO so you can get better than a 1/25 shutter speed. These (and your hockey images posted in the other thread) are too dark as well.

Agree on the need to raise your exposure levels but I frankly like the blur. It helps show the dynamic of the sport. Sometimes flat freezing the action is detrimental.

The motion blur on these ones is intentional...I found curling to be mind-numbingly boring, so I wanted to spice it up a bit lol.

The hockey shots...yeah, they're dark, but there's nothing I could do about those (ISO was maxed out at 1600 and the aperture was wide open at 5.6...which is why I decided to get rid of the XTi/kit lens and invest in the 30D and decent glass )

btw: I'll be in Vic this weekend...can't...frea​king...wait

Well it would be a bonus if you could use a flash to freeze the players a bit more (at least on their faces) while still panning with a slow shutter speed (dragging the shutter) to maintain the background blur. I like the blur but would like to see a bit less of it on the players.

Lowrider:

If you are a hockey fan check out our Victoria Salmon Kings (ECHL farm team to Vancouver) on Fri or Sat night. They are playing Alaska (big rival) for the division title (Kings currently first, Alaska sits second). Three game series Wednesday, Friday, Saturday. Division winner likley gets second conference seed in playoffs. Otrherwise possible to drop to fifth seed...the race is that tight!

Cheers!

Chris

Thanks for the tip, Chris (I'm not a huge hockey/sports fan, I just like shooting the stuff ), I'd go check it out (see how my new gear does with it) but it's gonna be my only weekend in Vic for the next 6 months so I'm gonna be roaming around with the old crew ....though I'm hoping to get some shots of downtown, etc in there

LowriderS10 wrote in post #5238142
Thanks for the tip, Chris (I'm not a huge hockey/sports fan, I just like shooting the stuff ), I'd go check it out (see how my new gear does with it)

Ah but the anal retentive security staff and arcane rules would not let you bring it in anyway unless you are credentialed. Despite being just a 7000 seat arena, anything bigger than a point and shoot is frowned upon unless you are "working"...otherwise I would have my camera at every game!

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #5235732
Agree on the need to raise your exposure levels but I frankly like the blur. It helps show the dynamic of the sport. Sometimes flat freezing the action is detrimental.

I agree; it actually make curling seem 'exciting'!

Chris: that sucks, man...that's kind of the nice thing about being a reporter in smaller towns (I started out in Campbell River)...you can pretty much go anywhere and do anything as long as you're not in anyone's way/not pissing anyone off without much hassle

Angry: Thank you, appreciate the comment!

Here's my curling attempt. Kind of happy with it but I think too tight a crop.

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nice shot...I just think it looks like the guy's a janitor or something...but, definitely a hell of a lot brighter than mine

I like the blur, I just feel the lighting is the issue. Can you brighten it up in photoshop or some other program. I think if it was lighter the blur would really highlight the action. Funny thing about curling, first saw it on TV during the Olympics and thought it had to be the lamest, least athletic and boringist "sport" to watch, but I found myself watching it everyday!! I think it is now one of my favorites, and I don't even know why!!

Great shots, I would just like to see them lightened up a little.

you really should do SOME sort of post on these images. a quick whitebalance adjustment, exposure (still a bit underexposed), and slight nr & sharpening yielded these. it only took me one minute for both shots.

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Those edits make the images look worlds better. The blur is nice, I think, but you've got to watch your exposure.