Soccer portraits

1dmk2 and 500mm f4 IS.

These look crystal clear!

Bobby, that last one is fantastic. No ball, no action, fantastic all the same. A parent would love that. I actually did one like that during hoops this past season and the parent is using it for a graduation announcement. This same parent spent over $100 with me on 4x6 action shots and yet this ws the one that stood out.

On your others, they are good but you ran into the challenge of shooting youth soccer..kids don't dribble with their heds up very often. My advice is to really try to watch how a player reacts prior to passing the ball then time your shots for that moment. It's most likely that you gets eyes looking in those shots. The only other advice is to watch the backgrounds, that white alien ship (or whatever it is) really can kill ya when it sneaks into a background like that.

Very nice clarity and sharpness in the shots and I like the framing.

Thanks Scott. That white thing is a big house across the street. I will try different angle next week.

Great shots Bobby, I always learn so much from your work - I truly would not have noticed the head in #2 had you not mentioned it.

Tom

Thanks Tom for your kind words. I learn a lot from this forum all the time.

bobbyz wrote in post #5491685
Thanks Scott. That white thing is a big house across the street. I will try different angle next week.

you should ask them to move it.

Good one Scott! The other day I jokingly asked the soccer ref if he REALLY need to be there because I'd go and frame a shot and right before hitting the shutter, he'd magically appear!

very nice shots. Im getting the same opportunity next week. I noticed most of your shots (well the ones I checked) were shot with a shutter speed of 1/2000, is that common for what is needed to freeze soccer action?

adblink wrote in post #5494603
very nice shots. Im getting the same opportunity next week. I noticed most of your shots (well the ones I checked) were shot with a shutter speed of 1/2000, is that common for what is needed to freeze soccer action?

Since I was shooting at ISO200 and f4.5, ss of 1/2000 to 1/2500 was giving right expsoure on the faces. I could have used ISO 100 and lower ss but why risk it by going lower on ss.

I only have one problem - these aren't portraits, these are action shots...portraits are posed images where you set them up. Colors look good on my comp, seperation between background/girls looks good, some of the expressions they make are not great but not like you can say "smile while dribbling"....overall pretty darn good, the 500 must be nice reach but also must be tough once the action moves closer.

im worried that my 70-200 + (soon to be) 1.4x TC wont be long enough

Whatever you call them I think I know what you're going for. I think the last one works well for one main reason:

Eyes.

They're a great bonus to have in action shots:

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

Yes, I need to keep Scott tip in mind regarding the eye contact. 500mm is long when action is closer that is why I have 70-200mm f2.8 on my 30d but don't like what I get out of it. Need to have another 1 series, that will be perfect for soccer.

adblink wrote in post #5496063
im worried that my 70-200 + (soon to be) 1.4x TC wont be long enough

I wouldn't be overly concerned, depending on what your goals are of course, I use a 70-200 f2.8 with a 2X for soccer and when I'm set up at mid-field it's good, but along the goal it can be challenging when good action happens at the other end. Fortunately our girls' soccer team is fairly consistent and are usually defending their own goal 75% of the time so I know which end to be in! lol!.