Shooting soccer - "good" v. "what sells"

jayg123 wrote in post #5639589
It seems like a lot more 'labour' to go shoot all the games instead of just doing the individual shot, did you charge more to do it your way?

I started out shooting action for each team but soon realized that for me it just was not worth the time and effort. First you spend the time shooting the action shots of each player in each game and then you have to go back load and edit.

The sales of the action shots have never generated enough money to justify the time and effort for me.

Now I just shoot the T&I all at the same time. On occasion I shoot staged action shots while doing the T&I but that's about it.

rollis wrote in post #5643875
Try to remember to cover each player. This means you might actually miss a few great action shots but if you don't you'll wind up with plenty of good shots with the same 3 or players...not too good for sales. If often made sales of what would would be considered a throw away because the intended player was OOF but another came player in focus. I do a little creative cropping to then put emphasis on that player. Hope this lil tid-bit helps.

Yeah that's a good point actually. Going through what I have so far, I see the same faces come up often.

jdouglas003 wrote in post #5644919
I started out shooting action for each team but soon realized that for me it just was not worth the time and effort. First you spend the time shooting the action shots of each player in each game and then you have to go back load and edit.

The sales of the action shots have never generated enough money to justify the time and effort for me.

Now I just shoot the T&I all at the same time. On occasion I shoot staged action shots while doing the T&I but that's about it.

Fair enough. I started out shooting the games just as a proud parent and keen photographer. The only difference is that now I'm hoping to make a few dollars doing what I was already doing anyway. Only shooting my son's team at this point - I could go to their home field and shoot every game every weekend and make a lot more, but I just can't spare the time investment it would require.

I shoot a lot of soccer, particularly womens, I have found that, the ones that I think are great action shots, normally involve more than one prominant player and aren't massive sellers, I find the ones I sell are of the subject who is usually a) isolated in clear view dribbling the ball or b) winning a battle with another player, with the girls I also find that there is a golden rule c) Must not be pulling a silly face or one that makes them look less attractive!!!

I guess you have to look at it from the perspective of what you would want if you were the player.

Good luck