First Post: Soccer

Hi All,

Have been admiring everyones work for awhile. Finally decicde to post some of my own handy work.

Please be gentle. C&C welcomed

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Good action shots, I like them both!

Nice, watch your backgrounds though.

Well done...

A couple of things though, 1) Watch your horizons...it looks like both are tilting to the right based of the poles in the background (mine always seem to tilt to the left ) 2) I think #2 would look better cropped portrait rather than landscape..imo

manutd101,

by backgrounds do you mean horizons, or the actual back grounds.

no, what he means is you can blur the backgrounds more by your aperture settings and that will help focus on the subject more without all the background clutter. If you look at his avatar, you can kind of get an idea of what he is talking about.

now i get it. I was shooting a 2.8. I was using my 135mm f/2 with a 1.4 tc.

Uglyone wrote in post #5824712
manutd101,

by backgrounds do you mean horizons, or the actual back grounds.

Well, both technically, but mostly I was talking about the fences/buildings/poles that distract the viewer from the shot.

Thanks Manutd101,

I try, but it is a bit hard in a public field, surrounded by other sports.

Nice shots but hard to get nicer backgrounds at <200mm. Sometimes even longer lens doesn't help. I wish they put some nice one colored paper or cloth all wround where the fences are so it gets nicely blurred.

Uglyone wrote in post #5829897
Thanks Manutd101,

I try, but it is a bit hard in a public field, surrounded by other sports.

I never really understood that comment and I hear it a bit. With baseball you can position yourself a bit. With soccer there is nothing you can do to get yourself in better position on fields like that. It just depends on where the action happens on the field as to what is or isn't in your background.
I know the feeling all too well trying to shoot soccer. You pick the lesser of the evils for where you want to shoot and hope the that the action happens directly in front of you and lengthwise to the field. Cars, pole, tents, houses, sheds, trash cans, port-a-pottys, fans that side 3 feet from the field. Very few youth fields I shoot at offer much in the way of unobstructed shooting from most any shooting location.

Uglyone wrote in post #5829897
Thanks Manutd101,

I try, but it is a bit hard in a public field, surrounded by other sports.

Of course, I understand. Just a "well, if something is wrong, it is..." type of thing, ya know?

And that's why you change the DOF to blur out the background as much as you can when shooting soccer. I know it's hard, I'm trying to master that myself!! Now that Soccer season is over, I'll have to wait until fall leagues start to keep going!

carpenter wrote in post #5830420
I never really understood that comment and I hear it a bit. With baseball you can position yourself a bit. With soccer there is nothing you can do to get yourself in better position on fields like that. It just depends on where the action happens on the field as to what is or isn't in your background.
I know the feeling all too well trying to shoot soccer. You pick the lesser of the evils for where you want to shoot and hope the that the action happens directly in front of you and lengthwise to the field. Cars, pole, tents, houses, sheds, trash cans, port-a-pottys, fans that side 3 feet from the field. Very few youth fields I shoot at offer much in the way of unobstructed shooting from most any shooting location.

I wonder if their might be any merit in trying to start a business that offers advice to minor and public sports facility architects and planners on how to design "photographer" friendly facilities. I know I have a whole list of things regarding minor hockey!!

cstewart wrote in post #5831410
I wonder if their might be any merit in trying to start a business that offers advice to minor and public sports facility architects and planners on how to design "photographer" friendly facilities. I know I have a whole list of things regarding minor hockey!!

Maybe!