Pro Soccer in Cleveland..yep!

filled in for the team photog this past weekend and after getting over 2" of rain late in the day, the game went off and saw our home town boys, the Cleveland City Stars defeat the Crystal Palace Baltimore 1-0 with a late goal. Great game and lots of fun to shoot.

Nearly all of these were shot with the Sigma 120-300 (some w a 1.4 tc). Lighting was a huge challenge as shadows created some hug variations and the front moving through constantly changed the cloud cover. I alternated between manual and AV a bit. EXIF should be intact, hope you like and feel free to cc if you wish.

1.

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#1 No face. Distracting light pole. Loose crop.
#2 Seems softer than others and nothing really special about it IMO
#3 Nice capture. Nothing great. But theres nothing really wrong with it either so I wont say too much
#4 I think I know what you were going for but the player looks more like hes sleeping than hes taking an impact
#5 Very loose. Very run of the mill. Im more interested in the tree in the background really.
#6 Very static looking. Was the ball even moving? Just a regular kick?
#7 Same as 6
#8 Ive never understood these photos. Theres hardly any real contact (yet) and youd never know anything was happening by the players faces.

angela6571 wrote in post #5917463
#1 No face. Distracting light pole. Loose crop.
#2 Seems softer than others and nothing really special about it IMO
#3 Nice capture. Nothing great. But theres nothing really wrong with it either so I wont say too much
#4 I think I know what you were going for but the player looks more like hes sleeping than hes taking an impact
#5 Very loose. Very run of the mill. Im more interested in the tree in the background really.
#6 Very static looking. Was the ball even moving? Just a regular kick?
#7 Same as 6
#8 Ive never understood these photos. Theres hardly any real contact (yet) and youd never know anything was happening by the players faces.

Angela, thanks for some feedback. I agree with most although these were a fairly random assortment from the game. I disagree on #4 and some of the static shots were actually at the request of the GM who wanted some "sportrait" type stuff.

Disagree with Angela,
From a country where soccer is your second life I have to tell you you got very good pictures Scott.
#1 is great and #8 is very funny.
in #7 I would have liked more negative space on the right.

Cheers,
Luigi

luigis wrote in post #5917518
Disagree with Angela,
From a country where soccer is your second life I have to tell you you got very good pictures Scott.
#1 is great and #8 is very funny.
in #7 I would have liked more negative space on the right.

Cheers,
Luigi

i agree, she sounds like she barely knows anything about soccer to critique these photos
and the 6th picture, not sure about the 7th, you can definitely tell the ball is moving, look how high it is from the ground

and idk about her view, but his foot is in his crotch on the last one, thats why his face is like that..

good pictures

You guys crack me up.

Scott:

Was this the game you had to shoot JPEG in camera? How did that go? If so are these straight from camera JPEGS or are these from raw files you also captured?

Chris

cstewart wrote in post #5918841
Scott:

Was this the game you had to shoot JPEG in camera? How did that go? If so are these straight from camera JPEGS or are these from raw files you also captured?

Chris

Chris, these are edited jpgs so not exactly SOOC. In the end, I think the jpegs worked better than I would have thought. I settled on +4 sharpening and +2 contrast in camera and think I could have done +3/+1 and gotten away with it. One thing I noticed for the first time was some CA on the Sigma 120-300. I still have to work on the RAW files but the team was happy with these for a quick turnaround. Hopefully, I'll be asked to come back and shoot them more often (although I don't think they have a big budget).

drumebskater wrote in post #5918160
i agree, she sounds like she barely knows anything about soccer to critique these photos
and the 6th picture, not sure about the 7th, you can definitely tell the ball is moving, look how high it is from the ground

and idk about her view, but his foot is in his crotch on the last one, thats why his face is like that..

good pictures

Drum, Luigi....thanks. I don't know the team as this was my first time shooting them so it took some time to sort out their strategy and who to focus on for good action. Unfortunately on #1, there's just no way to get his face unless I was in the field of play or willing to do a big crop from the sidelines. Given my position at that moment, it was the best I could manage. I do agree on having some more negative space on the right on #7, I could crop that to achieve a better composition, thanks.

Scott, some nice shots. Shooting adult soccer is hard as action is so fast (even though we americans think game is slow as not much points get scored). I like #3, #4 and #8. Were you shooting standing? I would have used a little lower shooting position.

I think for soccer, 400mm f2.8 is ideal.

bobbyz wrote in post #5921159
Scott, some nice shots. Shooting adult soccer is hard as action is so fast (even though we americans think game is slow as not much points get scored). I like #3, #4 and #8. Were you shooting standing? I would have used a little lower shooting position.

I think for soccer, 400mm f2.8 is ideal.

thanks Bobby. I completely agree. It's MUCH faster than most think. There's also a fair bit of good contact which most don't realize.

I shot some standing, some kneeling (truth be told, more knees started getting torn up by the turf about halfway through so I started standing more).

I lust that 400 in a way that, well, it's just not appropriate . Baby steps first though, I want to get the 300 f2.8 if I can figure out how to convince my wife that it's really a must have..again (<----- that's her laughing)

I just sit on my butt as it is harder for me to kneel. But then you can't move around.

Ill at least agree that the 400 really is the lens to go for.

I wouldnt bother with the 300 especially since you already have the Sigma. The 400 does everything the 300 does only better. The only place it falls short (IMO) is basketball (though I have used the 400 for basketball a couple times) and volleyball. For everything else (Baseball, Football, Soccer, Lacrosse, Field Hockey, Track, Swimming, Tennis..Really every other sport I shoot) the 400 is definitely the way to go.

As this is your first time shooting football Scott, I think you've done a good job. Image #8 is my pick of the bunch.

I've shot a fair amount of football in my time and patience plays its part. To get the traditional 'two players tussling for the ball where you can see both faces' type action shots, you have to bide your time, follow the play carefully and nail it when it happens.

If you're aiming to capture the key newsworthy moments, e.g. goals and celebrations, then it can mean a slight change in tactics and positioning.

For sportrait material, it's relatively easy to get side-on type stuff... but you have to pick your angles and wait for your moment to get the peachy, player in full flow, head-on sportraits.

Looking forward to seeing your next match coverage!

---- Gavin

gmen wrote in post #5921874
As this is your first time shooting football Scott, I think you've done a good job. Image #8 is my pick of the bunch.

I've shot a fair amount of football in my time and patience plays its part. To get the traditional 'two players tussling for the ball where you can see both faces' type action shots, you have to bide your time, follow the play carefully and nail it when it happens.

If you're aiming to capture the key newsworthy moments, e.g. goals and celebrations, then it can mean a slight change in tactics and positioning.

For sportrait material, it's relatively easy to get side-on type stuff... but you have to pick your angles and wait for your moment to get the peachy, player in full flow, head-on sportraits.

Looking forward to seeing your next match coverage!

---- Gavin

thanks Gavin I really appreciate the comments (and the images you produce!)