2nd Time High School Tennis

After being told to crop as tight as I can the last tennis meet photos I posted.. I tried this afternoon for a bit.. I could probably have still cropped a little more on some, but had to shoot from the opposite end of the player so those crops would be way too skinny for my own liking...

Because of shadows (the sun was behind the woods by the time most of the meet was going on) I did run a little bit of neat image on most to try and clean them up. First time really getting the Sigma 70-200 F2.8 I got yesterday out in a decent environment to see if it was quite as soft as some reviews said.

I just noticed I cropped too low and got the glare/shadow off the net on this one.. oops

Are these heavy crops in post processing? I would suggest getting much closer if possible and framing the shots much tighter so that additional cropping is not needed. The overall IQ will look much better when resized for web and/or printed and the background will also be much more out of focus. I knee up shot with tight framing and a 200mm 2.8 lens should have a very blurred background.

Unfortunately there is no way to get nearer the net on our high school tennis courts unless you're a coach or player..maybe at another location but the local coach has players on every bench and no place inside the fence other than the ends that wouldn't be a distraction.

There won't be many other tennis opportunities this girls season but maybe if I keep inching closer they won't notice the camera after a while. If I get a chance between baseball and softball in the spring I'll work on finding closer spots during the boys' season.

Hard sport to shoot because of access on most courts, net etc.... Harsh lighting but Damn! They're glowing and not in a good way. Lots of blue/green fringing.

Gene

I think your cropping is much better with this batch. Vantage point and lighting conditions are a bit out of your control and practice will help improve your exposures in these types of conditions.

I didn't even notice the tint on the skin tones in the face on sun shots until kini mentioned it.. I could probably remove that easy enough in post? Being able to have the constant F2.8 is going to take a little getting used to but to me that's a good problem compared to what I was having.

I also think if I could have gotten closer and had the fences/backgrounds better 'blurred' a lot of the glow might have gone away. POTN members are always a good help with ideas and suggestions.