My first swim shots

[rebeccao]

Here are a few shots from my first swim meet. I was suprised at how many "keepers" I had (as far as faces showing), here are a few with pretty much NO face showing or at least that you can recognize.

Any pointers welcome especially on my post processing, which wasn't much here except for cropping and a slight usm. I wasn't sure if I should brighten them or not. The butterfly stroke is oof - focus fell on the water somewhere LOL but I thought it was kinda cool the way the light reflected.

What do you all think?

Thanks
BTW this is my first pic post :)

[rebeccao]

Butterfly stroke, shooting into the sun

[rebeccao]

Wanted to get the school name in there :)

[Jeffro]

Welcome aboard! :D I for one would like to see some of the faces you shot...unless the place you shot is not allowing you to do so.

[rebeccao]

Welcome aboard! :D I for one would like to see some of the faces you shot...unless the place you shot is not allowing you to do so.

Thanks for the welcome!

Sorry it's for HS and I don't have parent's permission to post faces :( I don't have a kid on the team or I'd show you his face lol

[Jeffro]

The third one is OOF. What were you shooting with. Are these crops?

As for the permission to post thingy....I shoot high school sports all the time. I don't have permission to post photos of the athletes, nor do the other photographers have permission to post photos.....not from each students parent. They don't need it. If it's a public event, and camera's are welcomed their photo will be taken, and I guarentee you it will be posted somewhere.

You need permission to use their photo for such things as advertising. If you had a great shot from the swim meet and wanted to send it to a local paper you could, without permission...it's editorial so it's ok.

If the pics weree on a website of yours and the swimmers found them, they would post them all over their myspace pages faster than you could say "copyright infringement"...........:rofl

[rebeccao]

The third one is OOF. What were you shooting with. Are these crops?

As for the permission to post thingy....I shoot high school sports all the time. I don't have permission to post photos of the athletes, nor do the other photographers have permission to post photos.....not from each students parent. They don't need it. If it's a public event, and camera's are welcomed their photo will be taken, and I guarentee you it will be posted somewhere.

You need permission to use their photo for such things as advertising. If you had a great shot from the swim meet and wanted to send it to a local paper you could, without permission...it's editorial so it's ok.

If the pics weree on a website of yours and the swimmers found them, they would post them all over their myspace pages faster than you could say "copyright infringement"...........:rofl

I'm shooting with a canon 20d and canon 70-200L IS. Yes they are crops. The last one I kept because of the school name on the cap, it works for the feature photo on the gallery instead of a blank window. I might have kept another since I got a sequence on most kids.

Thanks for the info on posting photos, but still I've told the parents I wouldn't post all these pics publicly and I'll stay true to my word. I'm trying to build my business and my rep out there and can't go back on what I told these parents.

Next time I'll tell them I'm putting all of them out for critique.

The AD is looking at the photos and will choose the ones he wants me to send to the local paper.

And you sure are right about the "Myspace" thing, I've caught a couple of boys who have taken their pics and used them for their site. I emailed the kids and "educated" them on the laws and they took the pics down, with an apology. LOL :wink

Thanks ;)
Rebecca

[Jeffro]

Thanks for the info on posting photos, but still I've told the parents I wouldn't post all these pics publicly and I'll stay true to my word. I'm trying to build my business and my rep out there and can't go back on what I told these parents.

Rebecca

Nothing wrong with that either. If you have a smugsite you should read this....http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/1083138 That way you can post bigger and more pics per post.

[winger]

Nice shots for you first time out.

Swimming is great fun to shoot, if for no other reason than the challenge. Generally challenging in the light and capturing the essence of the action because so much of it is happening below the surface.

Great job so far, I understand your delima about what you already told parents, but I defiantly look forward to the next time when I can see faces.

Faces tell the story! (99% of the time)

[rebeccao]

Nothing wrong with that either. If you have a smugsite you should read this....http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/1083138 That way you can post bigger and more pics per post.

Sorry to sound ignorant here but I have the external links turned off in my H.S. galleries. If I turn them on (allow linking) will anyone browsing those galleries be able to link my pics up on any mb or just me? Am I the only one who sees the link location?

I thought the turning off the external link function further protected me from stolen photos...maybe not? :dunno

[Fred Maurer]

Hi rebeccao,
Enjoyed your post. I been shooting my kids swim teams for a few years. The best advice I found is "it's all about the faces". The most difficult thing for me is white balance for indoor (winter) swim. I understand your reservations about posting. I put them in password galleries. (PM sent)
Fred

[Jeffro]

Sorry to sound ignorant here but I have the external links turned off in my H.S. galleries. If I turn them on (allow linking) will anyone browsing those galleries be able to link my pics up on any mb or just me? Am I the only one who sees the link location?

I thought the turning off the external link function further protected me from stolen photos...maybe not? :dunno

Make a private gallery titled smugstuff or something like that. Put the photos you want to share here, in there. That's what I do. That way you link them. I don't have external links on in my public galleries. If I shoot for a client I password protect the galleries, as I do with my family galleries.

[rebeccao]

Make a private gallery titled smugstuff or something like that. Put the photos you want to share here, in there. That's what I do. That way you link them. I don't have external links on in my public galleries. If I shoot for a client I password protect the galleries, as I do with my family galleries.

Ok that makes sense, thanks!

Thanks Winger and Fred!

[hesaias]

Make all your gallieries low res, or water mark them.

That way you can let them use the pics, and get some advertising. MySpace is a very good exposure tool. HS kids will see the pics, see who took them, and want you to shoot them next.

I would go as far as to say MySpace can be as good or better than a paid ad. After all, word of mouth is the best advertising.

Low Res will look ok on a computer screen, but if you try to print much bigger than a wallet, it will look like crap.

Also, for your first swim meet, I think these look pretty good