Georgia Tech vs Virginia

[wxwax]

Patch and I went to the Georgia Tech - Virginia game on Saturday. It was my second bite at shooting a college game from the stands. So I was curious to see if I had learned anything from the first bite. Answer? Maybe a little, mostly about what might make a better framing of a shot. For game shots I mostly did a vertical orientation, I think it works better.











I tried stealing Andy's idea of desaturating the background, to emphasize the action. Maybe a little too heavy handed on this one?

[photocat]

[QUOTE=wxwax]Patch and I went to the Georgia Tech - Virginia game on Saturday. It was my second bite at shooting a college game from the stands. So I was curious to see if I had learned anything from the first bite. Answer? Maybe a little, mostly about what might make a better framing of a shot. For game shots I mostly did a vertical orientation, I think it works better.

They look like very professional shots to me Sid... Love the action in all of them. I don't think you desaturated too much in the one shot.
I do like the green popping off the page though...
How did you get them so razor sharp? Fast shutterspeed???? Tripod?
Can you give us any clues???

[wxwax]

Don't forget the cheerleaders! I fear for their safety, they do dangerous stuff just inches from a concrete surface. I foresee the day when they'll have to wear helmets to do their more ambitious gymnastics.

[wxwax]

Originally Posted by photocat

They look like very professional shots to me Sid... Love the action in all of them. I don't think you desaturated too much in the one shot.
I do like the green popping off the page though...
How did you get them so razor sharp? Fast shutterspeed???? Tripod?
Can you give us any clues???

Thanks for the compliment! They weren't all that sharp out of the camera. I use a fair amount of Contrast on the RAW file and then again to the TIFF. And I make sure I use Unsharp Mask (settings of 100, 1, 0) on all of them. I also play with exposure levels and saturation.

[wxwax]

I forgot to name the equipment. Canon 1DmkII with a 300 f5.6 onboard and a 1.4 Extender. Most are shot at ISO 400, all are at f5.6. I tried to keep the shutter speed as high as possible and the depth of field as narrow as possible.

[DJ-S1]

Those are only about 6000% better than my shots of the Patriots game. Nice work Sid!


Where's Patch's shots???

[damonff]

Nice series Sid....it's nice to see college sports here. More (cheerleaders)!

[Nir]

Great set Sid!

I don't know how much you've learned from the previous trial (haven't seen it) but these are great!

[Andy]

Originally Posted by damonff

Nice series Sid....it's nice to see college sports here. More (cheerleaders)!

i was a cheerleader in college. my girl partner was not light as the girl in your shots. not by a country mile

nice shots, sid!

[John Mueller]

Nice series.Im not a sports fan,but I enjoyed the cheerleaders

[ian408]

Nice work there waxy!

I am surprised they let you into the stands with a big lens. Usually, when
photography is allowed, there's no telephoto lenses allowed. This just keeps
everyone's view from being obstructed (or so they say).

Again, nice work.

Ian

[PerezDesignGroup]

Ok, I'm not a sports shooter, but I'll try my best to critique these shots.

Your focus and overall exposure are fantastic. From a technical standpoint, I don't see how any of these could be any better.

The only thing that concerns me about the pics are the actual poses that were captured. A few seem a bit awkward. But that's the biggest challenge in sports photography (besides good bokeh). These guys are performing split second moves and making 'em look smooth is not easy.

Overall, this is a phenomenal 2nd attempt. Huge kudos!

(and thanks for the Cheerleader's abs )

[winger]

With sports the two biggest things that started improving my photos was faces and cropping.

For some reason when I started shooting sports I was just following the action and got a lot of backsides. Which sometimes can still be a cool picture.

The other thing is dont be afraid to crop. Which for some reason I still I am, I get so attached to peopls arms an legs that I dont want to cut them off for some reason.

I have only shot 3 football games but here is my last gallery (well I have more on my smugmug but this what umassathletics put up)

http://umassathletics.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/112004aab.html

Hockey is my true love, I know and understand that game much better. I think the composition of my hockey photos are better, but shooting hockey might be the toughest sports because there are so many challenges, lighting the white of the ice, the speed, if you are shooting through the glass or not (of even if it is glass)

I but all of football in one folder, but the first couple of pages is the last game (then it comes to a game where it was dark and rainy, then the unh game which was my first game on the field which isnt so bad and then the last couple of photos I shot along the fence just outside the field)
http://winger.smugmug.com/gallery/292151
Football can be tough to shoot even with a media pass, so many people on the field and my longest glass is 200.

And here is a gallery of hockey I shot recently (the last one I shot was in a really dark building and the photos are all colored weird, this one was the game before, I feel like i shot it really well and was in my home arena where I am more comfortable)
http://winger.smugmug.com/gallery/285722

[winger]

Originally Posted by ian408

Nice work there waxy!

I am surprised they let you into the stands with a big lens. Usually, when
photography is allowed, there's no telephoto lenses allowed. This just keeps
everyone's view from being obstructed (or so they say).

Again, nice work.

Ian

college sports they are way more lax I find, depends on the facialties policy really.
I shot from the boards with a point and shoot until january when i got a digital rebel.

And now I just got a 20d and about the same time media realations has asked me to shoot for them.

But you dont need a press pass to get great shots.
This was the NCAA game winner last year. I just had to sit next to a gopher fan to get it:


I think I was the only one with a camera on that side of the ice, I know that some people from denver bought the photos (some good sized prints too) hopefully I get to see where they are hanging on saturday night ( Umass plays denver @ denver on saturday and I will be there )