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Sports photo critiques

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1080ski
Posts: 4424 - Karma: 191
I'm trying to take more photos of sports. this is my little brothers lax game from last night. let me know what you think/what i can improve on.
1. (my favorite out of the set)

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2. (My little brother Steve in the blue). Its too bad about the cars in the background, I probably should have paid attention to that at the game!
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3.
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Some things that I think I can do better next time are shooting low to the ground (the players look down at the ball) and paing a bit more attention to the background.

For reference, all shots are using a D200 with an 80-200 f2.8. I think that all of these are at f2.8
Jul 16 2009 3:39PM
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.jr
Posts: 5313 - Karma: 356
Like the first one, got everything in.  Second shot I kinda wish his stick was all the way in the photo, looks awkward cut off like that. Like you said, get the cars out. Third shot, pretty good, wish the guy in the back wasnt in there, but not bad.

Hmm you say those are shot at 2.8? damn, I would of stepped up to atleast 5.6 to make sure everything was in focus.. did you ever have any trouble focusing at 2.8?


Note: I dont know a whole lot about sports photography, never really been interested.

Jul 16 2009 3:47PM
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1080ski
Posts: 4424 - Karma: 191
^no problems focusing at 2.8... I got my d200 autofocus settings figured out now.

when you say that you would step up to 5.6 or somewhere around there to get everything in focus, did you mean the whole player, or the background as well? i like to keep the background out of focus b/c usually it doesn't add anything to the photo (see 1 for example, that girl standing there would be awkward if she was in focus).

and for 2, that was all of the stick that i got. i wish i had more of it, but oh well.

+ K for legit critiques
Jul 16 2009 3:54PM
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.jr
Posts: 5313 - Karma: 356
oh god no ha.. Just the player, I shoot at 2.8 alot and I would assume that on some of the shots the AF would be off by a bit and the players be soft.


Jul 16 2009 3:58PM
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1080ski
Posts: 4424 - Karma: 191
^ahh yea ok i see what you mean. to help with that, i turned on predictive focus (i think thats what its called) on my camera. it basically focuses constantly when you shoot, but also predicts where the subject will have moved to from the time i hit the shutter button to when it actually takes the shot. it helps a ton in sports
Jul 16 2009 5:16PM
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.jr
Posts: 5313 - Karma: 356
nikon? ..af-c?
Jul 16 2009 5:36PM
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1080ski
Posts: 4424 - Karma: 191
yea pretty much. you can mess around with weather you want the priority to be on fps or focus. also, i use the group dynamic focus set to focus on the closest subject in the group of sensors activated. it seems to work great with sports
Jul 16 2009 5:48PM
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thisandthatfilms
Posts: 7713 - Karma: 525
^^ all these guys beat me to it
Jul 16 2009 6:04PM
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DrZoidberg
Posts: 5675 - Karma: 4,268
Yeah for those who don't know, you use 2.8 to blur the background. A bunch of sharp, in focus cars would not help these photos at all. I like the first, nice and tight around the players, and normally i like looser stuff. You should try shooting at night at a field with lights if he ever has a game on one. f2.8 and a higher iso would lead to some cool night shots, if you don't get really bad noise. They are all pretty good though.
Jul 16 2009 9:18PM
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.jr
Posts: 5313 - Karma: 356
Ha not sure if that ^ was directed at me or not.. Im well aware of the effects of f stops. I was simply curious if 2.8 was giving enough depth to always keep the players sharp.
Jul 16 2009 9:25PM
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RileySnyderPhoto
Posts: 688 - Karma: 1,451
imo I wound say zoom out a little to give the subjects a little more room. everything else has been said but yeah nice photos
Jul 17 2009 10:37PM
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.jr
Posts: 5313 - Karma: 356
eh I kinda like how tight they are, allows us to get into the action more.

2nd one being excluded of course.. still need that stick ha.
Jul 17 2009 11:26PM
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TheMajesticLife
Posts: 940 - Karma: 495

it would of been sick if steve didnt ruin my computer       Just playin  

sick pics nick 

Jul 19 2009 10:14AM
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idontactuallyski
Posts: 1320 - Karma: 19
whats your brothers name? i know a bunch of kids that play for top gun
Jul 19 2009 11:14AM
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1080ski
Posts: 4424 - Karma: 191
haha yea, how did that turn out? still broken?

and his name is steve iodice. he plays for the top gun "rising clams" team, but will probably be on the top gun "clams" team next year
Jul 19 2009 11:15AM
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TheMajesticLife
Posts: 940 - Karma: 495
yea my comps fine it was never broken^
Jul 20 2009 9:01AM
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shawnrohrbach
Posts: 56 - Karma: 10
I know it's hard to keep cars out of pics when you're on a local field and not in an arena or something, but the first stands out because sports are enjoyed by people and you fuzzed them out a bit, but there they are. Even better if they are reac ting to what is going on on the field.  I think you mentioned that getting lower than your subject is something you wanted to do, and that is correct.  With a larger lens, you will also be able to get close up facial shots of the athletes and those pay out if they are intense enough.
Jul 21 2009 4:12PM
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no_steeze
Posts: 23992 - Karma: 4,267
i like those in terms of showing action

when shooting sports i always try to get funky angles as well, just things that the average sports shooter won't get. those pics are awesome for depicting the game which is what most people shoot sports to do but i love getting closeups of strange things, like it'd be sick to see a close shot of one of the kids grabbing a ground ball or something

either way i like them, only thing is that in one of them your bro's stick is half cut off, that just bugs me a little
Jul 21 2009 4:39PM
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camski26
Posts: 679 - Karma: 16
nice job. try different angles next time too just as a tip. but they're good.
Jul 22 2009 10:42AM
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