Inaugural Asheville Marathon

[CLKunst]

Hiya folks! Long time no talk! Here's one for the critique group, I don't do a lot of sports but wanted to know how this shot comes across.

1st Asheville Marathon
Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC

[hminx]

Cindy I'm a bit puzzled about the composition with this one, the title says its about a marathon but the image is dominated by the building in the back ground. Also the contestants are small in the image and we can only see their backs. This might have worked better if you were situated on the other side of that water station.

[Photo-John]

I agree with hminx's critique of this photo. If you hadn't of said it was of a marathon, I might not have even noticed. The photo is dominated by the building in the background. My guess is, you had a vision in your mind of runners with that building in the background, but you let the picture in your mind distract you from what was really happening in your viewfinder. This is a very, very common problem. One of the main things photographers need to do is learn to *really* see what's in front of them - not what they think they see. What I think might have worked here, is getting much closer to the runners and shooting from a low angle, so the runners are proportionally large and the building is smaller, and maybe even out of focus. In any case, the emphasis here should really be on the runners and not the building.

[AgingEyes]

You need more runners. You need signs that tell the viewers there's a marathon going on, number signs on the runners, etc. Show some faces, too, and that requires you to shoot somewhere before the turn (and still have that building in the background if you want to). Try not to cut off the top of that tower. Correct the distortion in post-processing if you wish.

[GB1]

Greetings Cindy. What a long time! I personally like the image but not necessarily from a sports photography perspective. I think getting great sports shots takes some analysis beforehand of exactly what would make a good ___ shot. E.g., for baseball, a batter swinging or a pitcher pitching. With running I've found the best shots are at a water stop when the elite runners come by trying to grab a drink in mid to full stride, with water flying as they grab the cups, drinks falling on the ground, etc. But I think the finish line would be great too, w/ tons of emotions, grimaces (people in pain), etc.

I volunteered at a few water stops - mainly to take pictures () - and here's a shot from the San Diego Rock N Roll a few years back. You only get the real action with the elite guys as everyone else pretty much walks through the stops.



Getting back to your image, I like how you incorporated the building and the way the runners guide the viewer to it. Not sure it really depicts a marathon, but it is a pretty shot. This place loks like Europe - maybe I need to get out to NC more often.

G

[mushaisa]

I'm missing the action!

[CLKunst]

Good critique folks! Thanks for the considered feedback. Definitely if this was my one and only shot from the day it wouldn't be communicating much about the race as a whole. I do photo essay style coverage and was shooting for a local media blog. I got plenty of the suggested shots, low-angle, focus on the action as well as general scene action of clumps of runners w/house in b/g, etc.

Since this is the inaugural race run entirely on the Biltmore Estate grounds (the estate house is a big deal around here) I wanted something that was a different angle from what the rest of what might possibly run with the article. I like the shadows of the runners and the view in the background with the house looming over all, but knew that, compositionally, the divided scene is a weakness. Here's something more along the lines of what this critique has suggested.

[Photo-John]

Since this is the inaugural race run entirely on the Biltmore Estate grounds (the estate house is a big deal around here) I wanted something that was a different angle from what the rest of what might possibly run with the article. I like the shadows of the runners and the view in the background with the house looming over all, but knew that, compositionally, the divided scene is a weakness. Here's something more along the lines of what this critique has suggested.

This one works a lot better for me. This one is really of the race but still has the building in the background. I think it would be even better with a longer lens and the building more centered behind the runners. But I think this photo gets the job done and the other one really didn't.