Girls Soccer

[Old Timer]

Well it's either feast of famine. This week it's feast. Three sport in three nights. Monday JV football last night I shot a volleyball match and tonight it was girls soccer. I know very little about soccer and my images will show it but here are a few from my shoot this evening.

[Old Timer]

A few more....

[Dylan8i]

of the first 4 the last 2 are the best. as far as the first shot of the second group, i hope she got called for a dangerous play for that. way to high.

[Old Timer]

Thanks for the comments Dylan. Soccer is not my game at all. I don't know the rules or strategy of the game. Just know you have to get the ball in the big net and you can't use your hands. So my pictures may not tell the kind of story they should.

[terryger]

those are absolutely awesome.

something i have been planning for my soon to come forays from wildlife to sports. girls volleyball also.

thanx for the inspiration!:thumbsup:

[Dylan8i]

NP OT. if you have any questions as you watch games post them up here and i'll explain them the best i can.

[AndersonCAA]

Very nice. Good color and lighting, frame is filled and expressions are very good. Great captures.

[Old Timer]

Thanks Chris. That last football post of yours was an eye opener to me and I made up my mind to try and work on my image quality a little. Don't know what will happen when I get back under the light though.

[AndersonCAA]

Me too. I'm under the lights tonight for the football home opener. The game starts at 7:15 so I have some light to start the game but once they turn the stadium lights on it's all up for grabs. One thing that I do is shoot in RAW at 800 to 1000 and shoot one full stop darker which allows me to get a faster shutter speed, somewhere around 500 or better. I then brighten the photos the one stop in Digital Photo Professional to get detail back. This program seems to work better than PS Elements.

[livin4lax09]

OT, what are your USM settings? I think your radius is set too high. try this. amount 300, radius .5, threshold 0. The edges are too thick on your shots, which leads me to believe you either used too high of a radius, or your shots were originally out of focus and you tried to compensate.

[Old Timer]

OT, what are your USM settings? I think your radius is set too high. try this. amount 300, radius .5, threshold 0. The edges are too thick on your shots, which leads me to believe you either used too high of a radius, or your shots were originally out of focus and you tried to compensate.

The truth of the matter is I don't even know what the radius setting does. I think it was around 3 or so I never fool with it just leave it where ever it was, pretty sure the threshold was at 0. I appreciate your input on this.

[Norfindel]

I agree, the best pictures are the last 2 of the first group.
I think the best moments in soccer to take a picture are when someone tries to score a goal, or when 2 players confront each other to take the ball. An experienced player could evade other players while keeping the ball at his feets with incedible ability.

[Old Timer]

I agree, the best pictures are the last 2 of the first group.
I think the best moments in soccer to take a picture are when someone tries to score a goal, or when 2 players confront each other to take the ball. An experienced player could evade other players while keeping the ball at his feets with incedible ability.

Thanks for the comment Norfindel. I know you guys down there take your football/soccer a lot more seriously than we do here in KY. This is only the second year these girls have played soccer at the varsity level. The program was started four years ago and they played JV for two years then moved to varsity. Their level of play is not what you will find with older more experienced programs. And I must admit that I am learning more about the game as I begin to shot it more often. Right now I am just following the action and trying to do the best job I can.

Would love to see some of your soccer pictures if you have some to post.

[Norfindel]

Sorry, i have no sport pictures at all. Mostly i take pictures on vacations, special events, etc. I like specially landscape photography.
But i have seen several soccer matches, pictures in newspapers, magazines, etc, and that are the moments nearly all the pictures are taken. Other opportunities to take a picture are stop-ball situations, like penalties (typical picture of a flying goalkeeper trying to catch the ball), corners, free shots, etc, when you know exactly when the ball is hit, and can predict where it will go.

[JETA]

Feast is putting it mildly OT! The 3rd and last one are my faves. I took soccer pics only a few times..... You put me to shame.

What the heck are thick edges? My untrained eye isn't seeing anything wrong.

[Old Timer]

What the heck are thick edges? My untrained eye isn't seeing anything wrong.

Thanks JETA. I know these aren't great but I was fairly please. As to thick edges I'm not sure I'm hoping that livin will help me a little with the PS procedure so I can avoid it though. I really am pretty much of a novice with PS.

[JETA]

Thanks JETA. I'm not sure I'm hoping that livin will help me a little with the PS procedure so I can avoid it though. I really am pretty much of a novice with PS.

I'm hoping he will too. My ps skills are the worst.

[swmdrayfan]

I'm in the same boat OT. The Devil Rays closed the book on the franchise at home on Thursday, so I'm going to venture into the world of high school and college sports. I'm looking forward to a new challenge, and getting back aboard the forum. I've been away too long.
John

[livin4lax09]

ok, the thick edges are caused by setting a high radius of your unsharp mask and a lower amount when you're sharpening in photoshop, and it makes the edges where they should be sharp a lot thicker. I'll show you an example if I can find one. ok, since I just cleaned off my harddrive and this is about the only photo I have, I'll do an example with this.

this photo is with no unsharp mask:


this photo, with my normal USM settings: amount 300%, radius .5, threshold 0.


This photo, with a much lesser amount, and higher radius. amount 50%, radius 8, threshold 0


this photo, with the same but a higher threshold.

you can see that boosting the radius a lot not only changing the sharpness, but in fact changed the whole look of the photo as well. alot of radius will change the contrast as well. the threshold basically just safens it up and lessens the drastic results, but if you can control the radius and amount enough, there's really no use for it. so go easy on the radius, and tough on the amount, and I guarantee you'll find that your photos are a lot sharper. oh and when you resize for the web (to around 600 pix) you should apply another USM. i do radius of .5, amount of 50-100, and threshold 0. It helps to sharpen up the photos when their details become compressed. I mean, these are all very small changes, but if you find yourself working for a real hardass, it will matter a lot more than you think now. The trained eye wouldn't think the first shot I showed is sharp, like I don't think so either.