County Rivalry Last Night

[dhyravy]

Thought I'd post a couple from last night's game between our two county HS girls teams. The team in blue (North) is one of the top ten teams in the state and overpowered the home team 67 to 22 even with the subs in for the entire second half. The setup is the same as my previous recent posts. I will be replacing my ebay RF triggers though as soon as my Elinchrom Skyports arrive.

I've had good luck with my current setup but the triggers will misfire about once every 15 or so shots. I need more reliability and the skyports fit that bill at half the price of PWs.

[Tiago Rohrsetzer]

One thing I would observe next time is to have a straight horizon line... they are both tilted to the right..
nice picture the second one

[dhyravy]

I see a few folks who seem to be hung up on the horizon being straight. Obviously I try to watch the camera angle, but these are not portraits and I'm following a fast moving play. The reality is that the paper could care less about the background they want the action and I am more about getting the players than worrying about the background angle. I could correct that in PP, but with multiple games a week (sometimes more than one a day) I do very little if any post on these. It's just too much time involved unless a parent orders a print.

[AgingEyes]

I see a few folks who seem to be hung up on the horizon being straight.

I guess there's a solution: crop it tight so that the horizontal and the vertical lines are not that noticeable :-)

The other day I was thinking about that the horizon being straight thing while flipping over a photo mag. I admit I'm also the kind who doesn't understand why some people take titled shots intentionally. Anyway, back to the mag. I noticed that most photos are not tilted. Then I was thinking: imagine a magazine with highly titled photos page after page. Then imagine the reader rotating the mag this way and that, titling his own head along the way trying to get a better view of what those photos are all about :-)

Of course, you situations are different.

[JSPhoto]

Daniel, I'd tend to agree about the horizon, it's OK if it's a tad off, but if it's way off I straighten them before sending it off to the paper unless it is one I did intentionaly or it's really good action shot that just can't get "fixed". It only takes a minute at most to straighten one up during PP. Even following fast action keeping the horizon straight is part of the proper technique in my opinion. I'll admit I don't always straighten them for here, although I probably should

JS

[Tiago Rohrsetzer]

I see a few folks who seem to be hung up on the horizon being straight. Obviously I try to watch the camera angle, but these are not portraits and I'm following a fast moving play. The reality is that the paper could care less about the background they want the action and I am more about getting the players than worrying about the background angle. I could correct that in PP, but with multiple games a week (sometimes more than one a day) I do very little if any post on these. It's just too much time involved unless a parent orders a print.

I know papers don't care, but it bothers anyway and is simple to solve in photoshop or capturenx, depending on what you use, no more than 2 seconds. I think that the "too much time involved unless a parent orders a print" is not the right thinking for a professional, if you want to be professional, have the professional attitude and make your pictures the best, with talent, technique and CARE about your work. If you don't care how it looks, then why should anyone else care?
That is my opinion but I respect your position and I know how though it is to shoot many games in a week/day, I do the same and I got the same kind of comment about the horizon, if I can and crop will not kill my picture, I do, if not I think 15 times before choosing it even tho my photo editor is someone that don't know a thing about sports photography.
take care

[dhyravy]

Like JS, I haven't been as careful as I should be with shots that I post here. Funny thing, out of the 130+ shots from last night (and after the comments on this post) I went through them and there were a total of 17 that were a little "off". None of those were shots that went to the papers. I do in fact "CARE" about my work and have for some 28 years now from film to digital. After looking at Mr. Rohrsetzer's images of the NY marathon in his user gallery, I would hope he is in fact heeding his own advice. For my part, I will be more selective about any future posts here.

[Tiago Rohrsetzer]

No need for all the sarcasm...
I've never said I'm professional, I am not and I don't plan to be one and that is why I go to college for another subject.
I just answered the way I did because your answer, trying to get an excuse for that...
About the pictures of the marathon, I can't see any tilted horizon, due the fact it was a hill and I shot from over their head... but of course you didn't know that and had to say something to "attack" me, I never attacked you in any way but too bad ..
about how long you've been working with this, I really don't care, could be 1 day or 45 years... The horizons would still be tilted and I would still point that out, just as "advice" not anything else...but it seems like you don't like it..
well, there will be no other comment by me in this or any other thread made by you...
have a great life ..

[JSPhoto]

Lets take a breather here. Were all here to share and learn.

John

[dhyravy]

Yes, that is a fact. I have learned from this forum and tried to share with those where I could offer some useful information. I try to make a point never to criticize anyones work but rather offer assistance when asked for. Sorry if I came across wrongly.

[BFiredup]

I love the color and sharpness.....

Hope I get there one day....

[livin4lax09]

while i agree the backgrounds don't need to be straight to post here, the fact is it looks sloppy if they're crooked, like you don't take time to edit them and take no pride in your work. THat's NOT to say you don't take pride in your work, but it's just what it comes across as.

But backgrounds DO matter, and your paper should know this. Your subject is the knife, the background your butter. Backgrounds (for the most part) should be straight, blurred, and free of clutter. This is probably the most stressed thing you will hear from any pro sports shooters, that the background is much more important than anyone thinks. People don't pay ridiculous amounts of money for the 400 2.8 to just get the faster shutter speed. a lot of it has the do with the background and the subject isolation.

and tiago, your images look fine. I agree, it's just because of the vanishing point and the angle they were shot at.

[JSPhoto]

This issue of whether the horizon is straight or not has been dealt with, I asked that we take a breather here, meaning in short the subject is done with and that it was to end there.

JS