Feedback on photos

[JADPhoto]

I'm new to this forum and I posted a couple of photos that I took (Canon EOS Digital Rebel 300D 70-200 f4 L) during the fall soccer season and I'm interested in any feedback so I can improve my skills.

I found out quickly, that lens does not work well at dusk or under the lights. I recently purchased a Sigma 70-200 f2.8 so I could shoot night games. I'm testing it at some indoor soccer and wrestling matches. As soon as I get something that I think is worth posting, I'll ask for some additional feedback.

[Sebastian]

These need to be cropped much tighter. We don't need to see the crooked fence, we don't need to see the half cut-off line ref, we need more of the action.

Also, you should have gotten a flash instead of the Sigma lens, you will need it for night games with either lens, the 2.8 only give you one stop more light than the f/4.

[JADPhoto]

These need to be cropped much tighter. We don't need to see the crooked fence, we don't need to see the half cut-off line ref, we need more of the action.

Also, you should have gotten a flash instead of the Sigma lens, you will need it for night games with either lens, the 2.8 only give you one stop more light than the f/4.

What kind of flash would recommend?

[masdog]

What kind of flash would recommend?

Before you invest in a flash, you should really try out the conditions you will be shooting in. What kind of light are you under? Is there a lot of light?

When I was shooting night soccer games, I didn't use flash. I had enough light to shoot through the entire first half. After that, it was too dark to shoot anywhere except for mid-field, and I didn't want to use flash near the goalies. While they may not notice it, I don't want to lose my goodwill with the school if players complain.

[JSPhoto]

Welcome JADphoto,

With the 300D you will more than likly need both the f2.8 lens and a flash. The 300D AF is slow to say the least, this is made worse as the light falls off. The Sigma 70-200 f2.8 will make a huge difference, but adding the flash will do almost as much.
You do not need to get a fancy flash, in fact you could probably get away with a cheap used flash such as the Sunpak 433D with a Canon hotshoe. I paid $55 for one and use it in manual mode. Battery wise they last longer in that flash than they do in the Canon flash! Make sure though that the flash is for Canon, not Nikon. All Sunpak flashes with Canon hotshoes have a sticker that says Canon on it.

JS

[masdog]

Hi JAD. Welcome to PR.

A couple of thoughts on your photos. First, the action looks good. It looks like you've cropped very closely on some of them, but as far as I can tell, the images are pretty sharp.

The focus is off in the last one, but not by a lot. To avoid this, I would recommend shooting with the center focal point.

The lighting in the first one is distracting as well. There are, generally, two schools of thought when it comes to sports lighting. You can shoot with the sun at your back, or you can shoot into the sun. Your exposure needs to be perfect for both.

Indoor soccer can be a pain in the keister to shoot. A lot of the indoor places don't have very good lighting, so freezing action can be a problem. The place near me didn't have consistent White Balance and it was so dark that I had to use photoshop to improve the images.

These look good. Keep coming around with stuff to review.

[JADPhoto]

Hi JAD. Welcome to PR.

A couple of thoughts on your photos. First, the action looks good. It looks like you've cropped very closely on some of them, but as far as I can tell, the images are pretty sharp.

The focus is off in the last one, but not by a lot. To avoid this, I would recommend shooting with the center focal point.

The lighting in the first one is distracting as well. There are, generally, two schools of thought when it comes to sports lighting. You can shoot with the sun at your back, or you can shoot into the sun. Your exposure needs to be perfect for both.

Indoor soccer can be a pain in the keister to shoot. A lot of the indoor places don't have very good lighting, so freezing action can be a problem. The place near me didn't have consistent White Balance and it was so dark that I had to use photoshop to improve the images.

These look good. Keep coming around with stuff to review.

Thanks for the feedback. The first picture was from a tournament and it was an early game. I was moving all over the field trying to find a good spot and as you can tell I wasn't too successful. I was a little surprised when I cropped some pictures that I didn't lose any of the sharpness.

I shot another indoor soccer game this evening and I tried several settings. This was the first time I took the camera off auto, so it was interesting to see the results.

[swmdrayfan]

Welcome JAD. I'll agree that the cropping could be better and the bottom shot seems a little overexposed, but all-in-all, they are pretty good.

John

[Loupey]

Good Job!

A friendly comment: I personally find non-verticals very distracting (I'm that kind of guy). I'm not talking about using the distort tool in photoshop to try to make verticals and horizontals perpendicular. Just rotate the entire image a degree here, half a degree there until the lamp posts, fence uprights, etc. are straight up and down. See if you like the difference.