HS Track & Field Event

[jdanvers]

Hey guys... 1st time posting any of my images here and this was 1st attempt at shooting this sort of venue. Long story short - step son lives about 2.5 hrs away by car, is a graduating senior this year and this was his last event. Because we don't get to see him as often as we would like we drove out to where the event was being hosted (at a different school - not his) and naturally took my camera along for the ride. ;) Unfortunately none of the shots that I grabbed of him were of the caliber that this joint requires, I thought that these ones might be... again - 1st time shooting an event like this, and really - underpowered cam and lens. D80 w/70-300 f4.5.5.6 lens. Late afternoon, extremely overcast - even spritzing rain occasionally.

Anyway... ;)

-=- jd -=-

[SmartWombat]

The lens wasn't helping on those conditions, but a wider aperture lens for sports is expensive.
You've done well with what you've got.

Is that first shot full frame?
If not I'd like to see just a little bit more of behind her foot on the left.

Second photo may look better shot in landscape, not portrait. Unless you've got a much longer lens and you're shooting straight down the track, it's hard to pick single athletes out. So I'd make a benefit from what you've got and shoot landscape and a little wider to show the race.

Last shot I like, but I can see you're at the limit of getting motion blur making it look soft.
I am torn whether the bar should be level or not, if this is cropped from a larger image then it may be worth it. As it is if you rotate it then it will also crop from the sides and it may look too cramped.

[jdanvers]

Thanks for the feedback Paul -- appreciate it. I just went back and looked at the originals and can report back the following:

1st one is indeed full frame (little cropped off of top) so nothing I can do to get her foot back - I cut it off when pulled the trigger...

2nd one was originally shot in landscape, I cropped it as shown as I was actually targeting the one specific runner - and your spot on correct about it being VERY difficult to track a single individual in these events... aiy!

3rd - shot as shown here. Rotating it to level the bar would likely stuff the kids face into the edge of the frame.

That 3rd one was also nearing the end of my shooting as it was really starting to get borderline dark out and I wasn't about to be the 1st person to start lighting these kids up with a flash and get the officials irked (or the kids for that matter). lol!!

What I would REALLY like to know is how the heck does one get 800x800 images uploaded to this forum that are LESS than 300k??? I'm not very good with graphics s/w and am not well versed in using it. I do have adobe light room and cs3 available to me @work and that is where I pull most of the images off of my camera from. I barely know how to use either of the programs though...

Anyway - thanks again for the feedback.

-=- jd -=-

[Old Timer]

Looks like a great effort for the first time out of the box. I love to shoot track and as Paul said f2.8 glass is a real asset but certainly not a must as you have showen.. the way many of have learned to shoot better sports photo is by posting those that we don't think come up to our own standards and let some of those that have been doing it for a while longer give us a few tips on how to improve. I have seen tremendous improvement from some of out regulars here over the months and years they have been posting. Don't ever hesitate to post an image just because you don't think it meets some mythical standard here on PR. There is no standard just a desire by all of us to improve the quality of images we are producing.

[splats]

I really like that first one , I just wish you could see a touch more behind her.

the way many of have learned to shoot better sports photo is by posting those that we don't think come up to our own standards and let some of those that have been doing it for a while longer give us a few tips on how to improve. .

I have personally found this to be true for my self . What I have also found is getting other peopls Persepective to be very helpful and enlightening, I can recall one time in particular I posted a bunch of shots and 1 that I almost didn't post , every one liked the best, so you just never know.

[SmartWombat]

Saving the photos, I am using Lightroom so I have to guess.
I wish it had a Size and Size feature, so I could specify 800x800 max and 230k max.
My compromise is to save them at 70% quality and post-save action of sharpening in Lightroom 2 beta.

[burnet44]

are these OK
I have such a hard time getting them sharp
please be brutal

[burnet44]