All-Ireland hurling final photographs

nitrogen

I'd appreciate any feedback, or constructive criticism.

http://www.bhalpin.com/54

Cheers

rahtkennades

I'm no sports photographer (there's a few good ones around here though who can comment better), but I thought they were pretty good.

I liked the 1st one, a good 'colour' shot.

The 3rd one is nicely composed, but can you get rid of the distracting mark on the bottom left (covering some of the line on the pitch).

The action in the 4th is good, but do you have any room to play with re-cropping it a little higher perhaps to avoid cutting out the sliotar and the kilkenny player's head? That or a tight 'portrait' crop of the two players in action maybe?

The 2nd and 6th are to my mind a bit 'busy', there's no real focal point to them (I know, I know, it's a crowd...)

I really like the 12th shot, there's a great sense of depth to it, you feel like your walking behind the team and band.

Finally, eh, I think you might play with the horizon on the 5th one. It's not quite straight!

Good stuff to my mind anyway.

nitrogen

Hey Rahtkennades,

Thanks for your comments; I appreciate someone taking the time to write so much.

To be honest, I agree with all your points and see them myself. But, I'm against cropping - I just don't like doing it to my images. I think, if I make a mistake, I'll have to try and improve it next time. Yes, I'd love to crop the 4th shot the way you suggested. If it were for a program, that would be perfect.

Thanks for your input though. I wish I got more time to practice taking shots of sporting events.

Cheers

rahtkennades

No bother.

About not cropping, I admire your drive to improve your photos with each take, but personally I wouldn't be so rigid in that approach. Don't forget that the camera crops for you. You're stuck with a rigid frame that you have to fit your subject into. You'll almost never get the shot you want in the frame that exists. You might have something in the corner that distracts from the subject, or the photo might just work better if it were a different shape (for example a landscape might have too much sky or foreground etc).

For me, I prefer to look at the photo that I've taken as a start, a 'canvas' to work with, and then try to make the best 'picture' from that photo.

But I'm no expert. I'm sure some of the people here who've studied this stuff properly can give a more knowledgable opinion on the use of cropping.

Keep up the good work anyway!

City-Exile

Nitrogen, all the pro sports shooters crop their images.
Using a prime, you'll have action moving between different distances from you. It's only natural that you'll have times where you don't fill the frame. Cropping is a way of life.

I've got plenty examples, of tight cropping, on my flickr...

Spyral

I like them all !! especially the one wehre it looks as if the kilkenny player is about to get his head lopped off :eek:

Borderfox

Very nice Brian, good selection of sports and surrounding shots of the atmosphere. Well done

nitrogen

Thanks to all for feedback.