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A few from this seasons track meets

T

[TQ]

Gawd
Joined
Dec 16, 2003
Messages
690
First season of track i've ever shot, but i think i've come away with a few keepers

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Nice shots, TQ. I think #1 is one of the best of that bunch in terms of composition, execution, and capturing a not-too-strange look on the athlete's face, but it lacks the vibrant colors of some of the others. Perhaps it could use some saturation and contrast help.

#4 and the second to last are also excellent. It looks like there's some significant dust on your sensor in the last shot, though. If you plan on keeping that one, it might be worth cloning out. It shows up in a couple of the other shots, but it doesn't particularly detract from those.
 
The last one was shot at f/32...no amount of cleaining will get all that off.

I thought i grabbed all the dust but i now do see some on the left side of his body.
 
All in all great shots! Great timing on the high jump shots.

The first and last don't really belong up with the rest though and I would definitely crop out the guy on the right in the men's hurdles picture.
 
heh im the captain of our track team, you skipped throwing events :p

nice pictures though
 
TQ, with the 300 I expected to see some traditional shots of track at this focal length. IE, head-on hurdling, etc. Instead I see angles I cover with my 85. The angle seems to work on #2 and #8, but for the rest the 70-200 would probably be better. (and you used it for a few and I think they're stronger than their 300mm equivilents)

IE, compare #4 and #8. In #8 the background is much more distracting because the background is compressed so much and blurred so that the fence looks like it's made of 1ft diameter PVC pipe (and the jumper looks tiny because of this). In #4 the 155mm focallength makes the background shrink and the background becomes less distracting. Also compare #5 and #7 for this effect.

So keep in mind how the focal-length compresses the background. And look at some of the traditional angles for your focal-lengths and work from there to see what you can change for the better.

Cheers and keep up the good pictures :)
 
Tim_axe said:
TQ, with the 300 I expected to see some traditional shots of track at this focal length. IE, head-on hurdling, etc. Instead I see angles I cover with my 85. The angle seems to work on #2 and #8, but for the rest the 70-200 would probably be better. (and you used it for a few and I think they're stronger than their 300mm equivilents)

IE, compare #4 and #8. In #8 the background is much more distracting because the background is compressed so much and blurred so that the fence looks like it's made of 1ft diameter PVC pipe (and the jumper looks tiny because of this). In #4 the 155mm focallength makes the background shrink and the background becomes less distracting. Also compare #5 and #7 for this effect.

So keep in mind how the focal-length compresses the background. And look at some of the traditional angles for your focal-lengths and work from there to see what you can change for the better.

Cheers and keep up the good pictures :)
Click to expand...

There are a few things you gotta understand here, even though i'm not entirerly sure i agree with all of your assessment of the backgrounds, it's really neither here nor there.

I'm shooting for a paper so my access is good, but it is still limited simply because there are so many people standing around that i only have a few angles that i can get a clean shot. This also means that i'm shooting a particular person, it is pretty much impossible to shoot a head on hurdle shot with a 300mm lens when the person running is in the middle of the track.

Furthermore high school track meets are so unorganized that there are so many events going on at one time that in order to get a shot i am frequently shooting two events at he same time, the high jump is a good example. On all of the high jump shots i was actually photographing a running race with the 300, while the runners where on the other side of the track i would snap a few of the jumper.

So i appreciate your critique, i just wish that i lived in a perfect world where i could apply everything you suggested, problem is...usually that’s simply not practical.

PS
You said i' m not being "traditional" and i take pride in that. My untraditional photography has gotten me where i am...which is making a small amount of money from my photography.
 
That's cool. I agree they are too busy myself. I didn't realize the high jump shots were taken when you were covering distance. But it makes sense. I find it nearly impossible to cover multiple events myself (the main event I focus on is okay, but the others are just snaps), but since my first photography job is coming on in the Fall season I'll only have to put up with gym lights and stadium lights and team sports. I can worry about the multiple events at once thing after I've mastered the concept :D

And keep up the good photo coverage. I was just trying to provide a (hopefully useful) critique with somethings to consider in the future. To be honest, I had never realized how much impact the focal-length and the resulting image compression & bokeh had on an image until I saw your images and was trying to figure out why the background just seemed so different, so I learned something from you too. It is something I hope to remember when I'm finally out there on the field as a photographer/photojournalist. Cheers :)
 
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