Women's England v Wales

[hjwatso1]

Here is a selection from a very tough night at Esher RFC photographing the Ladies play against Wales. Not ot get my excuses in early or anything ... It was very dark. The floodlights were patchy at best and stopped just before the try line, so all those lovely try shots I took are very underexposed. The lighting varied in a space of 15m from bearable 1/1000 to 1/125 at 3200 ISO. Generally I was shooting under to keep the shutter speed up. There's lots of noise and they are a bit soft, but please give me your thoughts, especially in the processing area. It's in conditions like this which makes me wish I had a spare 4 grand lying around the place.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

To be honest, not really happy with any of them. But hey ho, it can't get much tougher than that. full set is here on flickr.

Oh, and a big thank you to the to the tog who with 10 mins to go before the end of the first half, walked in front of myself and another tog, and then proceeded to sit right in the middle of us but 3 m in front of us blocking both our views.

 

[Tobers]

Yes indeed, Esher is a nightmare at night. Patchy thin lighting doesn't help anything really. However, you've come away with a pretty decent set of pics at the end of the day. I'm sure you'll have enough there should anyone come calling for a bit of coverage of the game.

Oh, and it might be worth abandoning the 3x2 format and just cropping the best way to highlight the action. #3 is a good example.

Well done!

 

[hjwatso1]

Cheers Andy. Nice to see you have experienced the delights of Esher at night. Saying the, the club members were lovely.

As you say, I'm not comfortable with cropping yet, but we live and learn!

 

[Rovers_Andy]

I think you handled the crappy lighting well. 1 and 6 are the strongest of the set IMHO.

 

[hjwatso1]

Cheers Andy, here's hoping for some daylight for their next match versus Ireland.

 

[Les McLean]

Photography would be extremely dull if we didn't have challenges as you described

These are great, good crops and loads of action and energy.

Save your 4 grand for something else, nowt wrong with these.

 

[SlimShaney]

great shots. 1&6 the best for me

 

[ClaireJ]

Esher is a lovely rugby club - Saints played there during their time in ND1. You did well given the lighting and from memory the in goal areas are huge so you can be long way from the action.

I shot the same match a few years ago - women's rugby is very skillful and there's no quarter given. You have captured the action really well - the power and pace of the England team comes over really well.

 

[hjwatso1]

Thanks Les for your lovely comments and from a what looks like a fellow Yorkshireman, they be grand lad.

And ta shane.

Claire, yup Esher was a lovely place to visit. The Club was very welcoming and I had a good natter with the fan after, especially when they found out I was a Blackheath fan. We're playing them in a couple of weeks. Yeah, the in goal areas are huge. I couldn't believe it when I saw them. If the lights covered them Esher electricity bill would double! The England team were superior in all departments.