Rugby

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Edit My Images
Yes
No, not the Six Nations but a local game. I was at a lose end and I threw some kit into the car and headed off to my local club. It is one of the first time I'd shot rugby and not for a very long time. I'm disappointed with the images (light didn't help) as I struggled to pick out isolated action. Not sure whether it was me ability and reading of the game (90%) or whether it was the game (10%). When I say it was the game, there appeared to be little running and it was all about piling on top of each other and driving the ball forward. I also struggled with the exposure as there was a very inconsistent set of images with 3-4 in a row being completely underexposed; spot metering for all of it. Anyway, excuses over, so please give me some pointers as to where I've gone wrong. Images subject to sliders in LR and a little cropping and straightening.

1.
25fbda33ebccbe125211272ce3859dc5


2.
21e6a490950bf950fe66d555438a941e


3.
0905f2be5d9b113f923aaeece7c9ac74


Thanks for looking!
 
First off, thats actually decent light, overcast conditions are far better to shoot in than bright sunlight

#1 is a pretty decent frame and capture but 2&3 should never have come off the memory card unless you were to crop right in on the action
Oh, and dont use spot metering, try Matrix
 
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Not a bad attempt. I, too, have tried a local rugby match and have found it a tricky thing to capture any sense of 'Sport' - there's a decisive moment which defines any sporting activity, capturing it in a predictable manner at an 'amateur sporting' level is very much a matter of luck.

As for metering.... Gary's on the money. Forget spot-metering - and I've even found matrix gets fooled when there's a background of dark trees. I've had a more consistent set of results with centre-weighted.
 
Shooting a rugby match is hard unless its a team you know well. I play for my local club and there are a few times I've taken photos and the only reason I got good shots was because I knew where people would be and who the ball went to. overall its a good set you captured the focus of the scrum half in the 2nd well. I think for me a tighter crop on the 3rd to focus on the action and the first its best to shoot a line out from the hookers view and on the teams side.

overall well done if you haven't shot this in a while, it is a difficult game to capture.
 
Definitely don't use Spot metering, it's useless in a game like rugby and it's no wonder you ended up with lots of different exposures. Forget metering and just expose the scene manually, much better, especially when the light is pretty consistent as it looks like it was that day. f2.8/3.2, shutter of at least 1/1000, then adjust the ISO accordingly.

1 - good if a touch over-exposed

2 - ok but quite messy with lots to distract

3 - throw away. Action is miles away and side-on perspective isn't usually the best angle.

Next time try going behind the try-line in one of the corners, 5 metres in and you'll get far cleaner more dramatic pictures.
 
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