Some rugby images

[MCP84]

Taken using the old Nikon AF-S 300mm f/4 D lens. These were shot in .jpg (by accident). Shot using 1/1000 shutter speed and an aperture of f/5.6 using auto-ISO.


1.
.

2.


3.

 

[MCP84]

4.


5.



6.

 

[MCP84]

7.


8.


9.

 

[brizrob]

Why use 5.6 when your lens goes up to f4?

1. Good but quite a high perspective. Were you stood up, or are the players just crouching a bit.

2. Bit of a strange crop and probably half a second too late. Lineout shots are often at their best with arms fully extended catching the ball. Also overexposed, which happens often enough with Auto ISO.

3. good

4. Good, but face looks a tad soft

5 good

6 -

7 ok but not the best angle, and the cars in the background are distracting.

8 ok, bit busy

9 -

Your best shots are 1 (with a better crop), 3 and 4. 1's problem is the f5.6 thing.

 

[MCP84]

Why use 5.6 when your lens goes up to f4?

1. Good but quite a high perspective. Were you stood up, or are the players just crouching a bit.

2. Bit of a strange crop and probably half a second too late. Lineout shots are often at their best with arms fully extended catching the ball. Also overexposed, which happens often enough with Auto ISO.

3. good

4. Good, but face looks a tad soft

5 good

6 -

7 ok but not the best angle, and the cars in the background are distracting.

8 ok, bit busy

9 -

Your best shots are 1 (with a better crop), 3 and 4. 1's problem is the f5.6 thing.

Thanks for the comments.

With regards to not using f4, f/5.6 is when this lens is at its sharpest and the lens (my second hand copy at least) isn’t as sharp at f/4 as it is at f/5.6, it still gives me enough separation and depth of field.

 

[brizrob]

I've not heard of a lens being sharper at a specific f stop. If the lens opens up to f4 then it should be sharp, otherwise it's faulty and should be returned. Most rugby shots are done at f2.8 or 3.2 so going all the way down to 5.6 is a shame.

 

[MCP84]

I've not heard of a lens being sharper at a specific f stop. If the lens opens up to f4 then it should be sharp, otherwise it's faulty and should be returned. Most rugby shots are done at f2.8 or 3.2 so going all the way down to 5.6 is a shame.

Well now you have,

a lot of lenses are sharper stopped down. I’m very surprised you’ve not heard of that.

And believe me the lens is certainly not faulty [emoji6]

 

[Bluesman graham]

Hi Mark.

Some nice action caught here,
Are these cropped in?,
If so I would use the cropping factor to enhance the shots (unless these are a standard crop for sales/publication of course?
eg.

#1, you could crop in from the left & extend to the right!, it's always better for a player to have room to run into. ditto #4
#'s 2,3, & 5 IMHO, don't work as they are neither more, or, less inclusive of any action, (again unless these are for player sales), crop in for the facials!
#7, crop in to exclude the rubbish on the left!,I'd crop to exclude the guy in the blue hoodie,1/4 " up from the bottom, 1/2" in from the top
#8, silly as it may seem crop out the opposing player in red! & crop down 1/4" from the top.
#,s 6 & 9, well, I guess only you know why these are here lol.

Just think about your cropping if not restricted, how would your eye follow a picture?.
Look forward to seeing more images even if it's the , (cough, cough), wrong code .

 

[MCP84]

Hi Mark.

Some nice action caught here,
Are these cropped in?,
If so I would use the cropping factor to enhance the shots (unless these are a standard crop for sales/publication of course?
eg.

#1, you could crop in from the left & extend to the right!, it's always better for a player to have room to run into. ditto #4
#'s 2,3, & 5 IMHO, don't work as they are neither more, or, less inclusive of any action, (again unless these are for player sales), crop in for the facials!
#7, crop in to exclude the rubbish on the left!,I'd crop to exclude the guy in the blue hoodie,1/4 " up from the bottom, 1/2" in from the top
#8, silly as it may seem crop out the opposing player in red! & crop down 1/4" from the top.
#,s 6 & 9, well, I guess only you know why these are here lol.

Just think about your cropping if not restricted, how would your eye follow a picture?.
Look forward to seeing more images even if it's the , (cough, cough), wrong code .

Hey thanks for the detailed response, these were just done for fun over a year ago for my old club. Just trying my hand at sports photography as everyone does when they take up the hobby. Only shot 3 games and these are only a small sample of images I kept.

Some of these are cropped others aren’t, these were taken with a 300mm prime (used primarily for wildlife photography).

I was unaware about the player having room to move into for sports will remember that if there is a next time!

 

[Gogster]

f/4 should give you better isolation, which is what we're aiming for, some of the composition/cropping is a little off and it appears you're stood at the side, which mainly only works for line-outs and scrums.

I like number 6, player interaction is rare and it epitomises the contrast that is rugby.

 

[MCP84]

f/4 should give you better isolation, which is what we're aiming for, some of the composition/cropping is a little off and it appears you're stood at the side, which mainly only works for line-outs and scrums.

I like number 6, player interaction is rare and it epitomises the contrast that is rugby.

Thanks for the comments, I don’t use Nikon anymore, but if I try it again with my Fuji XT-2 + 55-200mm lens then I’ll take the comments onboard.