Some Uni American Football

[Phal]

Few shots from a mate's American Football game. This is the second field sport I've ever shot following last week's touch Rugby and this is definitely very different to shoot and more difficult imo! It's a lot messier and there's more people blocking the action etc. It's a lot easier to lose the ball too :\

The field was a fair bit bigger here than the touch Rugby but the 200-400mm lens was still a bit too long. It would be a lot better on a 1Dx or maybe a 5d3 but then the buffer would suck The zoom is still handy but 200mm on a crop still goes a long way! I often stepped back away from the side line when the action got close to give myself more room.

Weather was good so didn't have to worry about high ISO too much although I was still shooting a bit higher than I would have with my 70d.


Ball Throwing by Phal44, on Flickr

After High Five by Phal44, on Flickr

Noooooo by Phal44, on Flickr


Got ya leg! by Phal44, on Flickr

Shouting something by Phal44, on Flickr

 

[KIPAX]

OK here goes.. with the intention of yu knowing whats wrong so you can fix next time... Your not going to like this but there isn't one good pic in there..

#1
You have 6 players in the picture(not counting background) and the only person of interest is a man holding the ball.. so what we have is an eigth of the picture a man with ball and the rest is a waste...

#2
you chopped too low and tha fact you have headroom means its not a focul length problem.. you should have aimed lower.. no idea what you where pointing at.. presume we are seeing cropped pics?


#3
these type of pictures are good when you can see the players face.. but..he is going out of the picture.. same scene with him to the left coming into the picture and it ould ahve been nice..


#4
far too much chopped off the botton of pic


#5
one of the easiest shots to get and thus probably the most boring..


Your right.. it is a hard sport to photograph.. theres too much standing about talking and little bits of action.. when the action does happen they all seem to be pretending they have the ball which fools the opposiiton and the photogrpaher... you seem to be side on? with a 400 lens on the crop camera you should go behind one end and shoot the team your following as they attack... I have used a 400 prime to do this and get all the pics..

Sorry but thats it.. someone will be along soon to tell you how great they are so at least you wont feel too bad

 

[nigpd]

I have to agree with Tony. I find it a very difficult sport to shoot too. It's very easy to pick up a runner who hasn't got the ball And things can look very confusing with lots of bodies stood around doing nothing.

My advice? Like Tony says, stick to one end of the pitch and concentrate on getting good clean shots of the receivers and take it from there

#4 would have been the best shot had you not chopped off the bottom

 

[Phal]

Yeah I agree with a lot of what you say. Generally, the shots where I've missed a lot off the bottom are because I missed a bit of the bottom and cropped in later as I might as well get closer to the face if I can't get the feet in! Even at 200mm they were often too close so it wasn't ideal but the next lens down I have is the 100mm and I'm too lazy to chase the action lol.

For pretty much the first half or more of the match I stayed quite far down one end of the field. That was ok sometimes but often I just missed the action because there was a big group of people between me and the ball.

#1 I still quite like and I don't really agree that the only person of interest is the guy with the ball. I have a few shots where the quarter back is alone throwing or kicking the ball and they're a bit bland I find? #1 would have been better without the crowd of people behind but I still like the fact you can see the others in front of him. If anything I might have liked to go wider there.

I think I might try standing up on a hill nearby next time rather than get close since I don't have the ideal lens to get close. Standing higher than the players doesn't feel right but it might get me a few interesting shots and my 200-400 isn't that suited to close up shots it seems... or at least not on a crop lol

Thanks for the input though

I quite like this one but there doesn't seem to be enough going on? Yeah, he's in the shot and looks like he's in motion but it just seems sparse?

Legs do funny things when you run by Phal44, on Flickr

This one is ok too but doesn't seem that special either... Not sure if the guys in the background add to it or make it worse?

Stripy man running by Phal44, on Flickr