The Soccer Match

[rtbaum]

Fourth of July weekend, Independence Day , found me camped at a Interstate State Park. I was my intention to become more familiar with the Tamron 17-50mm. My site was backed onto a good sized grassy area that was pretty ideal for lawn games. Many of the sites around were occupied by an extended family group that spanned at least 3 generations. On this particular evening, all of the children became involved in a soccer game that was officiated by Grandpa. This was not an idle game, but rather played by some rather talented children. I could not resist temptation and out came the 400mm again (it seems that I cannot stay away from that lens).




Appealing the call


Up and coming Beckham


The save


Celebration


True to many temperamental sports figures, this tyke threw a tantrum, placed the goal over his head and walked off with it. I was laughing so hard, that I missed THAT shot

[Flyfisher]

Hello Randy,
I like the colours and the kids' attitude but I would comment a bit about the composition and focus.
For the first pic, I would have moved a bit to the left so that guy would have not appear in the pic. The second one is good but I would crop so only the kid would be there. In the third, the headless orange shirt guy shouldn't be there Same for the next 2 pictures...The last one is really OOF.
My favourites are the second (if cropped) and the 6th. The playing kids are not easy to take pics of because of the distracting elements that can appear, but with good positioning and "aggressive" crop, nice pics can come out

[Dave Humphries]

I do see what you mean Joe, but in the heat of a game and with mobile players (of vastly different heights), I really don't see how it would be possible "move a bit to the left" while the expression you want to capture is still happening.

Randy,

I think #2 could be cropped in PP and the hand in #5 could be cloned out though.

On the whole not a bad job capturing the essence of the game.

HTH,

[rtbaum]

Thank you for your comments, this was a situation where I took the stance that photography can be fun. It occurred to me that this would be a form of photographic "cross training". I always seem to miss the shot of the flitting bird or skittish insect, shooting these children, as well as the young woman in an earlier post, allowed me to anticipate movement and position. The problem with using a telephoto prime lens is, obviously, the inability to zoom for composition. I knew that Grandpa was going to be a problem, but I felt that he should have been included. Mostly though...........I had a ball

[rtbaum]

"Randy,

I think #2 could be cropped in PP and the hand in #5 could be cloned out though."

I do see what you mean, Dave.
I have re edited #5 within the post to remove the hand

I was more radical with #2

[Flyfisher]

Sweeter now

[Flyfisher]

I really don't see how it would be possible "move a bit to the left" while the expression you want to capture is still happening.

I totally agree with you, but in this case, personally, I prefer to delete the shots with distracting elements that cannot be eliminated by cropping the image...I have a 6 years boy and taking pictures of him while he plays is not easy at all, I cannot move with the same speed as the kids do