Air

[Loose Canon]

Plenty of distractions are keeping me from my appointed rounds! This shot is way away from what I want to be doing.

But hey? Family is The Most Important Thing! And that is cool! So I shot the game. High school soccer.

One of two of my Fave nephews (I only have two!) doing his thang!

This is the shot that went on his “I Love Me” wall! Guess he liked it and I added the copy for him to give it a more commercial spin that the kids/team likes.

As an aside, I met an “official” shooter for the team. She told me she shot “percentages” whatever that is. Said she averaged 1000-1500 shots per game. Got maybe 3-5 keepers per! Wow!

Guess until I get back to my appointed I thought this was a fun distraction!

[IzzieK]

Percentages...hits? boggles the mind on how some people can call themselves "photographers" when you have to swim through so many shots before hitting a good one. And so did you just gave her your most quiet smile and turned away???? I would have...

[DEAN01]

Very nice shot, Terry. And how many shots did you take...

[Stagecoach]

Great timing Terry.

[Loose Canon]

Hey thanks guys! Its not a prize winner but #1 Nephew loved it so that’s cool! Never underestimate the power of “I Love Me”! He sent me a shot of this framed shot on his “I Love Me” wall of Fame! I gave him a print!

Actually Izzie, I was kind of curious! I know I wouldn’t want to have to wade through so many shots and she might shoot multiple games on any given day. It seemed a little excessive but I’m not a big sports shooter so I don’t know if this is “normal” or not.

I was just there to maybe get a good shot or two of my nephew and watch the game. She, on the other hand, shoots for shots of all the team members.

What I did know is that I’ve never heard a shutter working so much in such a short time!

Here is something I was wondering about though. She was on the home team’s (the team she was shooting for) defended goal. Which means she shot a lot of the other teams guys coming our way with the ball with our team’s backs to us defending. I was there because that’s where #1 Nephew/Goalie was and he wasn’t going downfield ever. I still haven’t figured out that strategy.

I took around 30 shots Dean! It was a kind of slow game and none were as dramatic as this one. While it was fun to shoot some action again there was no way I’m going to shoot, load, and sift through a ton of shots for this! Besides, I’m not so much a “percentage” shooter. I enjoy trying to get a deliberate on-purpose cool shot. Just seems a little more rewarding than a spray and pray approach. Now if I were shooting for the St. Louis Cardinals or KC Royals it might be different!

[Jimr1961]

Sounds like another way of saying spray and pray.

[IzzieK]

Terry, why didn't she just use the movie feature of her camera and get it over and done with, enjoy the game then she can go home on the same number of swimming through her 2000 frames and get the best from them? Just curious...

[Loose Canon]

I really don't know Izz. I wanted to visit with her more but as you might imagine she was way too busy shooting and I didn't want to distract her.

[Rob Ekins]

That's a great shot Terry, no wonder he loves it!

Technically, I would have bumped the ISO to get a higher shutter speed and higher f# to get the other players in focus, I think your 5Diii could cope with it

Caveat Emptor: I know Jack about shooting things that move

[Loose Canon]

Thank you Robbie.

I regularly shoot at relatively high ISO values in the studio to keep my strobe pops short for stopping action. The 5 is an excellent shooter and handles it well.

I actually wanted the blur in other players. In fact added a touch extra in post. Maybe a bad call but I figured it’d play since the two other players aren’t on the same plane as #1 Nephew.

But for sure 1/200th is a bit on the slow side for this kind of moving subject matter I think.

BTW? I had no idea how Jack’s family tree was laid out! I’m personally familiar with all of them but was kind of confused on who hooked up with whom!

Appreciate you setting that straight for us!

[rpcrowe]

I attended a presentation by a National Geographic photographer in the days of film and was astounded at the number of shots taken for the relatively few that were published.

The photographer reminded us of one thing. Basically he said "If I shoot a thousand images for each one that is published, that doesn't mean that 999 of the images shot are not good. Many shots are basically the same with just slight differences."

Now in the digital age in which every one (basically everyone) has burst capability in their cameras, 1,00 to 1,500 images are certainly not beyond reason...

[rpcrowe]

My 7D has an 8-FPS burst rate it would not take too long to shoot 1,000 or so frames and, unlike film, the only thing it would cost is the extra time for editing....

[wilgk]

Well,done Terry, giving something to someone else who loves it, makes it a winner, whether they are family or not.
I would agree that sounds a lot of shots, for a small return, from the lady you met.
For soccer, I would take some at either goal end, then some from mid-filed in both directions if trying to 'catch' as many players as possible.
One soccer shot, I haven't done but will be trying next season, is to put away the telephoto giant, put the wide angle lens on, and get up close to the back of the net, shooting through it, getting the goalies back and the attacking ball carrier and defender all in shot, all in focus, through the net.
My rule of thumb with sports is take a series at each position, but remember to move on.
Great work by you & lovely to read about.

[Loose Canon]

I guess if I were shooting for Nat Geo or Sports Illustrated I’d take a shot saturation approach Richard to get that 1 of 1000 shot that had the nuance for publication.

Other than that it’s certainly not beyond reason to have the ability to shoot that many shots in a short period of time with todays cameras. She shoots .jpg’s and just culls any that are a total miss. I don’t think she does much, if any, processing. I don’t know how many games there are per year but I know she shoots at least for the boy’s and girl’s teams. At 1000 shots per game average, and I would say there are at least 50 games apiece minimum, that’s 100,000 exposures at the very least every season. That’ one helluva lot of shutter actuations for one soccer season!

It’s a point and shoot, run and gun approach. Not really what I like to do myself. She told me she got a low number of “keepers” but I checked her social site out and she loads anywhere from 20-60 shots at a time. And that is for the entire team. There are a lot of shots I would consider sub-par. Out of focus, other issues. But they are there for all the players, parents, etc. to see and have. She told me she has been doing it for years and her own last kid graduated in 2008.

So while its not exactly the approach I would take in this situation, she is providing a cool service for the kid/adults involved in this sport. And anyway you slice it that is a cool thing.

Hey thank you Kay!

I thought of you and the shot you posted with the wide angle before I even left the house, which I thought was a great idea. I had a wide angle with me, but would’ve been a distraction for me to get behind the goal, and I wasn’t cleared for full access. I didn’t want to create a disturbance! Not that that has ever stopped me before of course, but I didn’t want to make a scene for once!

So I didn’t get the chance but you sure were an Inspiration for me none the less!