Runners

[Stagecoach]

This marathon event started here in Fiji in 2014 with 250 participants and this past Saturday there were 1300 in the different categories consisting of both locals and some international runners.

An early morning start for me at 3 am, full marathon commenced at 5.30 am, 6 hours shooting with a k*******d knee and by 11.30 pm that night some 660 images rough edited and uploaded. Next year I'll just sit at the start and finish line and shoot away

As always it was fun tackling the varying lighting conditions.

Here's a small selection .........................

No 1 - First place, men, Australian Fijian Ben Ashkettle and set a new full marathon course record of 2hrs 37min


No 2 - First place full marathon,women, Anna Cowley 4hrs 6mins


No 3


No 4


No 5 - I just love this one


No 6 - Brent Weigner, holder of the world record for the number of countries he has run a marathon in (135).


Comments or suggestions welcome as always

Grahame

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[Mike Buckley]

Enjoyable series. I agree that #5 is special, though I do wish her eyes had been completely open and facing forward. Did you use flash in #2?

[Stagecoach]

Nice series.

Thank you John

[Stagecoach]

Enjoyable series. I agree that #5 is special, though I do wish her eyes had been completely open and facing forward. Did you use flash in #2?

Thank you Mike.

Fill flash was used in No 2 due to the strong low sunlight coming from upper left. I'm not totally happy with the PP on this one and will do some further work on it.

[Mike Buckley]

When you rework #2, consider cropping on the right side between the second and third tree when counting from the right. The runner is looking straight toward the camera, so the negative space on the right isn't important. Cropping it makes the low angle of shooting more dramatic in my mind. Notice also the tiny red thingy in the street at the left side of the frame that would be easy to remove.

[rpcrowe]

Love these images... On #6, I think that lifting the shadows beneath the bill of Brent's cap would focus more attention on his eyes. I did it in NIK Viveza and it seemed to work...

[Stagecoach]

When you rework #2, consider cropping on the right side between the second and third tree when counting from the right. The runner is looking straight toward the camera, so the negative space on the right isn't important. Cropping it makes the low angle of shooting more dramatic in my mind. Notice also the tiny red thingy in the street at the left side of the frame that would be easy to remove.

Mike,

Here's a rework of No 2 with a slight change to the crop and also an attempt to give it a bit more oomph, which I hope has worked. A number of these images I have PPd at night and when looking at them in the day they look flat, something I need to control better.

As for your suggested harder crop on the right it works for me also but with all these images I try to leave them at standard ratio crops where possible, because I do not know where and on what they will be viewed, and as some may be considered for publication it allows the viewer to see all options.

I'll be interested to hear what you or anyone with controlled monitor viewing thinks of the edit with respect to brightness/contrast. I have put the original again to make it easier to scroll between in the lightbox.

No 2 As posted above


No 2 Re Edit

[Stagecoach]

Love these images... On #6, I think that lifting the shadows beneath the bill of Brent's cap would focus more attention on his eyes. I did it in NIK Viveza and it seemed to work...

Thanks Richard,

You are right about lifting the shadow on his face, this image deserves more work.

[Mike Buckley]

Your edited version has a lot more impact for me. That's because of the crop and the overall brightness of the image.

[Stagecoach]

Your edited version has a lot more impact for me. That's because of the crop and the overall brightness of the image.

Thanks Mike, now to find out why the tree trunks have taken on a blue hue

[Stagecoach]

Love these images... On #6, I think that lifting the shadows beneath the bill of Brent's cap would focus more attention on his eyes. I did it in NIK Viveza and it seemed to work...

My edit of No 6 Richard.
The shadow has been lifted as you suggested and in addition extra sharpening to the face and hair/stubble that I think enhances his character.

No 6 edit

[bnnrcn]

Hi Grahame That blue hue also seems to have caused some CA on the leaves of the trees .You might have increased the cyans for the sky and it might have affected the tree trunks and the leaves as well

I like the series. It is difficult to believe just by looking at that man that he is the holder of the world record. He must be really strong considering his age.

Thanks Mike, now to find out why the tree trunks have taken on a blue hue

[Stagecoach]

Hi Grahame That blue hue also seems to have caused some CA on the leaves of the trees .You might have increased the cyans for the sky and it might have affected the tree trunks and the leaves as well

I like the series. It is difficult to believe just by looking at that man that he is the holder of the world record. He must be really strong considering his age.

Thanks Binnur, I'll go back to the RAW and trace the problem to see what process caused it.

It's amazing when you see the age of some marathon runners.

[IzzieK]

My favourite here is #5 and #6...I like that you were able to freeze her cords as it bounces. Brent has run quite a good number of marathons...and I keep telling my eldest son that I will keep running my own marathon on my treadmill...he is a marathon runner too when there is competition to be had in Melbourne though he doesn't let it interfere with his real job. Your edit of Brett's eyes under the cap is excellent...Dang! he must have a long life -- his ears are quite large...I wonder how old he is now...

[Stagecoach]

My favourite here is #5 and #6...I like that you were able to freeze her cords as it bounces. Brent has run quite a good number of marathons...and I keep telling my eldest son that I will keep running my own marathon on my treadmill...he is a marathon runner too when there is competition to be had in Melbourne though he doesn't let it interfere with his real job. Your edit of Brett's eyes under the cap is excellent...Dang! he must have a long life -- his ears are quite large...I wonder how old he is now...

Hi Izzie and thank you for commenting.

I very much like those two as well and have a few more to work on to place in my favourites group

As previously with this event I posted the images up on my website with access allowing anyone to download them and a note saying contact me if ones are required for commercial use. Unfortunately I worded it poorly (changed now) and am getting inundated by requests for Hi Res images for personal use coming in from all angles