Lucky Winner
Way back in August I donated a free action photography session to the Midway Wolverines Football Kick-Off Date. The lucky winners, the Bankston family, asked me to photograph their son Knight. Knight plays football at Liberty Middle School in Forsyth County.
Liberty took on Lakeview Middle School (also Forsyth County) in the match up. As with many Middle School games, it was a beautiful late afternoon start which meant great light throughout the game.
Knight plays offensive line. It’s unusual that you see Offensive Lineman pictures in newspapers or magazines – usually the “Action” of the game is more limited to the ball carriers. Look deeper – and there’s a lot going on at the line.
The State of Youth Sports, 2009
Rather than follow a lot of the normal “End of Year” highlight packages you see on ESPN, or the “Year in Images” that Sports Illustrated created so long ago – I decided to summarize what’s great about youth sports…but in images only.
We’re # 1
Good Light
It seemed like every week of the season was either rainy or overcast. On the last weekend before the Lanier Bowl – finally had that elusive “Golden Hour” game.
Getting Sideways
So much time in sports is spent photographing subjects vertically. There’s good reason for it – the subjects in sports spend a lot of time running, and in some sports are using their feet. In football, however, there’s a lot of action that happens only from the waist up – so in my mind it makes great sense turn the camera back to horizontal and shoot very tight on the upper bodies of players on opposite sides of the ball.
In this case, the wider view (horizontally) allowed me to see the defender trying to wrap up the ball carrier – where as a vertical of this shot, from the same position on the field would have lost the contact except for part of either.
Evasive Action
I thought this sequence of Sharon Springs War Eagles runner being pursued by a Midway Wolverines tackler had several great things working for it:
- Tight framing
- Great faces on the ball carrier
- A great backlight and rim light on the helmets
Forward Motion
Football, like all other sports, is about bodies in motion. However, Sports Photography in many cases is about freezing a moment of that motion crisply. In some cases though, the motion of the athlete still comes through in the frame.
Tools of the Trade: The Resolving Power of the 300/f2.8
My most commonly used lens for field sports is Canon’s 300mm f2.8 L-series lens. It’s white, a little more than a foot long including lens hood and the lens has a diameter of five inches.
The question I’m most frequently asked: How far can you see with that? How far isn’t always the most of the important aspect of this lens (there are many 300mm lenses on the market) but how clearly I can see it.
I was reminded of this while sorting Saturday’s photos from Forsyth County Youth Football. This frame is only slightly cropped, but is taken with a teleconverter that extends the lens to 420mm:
The amazing part being that my subject is running past me, and I can practically count his eyelashes:
It reminds me of the wasp that I saw from behind first base last spring at a softball game – that was buzzing the hitter:
Yes, those are the legs of the wasp hanging!
Working the Backlight
I recently heard a parent at a soccer game talk about preferring to photograph only when the sun was to his back – and in the faces of the players. While there are certainly advantages to using a light source to the front of your subjects, a backlit situation is still manageable and can even be advantageous.
Let’s start by defining a backlit situation: it is one where the primary light source is behind your subject, putting your subject’s face and front of their body in a shadow (cast by their own body).
Gang Tackles
Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work. – Vince Lombardi
Warm Ups are For Photographers, Too
This time of year, I make it a point to reach the field early for high school games to catch as much of the pre-game warm ups as possible. With sunsets around 7:20 PM this past week, getting to the field early meant catching the last rays of daylight (although cloud cover late Friday meant less sunlight than expected).
Warm-ups give me an opportunity to get pictures of players who may not see as much playing time, or whose positions are more difficult to get clear shots of in action – like receivers.
The Luxury of Daylight
Thursday night 9th Grade and Junior Varsity Football have long been two of my favorite sports to shoot. It’s been a combination of the abundance of light coupled with an increasing level of talent (versus Youth or 7th and 8th grade games). It gives me the opportunity to extend the 300/2.8 with the Canon 1.4x Teleconverter to 420mm and still be able to make the grade when it comes to shutter speeds.
This year Greater Atlanta Christian School is only fielding a 9th Grade team, and no Junior Varsity team so my Thursday football opportunities have been reduced.
Personal Project Subjects Needed
While I’m investing a lot of time this fall on Football, I am always working to expand my skill set and find new photographic subjects.
The personal project I’m currently planning is a series of Editorial (Magazine) style portraits. Subjects needed include:
- A beach volleyball player capable of getting above the net
- An indoor volleyball athlete capable of getting above the net
- A high level Double Dutch team or group
- Soccer player who can perform a bicycle kick
- A high school level (9th grade/JV/Varsity) quarterback
- A wakeboarder who can get air and can perform various tricks
- A boxer or mixed martial arts fighter
Subjects will receive copies of the images and prints.
Please contact me if you meet any of the categories above. All photo shoots would start in the Atlanta metro area.
When the Best Photos of the Game Occur After the Game
Greater Atlanta Christian traveled to Roswell Friday night to face off against the Blessed Trinity Titans. Blessed Trinity had moved down from 3A prior to this season and was having a strong start to their season. The Spartans entered the evening at 0-4.
Still new Head Coach Ken Robinson still had not earned his first victory. When the clock went below 1:30 in the fourth quarter, it became evident that the Spartans would emerge from this game victorious and the emotions started pouring on the sidelines and coaches and players congratulated Coach Robinson
on his first victory. And then the inevitable happened…
Thursday Night Underclass Football
I love the opportunities that JV and 9th Grade Freshman Football provide.
The games always start (and usually finish) in daylight, and more specifically, go through the golden hour of the day. I get the benefit of higher shutter speeds and shooting natural light. Sometimes, like last Thursday at St. Pius X in Atlanta, you get the additional benefit of back to back games.
Natural light means no flash – and I can take full advantage of the 30D’s five frame per second bursts.
End of the Line: Cook Defeats GAC
The Spartans run at the AA State Title expired Friday night against Cook County at Spartan Stadium. Cook, which entered the playoffs as the #4 from their region, defeated the Spartans 34-21.
It was a beautiful night for football. After a warm day, the sun set well before the game.
The Spartans’ parents help add a little bit Hollywood to the player run on during the pregame with smoke machines and streamer launchers.
Senior Ben Donald was again handed the ball in the backfield.
I’ve been trying to catch this play all season and this was the best I got. A second quarter Spartans touchdown.
The Spartans defense came strong all evening. In the second half the Spartans blocked a Cook extra point to help keep it close.
In the fourth quarter, Christian Robinson blocked and recovered a Cook punt for a touchdown to bring the Spartans closer. The punter was deep in his own end zone, which is always a dangerous situation. Good positioning as a photographer helps catch this play at the peak.
Coach Chupp spoke to the team after the game to console them in the loss. I dialed down the power on the flash here and used more of the ambient light, just using the flash to reduce some shadows.
First Round Playoff Win over Morgan County
GAC travelled to Morgan County High School Friday night for the first round of the AA state playoffs. GAC entered the game as the #3 seed from 6-AA and Morgan County as the #2 from their division.
It was another cold night for football. By game time, the temperature was around fifty and dropped into the forties by the end of the night.
After a 7-0 half time, GAC opened up the offense in the second half and won 24-0.
One scoring opportunity was a punt return called back for a block in the back.
Quarterback Colton Chapple on a quarterback draw.
Nearly an interception by GAC in the fourth quarter, but the ball was knocked free.
Heading for the endzone.
Hitting their Stride – GAC over Holy Innocents
Tonight GAC finished their regular season with a victory over Holy Innocents. This victory earned them the #3 seed from the 6-AA division (and Holy Innocents the #4 seed).
The team continued to play well and much better than the first half of and middle of the season. Next week they will face Morgan County High School in Madison, Georgia.
Personally, I also hit my stride with timing on many shots and getting some good open field.
Pregame, the team entered the field from the West endzone down the aquatic center steps. I shot from the back side using the field’s natural light only, so the light fell off quickly from the field to where the team entered from.
Shooting the flash at half power has proven to be a positive improvement, but with some period of adjustment. I am learning to be more selective with my shots – waiting for the opening and learning to expect when the field will open. Of course, this is more easily accomplished from the endzone.
I shoot a mix of portrait and landscape orientations. Here, the horizontal is a lot more interesting than the vertical would have been because of the space given to the defender.
Likewise, blocking is an activity that happens above the waist – so it is better captured as a landscape versus a portrait. Moving the subject off center allows space for the opponent.
Under Threatening Skies: GAC versus Lovett
Dramatic skies can add a lot to a photograph. Again this week there was some passing rain before game time that ended prior to the game but left the skies overcast with breaking clouds.
The key to photographing a dramatic sky is to set the camera’s exposure for the brightest spots in the sky. If you have subjects in front of the sky, they need to be lit with other light (like the stadium lights, flash or both) to bring their faces up to the levels of the sky.
Here I’ve used a 20mm lens to get a wide view, and shot from my knees to ensure a low angle that includes a lot of sky. I used a 550EX with a Stofen Omnibounce to help light the foreground.
Varsity Football vs. the Walker School
Friday’s game was at the Walker School’s Marietta campus. This field was in one of the tighter squeezes I’ve ever seen a football field placed. Bordered on one side by a road, another by the school building, and the third side opening to the softball field, I chose to shoot to try and minimize the bad background of the road and softball field.
Remnants of a tropical storm moved through the area during the afternoon hours, with rain ending shortly before game time.
Warm-ups are a great time to shoot individual shots, especially early in the season. The light is usually a lot stronger than during the games.
My strategy of shooting towards the bleachers definitely helped with backgrounds. The bleachers, especially GAC’s sections were fairly full which makes for a nice, colorful backdrop to high school football.
When I was forced to shoot towards the road, using a lens with a wide aperture helped limit depth of field and keep the players emphasized in front of a busy background.
2007 Greater Atlanta Home Opener
GAfter a week on the road at Mary Persons in rainy weather, Greater Atlanta Christian returned home for their home opener against Greene County High School.
What a difference a week makes: the weather was warm and skies were blue for game time.
Having plentiful and high quality light opens up many options as a photographer. The first is capturing high speed motion like cheerleaders stunting.
The low angle of the sun in the evening also fully lights faces. During the early afternoon, the sun is high in the sky and creates shadows on the faces. In the evening, the low sun lights everything. This opens up a lot of potential for using a medium telephoto lens to catch players mentally preparing for the game.
I rarely see sunsets with intense color in Atlanta – but tonight was an exception and almost Sebring-worthy (but not quite).
Season Opener – at Mary Persons High School
Greater Atlanta Christian School started their season tonight versus Mary Persons High School in Forsyth, Georgia. Forsyth is south of Atlanta near Macon. The same black cloud of rain that hit prior to the practice game a couple weeks ago struck tonight just before game time and during the first half. Luckily, there was still some daylight left during the game.
Normally I’ll shoot with a flash for most of the game. However, the late summer light stays out later than the fall sun, so I’m able to make use of the light. Additionally, the lights at Mary Persons were slightly better than average.
