Soccer Splashdown
One of the things I’ll hear anytime when the weather turns for the worse – like it did at the 2010 Athens Invitational Tournament – is that people can’t believe I still photograph games in the rain.
I’m all-weather – and I’ve found some great photographs are there for the taking when the weather turns bad. This series was immediately after the tournament resumed following a one-hour long downpour that left the fields a little flooded!
Soccer, No Vuvuzelas
Looking back over my work from the spring, I found a couple of photos from Greater Atlanta Christian School’s playoff match against Eagles Landing Christian Academy. Good action, no vuvuzelas.
I’m also pleased to announce I’ll be working with the Athens United Soccer Association (Athens, Georgia) this fall to photograph games during their three tournaments this fall. More details to come on this relationship and the events!
Back Outdoors!
Last week was not only the official start of Spring, but was also what I mark Spring with: returning to Outdoors sports after several months of indoor sports. My first assignment this spring was back to Greater Atlanta Christian School to photograph a Boys’ and Girls’ Soccer doubleheader.
The 300/f2.8 – the All Purpose Lens
While most photographers might say that a 24-70, or 50mm lens is their all purpose lens – let me make the case for the 300mm, f2.8 lens as the all purpose lens.
I’ve loved Canon’s version of this lens (and in particular, the Image Stablized version) since picking it up in 2007. It’s been a workhorse lens, seeing action in nearly every sporting event I’ve shot since.
And it has flexibility. In daylight, for field sports like soccer, I pair it with the Canon 1.4x teleconverter to give me the 420mm focal length that reaches out to, and beyond midfield for action.
Looking for Special Light
Beyond capturing great action, it’s always challenging to find the best light, and light that will help set off the subject from everything else in the image. It also brings variety to what is available showing a single athlete.
The sun moves across Greater Atlanta Christian School’s pitch from the spectator side to the bench side and then drops behind the trees. With the thin foliage of March, this lets the light filter through the trees. Take the right angle, and your subject is fully lit, and the background in the shadows.
Girls Soccer at St. Pius X
I’ve photographed a number of football games at Atlanta’s St. Pius X High School over the past three years, but this was the first time I was there for soccer. They have a great Sprint Turf articifical surface, which means no rain outs (or cancellations after rain).
This was an out of classification match up for the Spartans – St. Pius X plays in Georgia’s AAA classification and GAC in the AA. It meant the Spartans were a little overmatched and ended up losing 5-2.
During warmups I laid down behind the net on the turf and shot through the net, and the goalkeeper’s feet as players took shots on goal.
First Glimpse of Spring (Part II): Girls Soccer
I’ve mentioned before on this blog the Soccer season at Greater Atlanta Christian School is the spring equivalent of the football season. Both teams have proven to be successful over the years I’ve worked with Martin Photography at Greater Atlanta Christian School.
The Soccer Pitch has always proven to be a challenging venue, with it’s high treeline surrounding the field as well as the natural valley that the field sits in. However, early enough in the evening the light is really even across the entire field.
Senior Samantha Abrahart is a University of South Carolina signee.
Friday Night Lights, Spring Edition
Soccer is as close to a full-school gathering for athletics as Greater Atlanta Christian comes in the spring. While it doesn’t reach the levels that football does in the fall, it is a well-followed sport.
Friday night GAC honored the Seniors on the Soccer team, and took the field against Decatur in a pair of matches. Both teams handled their opponent well.
One of the harder parts of shooting soccer is the game flow is far more open than many sports (Football for example). The game quickly changes ends across a large open field. It makes covering all aspects of the game difficult.
I’ll usually work a rotation around the field – working from one end to the other along the end lines and the sidelines. Sidelines offer a different view of the game – you can watch the players working up the field, passing as they go. It’s also where the goal keeper’s kicks tend to land so it’s prime land for a header or other in-flight kicks.
Even so, working at the end line with a long lens and a high resolution camera gives you the ability to tighten up midfield action greatly with cropping.
Soccer Doubleheader
Spring means Soccer. Luckily, since the change to daylight savings time it also means more light later in the evening on the Soccer pitch.
As always, the evening started with a girls game. The girls get the benefit of at least half of the field in daylight, and a beautiful rim light when shot from the spectator’s side of the field.
Starting out in photography, most everyone fears shooting a backlit situation. It means generally that you have too much light coming into the camera and the faces will be shadowed. However, it is very manageable and has the positive effect of creating a nice rim light that helps separate subject and background.
The header is the king of soccer action shots. So much to it – in many cases bodies crashing into each other at great heights, and great facial expressions on the players.
The Boys’ later start has the effect of less light and needing to push to a higher ISO equivalent. However, you can still get good stop action early in the evening.
Another header from the Boys this time – with the Providence Christian Academy defender trying to crash the party.
