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May 31, 2008
Getting Those Summer Shots: Tennis
Now that summer is here and things are warming up it is time to get out there and start shooting some summer time sports. I love to play and shoot tennis.
For the past several years OffWing has covered the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, DC. In addition to the Legg Mason, we will be covering Washington's new World Team Tennis Team, the Washington Kastles.
FYI - Clicking on the thumbnails will take you to a larger version of the image.
The Basics:
The great thing about tennis is that players typically hit a lot of shots to win a match, which gives you as the photographer more opportunities to capture some good pictures.
Like most pictures involving people you will want the faces visible and in focus (especially eyes).
You will also typically want to shoot with a higher shutter speed so that you can "stop" the action. Try a shutter speed of 400 to start out. If you have a point-and-shoot camera, put it into "sport mode."
How To Shoot Different Strokes
Image 1
Groundstrokes (Forehand & Backhand): Shoot across the net or at the net post so that you can see more of the body. There is also a better chance of getting the tennis ball in the shot from this angle. The picture to the left is John Isner, in this shot I have actually went up higher in the stands and shot down on him. This angle also removed the stands with people in the background, making it a very clean shot.
Image 2
Image 3
Image 4
Serve: In the above, are pictures of the serve from different angles. The first image of John Isner (Image 2) is probably the weakest of the three. Image 2 & Image 4 were taken on court, while the second one was taken from the stands. Note how John Inser (Image 2) is somewhat lost in the stands, while Kei Nishikori (Image 3) stands out more. The picture of Kei Nishikori benefits from the angle, but also a nice streak of light that hit him as he hit his serve, while the background is in shadows.
Overcoming Problems
Chain link fence: This is not a concern when shooting pro tennis, but it can be an issue when you are taking shots of your kids on the local court. What typically will happen is that the auto focus may focus in on the fence instead of the on court action. The trick is to place your lens on to the fence and open up the aperture of your lens. You can also try manual focus. NOTE: Do not let the lens touch the fence, use a lens hood to protect your lens.
Image 5
Image 6
Image 7
Distracting backgrounds: Above is a picture of Bob Bryan (Image 5), as he hits a backhand. I like the picture, but the top of his body is lost in the stands. Trying some of the following tips will make your images more powerful.
- Change your location so that the background of the tennis player is also different. If you have a telephoto lens, that may mean moving up and away from the court so that you can shoot down on the action. The picture Gael Monfils (Image 7) is a great example of this technique.
- If you have a Digital SLR shoot with the aperture as wide open as possible, remember this means a lower number. This will have the affect of blurring the background, which will make your player stand out. Here is another shot (Image 6) of John Isner hitting a forehand, but this time I am at ground level, but the people in the stands are out of focus.
Evening/lack of light:
Image 8
Image 9
Image 10
Image 11
As the sun drops down, stopping the action with high shutter speeds becomes more challenging. But that doesn't mean that you must stop taking pictures. You just have to be a bit more creative. Below are some things that you can try:
- First off, increase the ISO of your camera which will increase the sensitivity of the camera to light. Be careful though, increasing the ISO too high can result in increased "noise" in the photo. The pictures of Andy Roddick (Image 11) as he follows through on his forehand demonstrates this. For this picture I had to increase the ISO to 1000. If you click on the image to get a larger version you will see "noise" which looks like little specks in the shadows and stands in the upper right hand corner of the image.
- Open up your aperture as much as possible and look for pictures that don't require high shutter speeds. Things like facial reactions after a point, or close-ups in between points can be great. In image 8, Marat Safin is looking up at the scoreboard as they replay a point.
- Be more artistic by lowering your shutter speed to under 100. Arms, legs, racket and ball will begin to blur as they do in Image 9 of James Blake during his service motion.
- I liked the composition and color in image 10. There was no motion so I could use a slow shutter speed. What I saw was the long shadow of the player on the court, and the bright pink hat that popped out because the background was in the shadows.
Posted by Allen Clark at 07:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 18, 2008
What's In My Computer?
There are a ton of stories about "what is in my camera bag" and I will no doubt do that piece also. But today I thought I would quickly share with you what is in my computer and how I use some of the applications.
First off, I have a two computer set-up, I take a Mac Powerbook into the field and have an iMac back at the office which is where I prefer to do the majority of my work.
Powerbook- Adobe Bridge & Photoshop: De-facto image editor.
- Daylite 3: Daylite is a great Customer Relationship Management project. It handles all of my contacts and calendar. It is also has project manager, notes, and tracks opportunities. What is special is that it integrates all of things and has some automation features for common tasks.
- Cyberduck: A FTP client, A great thing when you want to upload your photos "Old Skool" style to a server.
- Flickr Uploader: An application provided by flickr to upload photos.
- Browsers: Safari & Firefox, I had been a firm believer in Safari but then recently tried Firefox and was very impressed when it worked out better on some sites where I had layout issues when pages loaded.
- Image Rescue: I should knock on wood as I say this, but I haven't had to use this yet. It came with one of my CF cards from Lexar to rescue pictures from bad CF cards.
- MarsEdit: Another new tool in my belt. MarsEdit is an offline blog editor which gives me more flexibility in my writing of blogs.
- Photo Mechanic: In the field PhotoMechanic is my image management tool. I use it to bring in my photos and image browser as I look for my selects. I also use it for my captioning and keywording. It is killer fast and the work done keywording and captioning isn't lost when I bring my photos into my main digital asset manager (Aperture, see more below) on my main work machine.
- Photoshelter Uploader: An application provided by Photoshelter to upload photos.
- Soundslides: A great tool that many photojournalists use to create Flash based multimedia shows from images and sound/music.
- Aperture: I don't think that my explanation would do justice to all that Apple's Aperture. Think of it as the Swiss Army tool for digital imaging, it does more than you would expect and then a little more.
- Adobe Bridge & Photoshop: Same as above
- Daylite 3: Same as above
- Cyberduck: Same as above
- Flickr Uploader: Same as above
- Browsers: Safari & Firefox: Same as above
- Image Rescue: Same as above
- MarsEdit: Same as above
- Photo Mechanic: Same as above
- Photoshelter Uploader: Same as above
- Soundslides: Same as above
So Why The Two Machine Set-up?
Doing sports photography means that you are shooting and typically uploading photos from the field. On the upside, I have a laptop. The downside however is that it is an older 12 inch Powerbook bought when my needs were different from what they are now.
To complicate things, I also chose Apple's Aperture for my main digital asset manager. The technical requirements are too much for my little Powerbook. This is clearly not the optimal set-up, but it is what I have for the moment. I am hoping this will change soon (hint: if my wife is reading this). I am hoping to move to a single machine soon, which means a new Apple Powerbook, that I will use with a second monitor when I am back in the office.
I should also add that I have multiple external hard drives (HD) that I use to back-up my images on. Initially I had used CD and DVD's for back-up, but as the number of photos taken has increased, increased file size from my Nikon D200, I have moved to keeping my images on redundant hard drives. With the dropping price per gig of HD it makes sense to me and frees me from burning discs. Aperture's image management has also eased the management of my photos in this way.
Posted by Allen Clark at 03:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 08, 2008
DC United Fall Short Against Chicago Fire, 0-2
Despite strong play early in the first period, DC United could not overcome the first period goal by Chicago's Justin Mapp. The second period goal by Cuauhtemoc Blanco sealed the game, as DC United just didn't seem to get anything going.
WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 8: Chris Rolfe #17 of the Chicago Fire steals the ball from Marc Burch #4 of the DC United during a MLS game at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC on May 8, 2008. (Photo by Allen Clark/www.OffWingPhoto.com)For more on the game and reactions visit the following sites:
- Behind The Badge, MLS Game #7: DCU 0 - Chicago 2
- From Black and Red, This blog is...
- The DCenters, First Impression - DC United 0: 2 Chicago Fire
- BLCKDGRD, United 0, Chicago 2
- From DCUnited.com, This blog is...
WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 8: Gonzalo Martinez #23 of the DC United and John Thorrington #11 of the Chicago Fire struggle for control of the ball during a MLS game at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC on May 8, 2008. (Photo by Allen Clark/www.OffWingPhoto.com)
Use of our pics are free to independent bloggers who credit the photographer and link back to OffWing Photo.
Posted by Allen Clark at 10:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
DC United vs. Chicago Fire (0-1), After The First Period
It has stayed dry so far despite threats of Thunderstorms, so far the only thing dampening spirits is the single goal by Chicago Fire late in the first period.
WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 8: Clyde Sims #19 of the DC United and Justin Mapp #21 of the Chicago Fire struggle for control of the ball during a MLS game at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC on May 8, 2008. (Photo by Allen Clark/www.OffWingPhoto.com)
More photos to come following the game.
Use of our pics are free to independent bloggers who credit the photographer and link back to OffWing Photo.
Posted by Allen Clark at 09:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Photo Shoot For New DC United's Jersey And Sponsor
Here is a slick little video of my friend Mitchell Layton, sports photographer extraordinaire, during a photo shoot with some of the guys from DC United as they sport their new uniforms with the VW logo. DC United just inked a deal for VW to be their shirt sponsor.
Caught this as I was doing a little pre-game prep. OffWing Photo will be out there tonight to catch all of the soggy action from tonight's game against the Chicago Fire. Game time will be just after 9pm due to a 30 minute pre-game show on ESPN2, who will be airing the show.
Posted by Allen Clark at 03:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 04, 2008
One third of the The National Press Photographers Members To Lose Their Job This Year
That was the claim by Dirck Halstead, in May's Letter From The Publisher of Digital Journalist, they claim:2008 will go down as "The Year the Newspapers Died." Publications are in free fall due to dropping circulation and falling advertising. Unfortunately, one of the first places the publisher turns to in order to cut costs is the photo department. We estimate that this year, as many as one third of the membership of The National Press Photographers Association will be out of a job.While I didn't see any back-up to that claim, there is some other doom and gloom for photojournalists in this issue. Also, Terry Heaton for the Digital Journalist looks at the growth of the citizen journalist.
Posted by Allen Clark at 09:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
OffWing Opinion & OffWing Photo Featured On Sharkspage
Both OffWing Opinion & OffWing Photo were featured last week by author Jon Swenson of the Sharkspage.
In the story Eric McErlain talks about the Washington Capitals' season, Alexander Ovechkin, sports blogs and Capital's owner Ted Leonsis and new media. Allen Clark talks about what it is like as a photographer shooting professional hockey, some tips for shooting hockey, and some of his favorite shots of the season.
Posted by Allen Clark at 06:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack