Kids Sports Photography - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM

04/24/2012 06:08:23 AM · #1

This year I am an assistant coach on Riley's T-Ball team. These are all 5 and 6 year olds. Yesterday, I took my camera out on the field with me during their game and I shot 150 or so shots. It's tough to shoot and yell at the kids at the same time! :) Anyone care to give me some critiques/feedback on them? I processed them all for the web - not selling them or anything, but I am trying to refine my techniques of both shooting and processing for stuff like this. I shot everything with my 24-105 with an ND4 filter in shutter priority mode at 1/250. I was pretty happy with the results. I then processed them using a couple actions and techniques to bring out the color. I gave them all (mostly) tilted angles and all square crops. I didn't shoot with the tilted angles in mind, so many of them I had to augment parts of the image after rotating slightly. I am trying to develop consistency in processing a series like this. With that in mind, I would be happy to hear some feedback on the images. Be honest and let me know what you think. THANKS!

3DsArcher

Canon EOS-7D Mark II

04/24/2012 06:44:18 AM · #2

Great set. I like the tilted angles.

FourPointX

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

04/24/2012 07:06:34 AM · #3

yes, the tilted angles add something cool. i like the whole set

bassbone

Nikon Z8

Nikon NIKKOR Z 24-120 f/4 S

04/24/2012 07:07:13 AM · #4

These are very charming Ken. I think you captured what kids and especially parents love about T-ball in a magical way. The angles you have chosen provide a lot of energy to the shot, your placement on the field allows a lot of 'in the moment' appeal to the images. I see so many sports shots like this that are square to the horizon and they fall flat. The processing provides a nice warm rich feeling and I like the fact that in several images we can see the parents intently watching their little guys go.

I would just recommend try shooting some images at faster shutter speed - 1/250 is pretty slow for sports photography - even for little guys. In general you did a great job of getting the faces crisp (which for little kid photography is the whole point). My recommendation would be to get stop-action shots (get the ball and bat stopped completely) I would shoot from 1/1000 to 1/2000.

MattO

Nikon D4

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II

04/24/2012 08:25:06 AM · #5

I like the processing, but the tilted angle is way over the top. A few tilted yes I can see, but nearly all of them? Looks like a drunken sailor took them rather then a seasoned pro like yourself.

Kids sports photography isn't actually so much about the sport as it is the kid. The ones of Abby and the ones you have in tight on the faces with expressions, that is what it's all about, now find your sea legs and shoot more like that! :D

Matt

MikeO

Fujifilm x100

04/24/2012 12:35:23 PM · #6

Lovely set Ken! I liked this one !

alanfreed

Nikon Z9

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

04/24/2012 08:48:21 PM · #7

Gotta ditto Matt's sentiments. I love the expressions, etc., on a lot of them, but the whole tilting thing just makes me feel uneasy overall. I think it works really well in a few of them, like the cover shot, but the ones of them standing on base, etc., just feel weird to me. Then again, I've never been the biggest fan of that style in general :)

I have to admit that before I read Matt's drunken sailor comment, I was picturing you getting liquored up and staggering around with the camera ;)

Just as a side note... if you were to get to the point where you were selling them to parents, etc., most of them wouldn't recognize the tilting as an artistic thing. They'd likely only see it as being wonky.

Message edited by author 2012-04-24 20:50:14.

ace flyman

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

04/24/2012 08:57:21 PM · #8

Gotta love T-Ball.......Lol. My only advice is have fun at this level.

Originally posted by Sevlow:

Lovely set Ken! I liked this one !

Skip

Canon EOS-1D X

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM

04/24/2012 09:36:48 PM · #9

welcome to big leagues, ken ;-)

if you manage yourself, you can fund some serious gear for the next 10-15 years. you've got what it takes to get the shots that parents will kill for - the key is coming up with a workflow that will let you shoot without it killing you. i don't know if alan freed's still doing this, but i know he used to give away his sideline shots. i know a whole lot of people who have gone the give-it-away route, only to find themselves over-run by parents wanting more and more without understanding just how much effort it takes. as long as you can keep it under control, you can have a lot of fun, as well as document riley's youth in a most incredible way.

have a ball ;-)

[and ditto the drunken sailor shots...felt like i was on the deck of the titanic ;-) ]

colorcarnival

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III

Olympus 45mm f/1.8 M.Zuiko Digital

04/24/2012 09:37:29 PM · #10

Ditto on the tilting - I'm not a big fan of it.

At this age - focus on those expressions! That's what makes it fun now for the parents.

Message edited by author 2012-04-24 21:38:01.

alanfreed

Nikon Z9

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

04/24/2012 10:23:04 PM · #11

Originally posted by Skip:

i don't know if alan freed's still doing this, but i know he used to give away his sideline shots. i know a whole lot of people who have gone the give-it-away route, only to find themselves over-run by parents wanting more and more without understanding just how much effort it takes.

My daughter doesn't play anymore, so no... I'm not doing that. But doing it actually opened up some HUGE doors for me (non-sports related). While she was playing softball, I'd shoot just one game a season and put shots on a CD for the kids/parents as a goodwill thing, including a nice team shot that we'd do. Just one night of work, and my contact information was on the CD cover and handed out to each family. Everyone was thrilled to get them, and now they knew that I was someone they could contact for photography work.

One of those CDs got me into a relationship with a major architectural company that sends me all over the East Coast photographing their building products. It has been great working with them... and I also got a couple senior picture gigs, weddings out of it.

I certainly wouldn't shoot every game and build an expectation that I'm going to be doing it as a freebee all the time, but there are definitely benefits to doing a good deed once in a while :)

karmat

Apple iPhone 7

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0L USM

04/24/2012 11:22:45 PM · #12

Originally posted by alanfreed:

Originally posted by Skip:
i don't know if alan freed's still doing this, but i know he used to give away his sideline shots. i know a whole lot of people who have gone the give-it-away route, only to find themselves over-run by parents wanting more and more without understanding just how much effort it takes.

My daughter doesn't play anymore, so no... I'm not doing that. But doing it actually opened up some HUGE doors for me (non-sports related). While she was playing softball, I'd shoot just one game a season and put shots on a CD for the kids/parents as a goodwill thing, including a nice team shot that we'd do. Just one night of work, and my contact information was on the CD cover and handed out to each family. Everyone was thrilled to get them, and now they knew that I was someone they could contact for photography work.

One of those CDs got me into a relationship with a major architectural company that sends me all over the East Coast photographing their building products. It has been great working with them... and I also got a couple senior picture gigs, weddings out of it.

I certainly wouldn't shoot every game and build an expectation that I'm going to be doing it as a freebee all the time, but there are definitely benefits to doing a good deed once in a while :)

Shooting games and giving an occasional freebie also got me going to bigger things. Two years ago, I had never shot team and individual pictures. This past year, I did a Little League, a football league, 3 basketball leagues, and a soccer league.

The benefit of those is that many of the kids were in more than one league, so I am able to get my contact info out to literally hundreds of people and drive traffic to my site where I post "action shots."

I don't make a killin' and it is not enough to be full time, but I did take my family to DisneyWorld this past winter with the profits.

Giving away pictures judiciously can be a very good thing.

NikonJeb

Nikon D850

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f3.5-5.6G ED VR

04/24/2012 11:43:45 PM · #13

It's all about the kids......all of a sudden after a few times you realize the way they light up for you, and they treasure the glimpses they get as they play and learn.

The parents are easy to deal with.....you simply explain in a self-deprecating way that you're not a professional sports photog, and you give the occasional pearl away....to the kids.

Being a dad to all those kids in some of the most beautiful, carefree times of their lives is a rare gift.

I was my daughter's cheerleading team photog for two years.....it started out almost accidentally.....the next thing I knew, I had 85 daughters.

I laughed with them, cried with them, screamed myself hoarse, and watched these kids form a bond that was really humbling.

I loved watching them cluster around a laptop at practices pointing and shrieking with laughter at their antics.

An occasional 8x10 to a mom who wasn't expecting it was the most enormous gift to myself.....that I could give her something of her daughter that she could treasure forever.

Never charged a nickel......have no long term contracts.....but it damn near makes me weep with joy four years on when I see one of these kids at the store or somewhere, and their face lights up with a big smile and they say, "Hey, how ARE you?"

Just sayin'....

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

04/25/2012 02:57:36 AM · #14

Well I would have expected no less awesome feedback and anecdotes than what has been posted. You guys have never let me down. MUCH APPRECIATED!

And for the record, I was a drunken sailor, but that was many years back, so perhaps I was trying to recapture some of those glory days. ;-) I realize the tilting was excessive. This whole thing was just an experimental exercise for me. In fact, few if any of the originals had anything but a straight horizon, so I can reprocess them all easier without the tilt. Other than the "artistic" (aka drunken) tilting, I was trying to establish a consistent and efficient process & style that was a little unique and that I could blaze through 50-100 images in a couple hours with.

So, some key things I would change for the next time I haul my camera out on the field:

- Rent a 70-200 2.8 IS
- Shoot at 1/1000 & 2.8 or faster
- Find some way to secure the camera to my belt (I use the Rapid R strap and a grip strap) because I still have to run around coaching and helping the kids.

I do plan to use the opportunity to give away some images (via a website I am building for the team) and make contacts for potential other types of work. Thanks again to all of you for all the advice & critiques!

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

05/24/2012 06:33:22 PM · #15

Just came across this article in the NY Times on taking sports photos.

DrAchoo

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

05/24/2012 07:10:11 PM · #16

What was the thinking with the ND4 filter? Are you trying to get a shallower DOF? Otherwise it's just slowing your shutter speed down.

05/28/2012 05:57:44 PM · #17

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

What was the thinking with the ND4 filter? Are you trying to get a shallower DOF? Otherwise it's just slowing your shutter speed down.

Yeah, well, I was just trying to control the sun. I have a circular polarizer, but it's a pain to get oriented during any action. Frankly, I didn't realize I would be better off with a much higher shutter speed.