17 Year old Sports Photographer

[charlesbanke]

Hi all,
I am a 17 year old photographer currently working freelance and volunteering for my school's yearbook.

I have been a long time follower of Canon Rumors (probably about 2 years now), but have never been one to post, so this is my first post!

I was just looking for some possible critiquing of my work and want to know if I am on a good path to shoot college sports!

Here are a few photos and more can be found on my website: http://www.charlesbankephotography.com/

Thank you!

 

[Sporgon]

Charles, welcome to CR. I had a look at your work and you have a good eye for a picture and appear to have a sound understanding of technique. Keep up the good work and best if luck with it.

 

[scottkinfw]

I am not a sports photog. That said, your pics are excellent and you show understanding of all bases. Of course always room for improvement and continued mastery. Great to see a a serious minded and directed young person.

Keep up the good work.

Sek

 

[K13X5C]

17 years old !! I'd say you are well on your way.

As you embark on your career path don't overlook the importance of working on yourself as well as your photography.
A well rounded base of knowledge and a pleasant personality are just as important as technical skills.

Where do you see yourself in two years ? five years ?

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

The shadows in the football images are the main issue, the other two images are fine.

With poor lighting, you need to think out the location of the shadows in advance and position yourself to minimize them. I'm assuming that you are not allowed to use flash.

Keep it up, you have a talent there.

 

[TexPhoto]

The images are great. Night sports are very difficult. I like to add a little flash for fill light. I usually just dial -2 into the flash compensation. You might not be allowed to do this in college venues, but high schools don't mind.

The only piece of advise I can give you is photography as a business (sports or otherwise) is 90% business and 10% photography. There are lots of books on the topic, but the reality is technology has made photography easier and easier.

Do what you can to be creative, and look for new opportunities to be published and sell your photos.

Strive for sharp photos that stop the action, then take some that allow some blur...

IMG_8830 by RexPhoto91, on Flickr

 

[fragilesi]

I also agree with most of the above.

I actually think the "football" one at the top is fine, on a floodlit field shadows can be impossible to avoid as the lights cast them in all directions. The key subject is well lit and the fact that I can see his eyes very clearly and where he is looking makes it a fine shot.

You've clearly grasped that the expressions of the players are an important aspect as well as the pure action aspect of it.

The swimming shot included in your post is well composed and timed but seems noisier than similar ones I've taken. You might want to try different settings there or a touch more NR in post processing.

That's minor though, you are on your way and you seem to have a great selection of sports to go shoot so take advantage and practice, practice, practice! You are most certainly on a good path .

 

[iam2nd]

Welcome, and +1 on asking for constructive critique! First, I love the strawberries in water shot in your portfolio - and pretty much everything in your Personal Projects and Fine Art section.

1. Pic #1 needs a little fill light, but has good contrast and seems to have proper white balance based on the skin tones and white/black jerseys.

Looking at the your sports portfolio, many of the sports shots (both indoor and outdoor) also appear very slightly underexposed (monitor brightness set too high can fool the eyes when editing). But some look great.

2. If you're wanting to improve on your already great portfolio, you need to weed out shots that aren't absolutely the best. For example, I would remove this one since it is visibly blurry and has too many background distractions.
http://www.charlesbankephotography.com/Sports/i-LHqfqNS/A

Same for this one. While it does capture a good moment of anticipated action, I would ditch it from your portfolio as there is motion blur and the colors are dingy.
http://www.charlesbankephotography.com/Sports/i-gSWDFKg/A

3. http://www.charlesbankephotography.com/Sports/i-PNgpbn9/A
The players in black have some funky gray halo around them!

4. http://www.charlesbankephotography.com/Sports/i-hHxsGmN/A
Just needs to be brightened up!

5. http://www.charlesbankephotography.com/Sports/i-tRC2R2D/A
I had to be really picky to find something wrong, but for some reason the horizontal yard lines aren't parallel with everything else. But it seems you took great care to frame and/or crop everything properly. Again, it's about making it the best of the best it can be.

6. http://www.charlesbankephotography.com/Sports/i-2xpVW4M/A
A very common issue with shooting under stadium lights is with white jerseys. Notice the purple cast on the white shirts and shin guards. When editing, you can dial down the purple saturation (try 40%) and see how that looks. Sometimes blue sat. has to be slightly hit also. And if you have a single, "money" shot that you afford to spend more time editing, you can use the saturation brush to spot-desaturate color from white/grey/black clothing.

---
Overall, you have done a great job of selecting sports photos that capture emotion and not just action! Also, I can tell you enjoy sports photography, but don't be afraid to capture other moments that are always happening during the games, such as the Marching Band during halftime (I often hide behind props), color guard, drum line, kids playing their own game of football off the field, etc. Really depends on your goal, but it will broaden your exposure to paying parents

Other comments:
7. http://www.charlesbankephotography.com/Sports/i-4Mn9hKZ/A
The few stray bits of light below the ballerina take focus away from her. I would also suggest a bit more illumination for the face to bring focus off her torso.

8. http://www.charlesbankephotography.com/Personal-Projects-and-Fine-Art/i-5MXxKpJ/A
Stormy Day: Great colors, but something about the framing and/or lighting just doesn't feel quite right and I'm left wondering where my attention should go.

Hope you stick around! I think you have a lot to offer here on the forum.

 

[charlesbanke]

Welcome, and +1 on asking for constructive critique! First, I love the strawberries in water shot in your portfolio - and pretty much everything in your Personal Projects and Fine Art section.

1. Pic #1 needs a little fill light, but has good contrast and seems to have proper white balance based on the skin tones and white/black jerseys.

Looking at the your sports portfolio, many of the sports shots (both indoor and outdoor) also appear very slightly underexposed (monitor brightness set too high can fool the eyes when editing). But some look great.

2. If you're wanting to improve on your already great portfolio, you need to weed out shots that aren't absolutely the best. For example, I would remove this one since it is visibly blurry and has too many background distractions.
http://www.charlesbankephotography.com/Sports/i-LHqfqNS/A

Same for this one. While it does capture a good moment of anticipated action, I would ditch it from your portfolio as there is motion blur and the colors are dingy.
http://www.charlesbankephotography.com/Sports/i-gSWDFKg/A

3. http://www.charlesbankephotography.com/Sports/i-PNgpbn9/A
The players in black have some funky gray halo around them!

4. http://www.charlesbankephotography.com/Sports/i-hHxsGmN/A
Just needs to be brightened up!

5. http://www.charlesbankephotography.com/Sports/i-tRC2R2D/A
I had to be really picky to find something wrong, but for some reason the horizontal yard lines aren't parallel with everything else. But it seems you took great care to frame and/or crop everything properly. Again, it's about making it the best of the best it can be.

6. http://www.charlesbankephotography.com/Sports/i-2xpVW4M/A
A very common issue with shooting under stadium lights is with white jerseys. Notice the purple cast on the white shirts and shin guards. When editing, you can dial down the purple saturation (try 40%) and see how that looks. Sometimes blue sat. has to be slightly hit also. And if you have a single, "money" shot that you afford to spend more time editing, you can use the saturation brush to spot-desaturate color from white/grey/black clothing.

---
Overall, you have done a great job of selecting sports photos that capture emotion and not just action! Also, I can tell you enjoy sports photography, but don't be afraid to capture other moments that are always happening during the games, such as the Marching Band during halftime (I often hide behind props), color guard, drum line, kids playing their own game of football off the field, etc. Really depends on your goal, but it will broaden your exposure to paying parents

Other comments:
7. http://www.charlesbankephotography.com/Sports/i-4Mn9hKZ/A
The few stray bits of light below the ballerina take focus away from her. I would also suggest a bit more illumination for the face to bring focus off her torso.

8. http://www.charlesbankephotography.com/Personal-Projects-and-Fine-Art/i-5MXxKpJ/A
Stormy Day: Great colors, but something about the framing and/or lighting just doesn't feel quite right and I'm left wondering where my attention should go.

Hope you stick around! I think you have a lot to offer here on the forum.

Thank you for taking such great time to review my portfolio! I totally agree with #2, I have been working on weening out the "bad" photos from my portfolio, sometimes I forget to remove the older ones as the newer ones come in!

I can definitely work on the proper color balancing, I am starting to use a grey card to set a custom white balance at the event, and so far so good.

For #3, I didn't even notice that! That is really strange...especially since the other photos from that game look just fine, I will have to go back into Lightroom and see what was going on. I just checked it out, my history just said "multiple settings", so I unchecked that and it looks as good as the others.

For #4, I definitely see that now, that is an older photo and must have been edited before i calibrated my monitor, I will go back and fix that really quick

For #5, I can see that, I want to reshoot this photo, hopefully next time with a 17mm Tilt-shift and a 5diii, get a little bit more of the stadium that way!

For #7, I totally agree, I have always considered just blacking out everything but the subject, and her face could use some brightening to bring more focus to her.

And I do take photos of just about everything that happens at the games, band, cheerleaders, coaches, fans, players on the bench...basically anything that I think is interesting and maybe can sell!

And as for #8, I was never truly happy with that photo, it had potential but i could never think of what would make it right, oh well, maybe ill just have to go back and reshoot it some day!

Thank you for all your kind words, I do appreciate the time you put in to reviewing my portfolio.

Don't worry, I am sticking around.

 

[charlesbanke]

Charles, welcome to CR. I had a look at your work and you have a good eye for a picture and appear to have a sound understanding of technique. Keep up the good work and best if luck with it.

Thank you for your kind words, I will keep on posting my work into the threads now, it is great to be part of this wonderful community!

I am not a sports photog. That said, your pics are excellent and you show understanding of all bases. Of course always room for improvement and continued mastery. Great to see a a serious minded and directed young person.

Keep up the good work.

Sek

Thank you Sek, I look forward to pursuing photography in college shooting sports at the Division 1 level. I also look forward to improving every aspect of my photos and hopefully will get to "shoot like the pros". I have a lot of hard work ahead of me!

The shadows in the football images are the main issue, the other two images are fine.

With poor lighting, you need to think out the location of the shadows in advance and position yourself to minimize them. I'm assuming that you are not allowed to use flash.

Keep it up, you have a talent there.

Thank you, I will keep that in mind in the future, sometimes it is hard to predict where the action will be, but hey, isn't that the fun part?

The images are great. Night sports are very difficult. I like to add a little flash for fill light. I usually just dial -2 into the flash compensation. You might not be allowed to do this in college venues, but high schools don't mind.

The only piece of advise I can give you is photography as a business (sports or otherwise) is 90% business and 10% photography. There are lots of books on the topic, but the reality is technology has made photography easier and easier.

Do what you can to be creative, and look for new opportunities to be published and sell your photos.

Strive for sharp photos that stop the action, then take some that allow some blur...

IMG_8830 by RexPhoto91, on Flickr

I am always looking to be creative, I have been dabbling with motion blur and have been becoming much better at it, it is harder than it looks! Unfortunately at my highschool we are not allowed to use flash photography however I have ben able to use it at younger kids events. As for the business end of photography, I am starting to realize that. Promoting myself has proven to be difficult. I hand out my business card to just about every single person I talk to, and I am getting business! Thank you for your advice, I am always trying to improve all aspects of my photography, wether its while I'm shooting or on the business end!

I also agree with most of the above.

I actually think the "football" one at the top is fine, on a floodlit field shadows can be impossible to avoid as the lights cast them in all directions. The key subject is well lit and the fact that I can see his eyes very clearly and where he is looking makes it a fine shot.

You've clearly grasped that the expressions of the players are an important aspect as well as the pure action aspect of it.

The swimming shot included in your post is well composed and timed but seems noisier than similar ones I've taken. You might want to try different settings there or a touch more NR in post processing.

That's minor though, you are on your way and you seem to have a great selection of sports to go shoot so take advantage and practice, practice, practice! You are most certainly on a good path .

Thank you for your reply, I agree it can sometimes be difficult to manage the harsh shadows produced by the awful quality of lights that are on some highschool football fields. Sometimes they flicker and you get a different color temperature for every shot.

For the swimming photo, I was shooting ISO 2000 on a 1Diin so the noise may just may have to be something i will have to deal with but I will go back into Lightroom and work on the noise reduction.

I do have a great selection of sports at hand, and I cannot wait for our first basketball game tomorrow!

Thank you all for your kind words and constructive critiquing, I will certainly keep all of it in mind when I am shooting and I look forward to keep on posting on this forum, you guys are awesome!

-Charlie

 

[Northstar]

charles…as one sports photog (hobby) to another, well done. nice shots!

 

[bfgit]

A couple of tips that were imparted to me by an SI photog

1) crop out extraneous stuff, i.e. crop tightly around the action UNLESS something in the background REALLY ADDS to the image… dead space is a distraction

2) Feet off the floor in football makes for dynamic shots

3) Being able to see the face of the subject can make or break a shot.

Hope this helps

 

[Oldjohnston]

I also think your photos are terrific. I struggle with white balance in gyms and, even worse, stadiums as the lights come on (and flicker). I like the expodisk better than a gray card - I find it faster and easier if it's raining (here in Seattle). If you know you'll be in the same venues often you might consider renting a color meter to get precise readings. In college you could possibly find one to borrow on campus.

I couldn't tell in the football and soccer shots, but are you kneeling or standing? Getting lower makes high school athletes, especially, look more impressive. That makes it harder to move around to follow the action, however, but you're young!

Again, great work.

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Charles.
Great set of shots.
On the kneeling thing, try not to, or use very good protection, take it from someone who spent too long kneeling or grovelling around on the ground (when I was young and invincible) in the cold and wet working on cars, if you want to be able to kneel down and stand back up when you are 40 (yes it can be that little time away) without pain and cracking noises, look after yourself! Yes you are young but that is when we do the damage.
Sorry for the dismal nature of my post but you need to not learn these things for yourself.

Cheers, Graham.

I couldn't tell in the football and soccer shots, but are you kneeling or standing? Getting lower makes high school athletes, especially, look more impressive. That makes it harder to move around to follow the action, however, but you're young!

Again, great work.

 

[kyle77]

Hey Charles, awesome shots.
It looks like you're in the same boat I was in a few years ago. I shot high school sports and anything else to add to my portfolio with a 1D III. My yearbook editor loved me.
If you plan on going to college (for anything) and you want to shoot college sports, here's what helped me- I went to college straight out of high school (University of Alabama at Birmingham), and in the first week I was on a trial run shooting for my school's student newspaper. They loved my work, as I'm sure any college student led publication will love yours, and hired me on. This gave me floods of experience in what it's like to shoot real college sports, from media passes to how to capture the intensity of the players and excitement of the crowd. What was most valuable from that, though, was getting connected with the 'real' pros in the field. I got to know and talk to lots of amazing career sports photographers, as well as get their stories on how they made it, what their shooting methods were, and even a few let me try some cool gear.
My shooting style eventually moved toward portrait and wedding photography (I just finished my 11th wedding and have 4 more on the books, and I'm only 20). I'm a junior now at UAB in their nuclear medicine program and no longer shoot for the newspaper, but I've still got a few old newspapers that I made the cover shot on and I still will occasionally go back to my old high school to shoot some for the yearbook team.

 

[thesycgroup]

The key to good sports photography is cropping. There is very rarely a shot produced by a professional sports photographer that can not benefit from cropping.

Picture 1 could be cropped on the right some
Picture 2 does not need as much water below it
Picture 3 can be cropped from the right
Picture 4 can be cropped from the left

Think the focus is on the players, very rarely is an action shot needing a scene setting. You know they are on a playing field or a pool, you do not need to show it as much, the focus should be on the players.

Everyone complaining about the shadows on the first football shot have never taken photos at a high school field at night, other than a high school gym one of the most challenging places to shoot anything.

Good work, every shot you take will be a learning experience, but remember to crop. I am not a professional but you can see good use of cropping on my site http://www.minnihan.com/

 

[Besisika]

The key to good sports photography is cropping. There is very rarely a shot produced by a professional sports photographer that can not benefit from cropping.

+1
I looked at your basketball shots and they are all horizontal and environmental. Try to shoot more often vertical and very, very tightly, cropped. It looks like your lens is too short.

Good luck!
If I had only the same chance you have when I was 17!