Invitation to Cricket

[Asterix]

I took some pictures of my cricket club on a glorious English summer's day. Appreciate your comments.

http://gallery.clubsnap.com/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=13079&password=

 

[ptwong]

Don't mind my comments, pls ignore if doesn't make sense.

I think you might want to work a bit on your composition. Most of the pics have good potential but the compositions are off. Let's take "How to play the leg glance" for example. Too much empty space on above the subject "the bats man".

what lense was you using? looks a bit soft to me. Don't know if it's due to the limitation of your current lense but it would be better if you're able to close up on the subjects more. Something like the facial expression of the bowler when bowling etc. A closer crop would get rid of unnecessary distraction like the cars in Datchet Cricket club where the guy is walking.

I don't think you were using a tripod/monopod right? Might want to think about it, it may help in sharper pics.

Keep on shooting!!!

 

[Asterix]

Don't mind my comments, pls ignore if doesn't make sense.

I think you might want to work a bit on your composition. Most of the pics have good potential but the compositions are off. Let's take "How to play the leg glance" for example. Too much empty space on above the subject "the bats man".

what lense was you using? looks a bit soft to me. Don't know if it's due to the limitation of your current lense but it would be better if you're able to close up on the subjects more. Something like the facial expression of the bowler when bowling etc. A closer crop would get rid of unnecessary distraction like the cars in Datchet Cricket club where the guy is walking.

I don't think you were using a tripod/monopod right? Might want to think about it, it may help in sharper pics.

Keep on shooting!!!

Thanks ptwong, I was using the nikkor 70-300 1:4-5.6 G lens with my D70. I think there may have been 2 things that may have made the pictures look soft.
1) There was something wrong with the white balance setting. I was experimenting with the white balance and got it wrong
2) I was metering off the white shirts of the cricket players and because of that the rest of the picture was underexposed?

Anyway these things above are only theories. Anyone who has experience shooting such subjects please let me know if I am on the right track.

Thanks again.

 

[Asterix]

Hello ptwong,

Thanks to your advise I found out that I was using:

Optimize image = softer
Exposure compensation = +0.3

I changed the values back to Normal and 0.0 respectively and I got much better results.

Also tried to work on the composition a bit more but cannot get any closer to the action 'cos I have to stay out of the pitch.

Thanks a lot.

 

[ptwong]

did you use the lense at it's widest? Might want to step down to about F8 if you can. I think you can try to meter off their face but would not be easy. Is this in england?

 

[Asterix]

did you use the lense at it's widest? Might want to step down to about F8 if you can. I think you can try to meter off their face but would not be easy. Is this in england?

Thanks ptwong. I will try to step down the lens. I believe there is another match today to try out. Yes the photos are taken in England. I am a Singaporean working here. I sometimes play for the team I shoot. It is a lot of fun. The cricket season here is coming to an end soon. After that it will be Rugby season. I am a sports buff and I would love to shoot sports action well. Your advise is really appreciated.

 

[ptwong]

cool....better take good care of your cams there in england. The weather can be really wet. So you play cricket eh? batsman or bowler? or catcher? I get to see a few singapore national cricket players and they have kindly tried to explain the game to me but end up confusing me most of the time ha....

Rugby would be a great game to shoot. Line up, scrums, tackles, penalty kicks are great potential to catch facial expressions. I think you might want to invest in a better zoom esp like a 70-200 F2.8. You would need to have the lense to be able to focus fast. I'm a sports buff too and love shooting sports actions.

PM me sometimes and we can discuss more