As far as the exposure, you can try metering off the white jersey to see what that gives you. White kits in bright sun will always give you issues and personally I'd rather the whole thing be a little dark than blow out the highlights since you can usually recover the shadows a bit better.

I shoot women's pro soccer so I am constantly trying to find photos that tell a story on their own merit. It's especially hard since I'm usually editing only a few hours after the game and can still easily remember what was happening at some points.

The photo you posted is tough because not only is the ball kind of far away from the player, having the guy in white's back to the camera doesn't give clues that you would get if you could see his face. Is it scrunched up because of the impact he just made off a header or are his eyes wide as the ball is coming toward him?



This is great advice. If it isn't a shot where it's incredibly obvious what just happened (like a player with their leg extended from a kick and the ball is heading away from them), I try to get the ball as close to the player as possible, especially for things like headers. It doesn't always matter if it's right before or right after the header (that's where I tend to go with good body position or interesting faces), but I want it within maybe a foot of them.

Generally my rules of thumb are:
1. Ball needs to be in the photo and relatively easy to pick out, unless it's a portrait
2. Important player has to be facing me (or maybe in profile). It better be an exceptional shot if their back is turned to me
3. Look for peak moments and good facial expressions

That will tell most if not all of the story.

Fantastic shot. Always love that moment of intense concentration at peak action.

What great shots. He's going to be a joy to watch as he grows up for sure.

One thing that might help a little bit is to straighten some of the shots (especially that last one). If you look in the background there are vertical poles on all the fencing that you can use to judge what's straight up and down. I always find that seems to be something that really helps sports photos look that much better.

Wonderful shots. I studied abroad in Poland in 1992 when things were still barely out of Communism. Everything was still gray from all the coal soot on the walls of buildings. We'd have to get to a market first thing in the morning to get any halfway decent of produce (or any at all). So it's nice to see everything so bright and clean with all the full bins at the markets.

It only works when it's being delivered by Amazon's delivery service. I'm not sure this is available everywhere yet. When it is available, if you look at the details of your delivery there is a map. Sometimes there's even a photo of your delivered package to show they dropped it off there too.

I've had poor quality delivery from them since they started their own delivery service. I live within 20 miles of a major distribution center and they are always over promising. Ordered 2 things this past Saturday, one with "guaranteed" same day and the other with next day. Both items came a day later than they were supposed to. And that's far from the first time. I'm a Prime member so they can't really do much for me since I didn't specifically pay for the delivery charge.

I've had them lose 2 packages in the last year too since they added their own delivery service.

I mean sure, it's fun to watch how close it is to being delivered (except the 2 times they were within 3 stops when 9pm hit and they shut it down for the day and I got the package the next day).

But really there aren't many other options so I've just learned to ignore when they say something will arrive and just assume it'll take 2 days so if it shows up faster, then I'm pleasantly surprised.

This is my busy time of year. The National Women's Soccer League is in full swing, especially with the World Cup players coming back to their clubs starting this weekend, and I'll be out in the sweltering heat tomorrow to shoot the game in Maryland. Heat index of up to 115 and there's talk the game might be delayed because they aren't allowed to warm up if the temp on the field is 94 or higher. Ugh, but still going to enjoy the chance to do what I love (just with copious amounts of water while I bake in the late day heat).

There are probably adult leagues of some sports that you could go shoot in your off season. I often do that in the winter a few times just to get me through the 4 winter months until my league (and then college soccer) get going again.

I don't do astrophotography so no clue about the technical stuff but just looking at the image as a fan of the genre and it's beautiful.

Thanks for sharing your shots. I shoot pro women's soccer for a few local publications and am always trying to learn from other photographer's work so I love to see soccer photos posted here. Here are a few thoughts, mostly on composition and shot selection.

The first shot doesn't have the ball and that's one of my go to "rules" for soccer shots (well all games with balls actually). It's really hard to tell what is going on without it. Although the grimace is a nice reaction facial shot.

That shot of the slide tackle to stop the GK kick is fantastic. Goalkeeper at that classic full pre-kick extension with arms wide. Tackler just about to kick out from the slide and possibly getting there first with his face coming toward you and eyes on the ball. If I had that shot in one of the games I covered it'd be one of my top photos for sure.

The header shot has a good body position and the one eye open so that's pretty interesting (although the folks in the background being pretty in focus is distracting but as you previously said you get what you get...my home stadium has an ambulance parked behind the opposite goal from where I shoot so I truly feel your pain).

It's a little hard to find the ball in the last shot so it's not ideal. But still like the 2 players with arms entwined fighting for the ball (I like good upper body action in soccer since it shows that it's not all about the feet) and the GK just about to pounce to stop the ball really makes it a "peak moment". I also like shots around the goal where you can see the field markings (if you don't have the goal in it) so you get a feel for where they are so this shot has that as well.

Overall great shots of what looks like a fun game to watch. Looking forward to seeing more of your work.

One thing to make sure with the 7D2 is if you notice some photos are randomly darker than others is to try the Flicker setting. Could be the lights are flickering at a level you can't perceive but your camera can.

On the issue of backs, I feel like this is a good general rule but as with all rules there are exceptions. I shoot pro women's soccer and can say I've gotten maybe 20 or so shots over the 3+ seasons I've been shooting that are backs but are really great shots (either because of emotion or really interesting action/body positioning).

Another rule I try to live by is make sure there's a ball (or at least a part of the ball if you're desperate) in the shot if it's an action shot. It helps the viewer understand better what is going on. So in your second shot where your grandson clearly looks like he's looking at the ball, it would be a better shot if the ball was in it.

Good shots but one thing you can definitely easily do to improve them is to make sure they're straightened. All the action shots except the first one are tilted to some degree. If you have something really obvious like the grass line you might want to use that. The ones of the batter, I'd go off the up and down lines of the fence in the background.

Otherwise the only other thing I'd suggest you try to get is a ball in the shot. It's not always possible (and often in baseball/softball, the ball is already in a player's glove) but that really helps tell the story of what is going on. Not always easy when things are going super fast, but it's something to strive for.

Looks like a 50-50 ball and the tackler got there first. I shoot women's pro soccer and, even though the refs stink most of the time, I see this play all the time and it's never called a foul.

I shoot sports so I tend to shoot just in JPEG for that to avoid my buffer filling up. While this software is never going to be as good as a true RAW I could see it helping me to get a little more quality out of my shots. Obviously it's best to shoot in RAW when you can (and I do for everything else) but sometimes you just can't. I'll definitely be reading up on this more and probably giving it a try.