Shooter41 Loc: Wichita, KS

Last night I took my list of elements that I wrote down to aid me in shooting as many good indoor soccer images as I can in their order of importance and help minimize the number of deletes. The Wichita Wings, my home team, played the Omaha Kings. I noticed there were far more shots that were in focus; properly exposed; edited to get rid of distractions and contained subjects that were interesting in detail than I have had in the past. Would the excellent indoor sports photographers on UHH please add any elements that I missed on this shot so that I can continue to improve and get even better results? Thank you in advance. Shooter41

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Grahame Loc: Fiji

I would suggest that your processing is restricting your "results" far more than the process of the capture.

The image looks over processed (cooked) and there are wide halos around edges. This raises a question, is this due to your processing of a 'good' initial image, OR, your processing of a 'poor' initial image to try and fix it?

If you post the original it would certainly help those answering.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

One of the most important things in sports photography is capturing good facial expressions on the faces of the players. Congratulations, you have accomplished this.
Now, I would suggest you did something in post processing that altered this otherwise good capture.

tshift Loc: Overland Park, KS.

What camera and settings did you use. Not very sharp , noise. Thanks BE SAFE!!

Tom

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

You've done well in capturing the action and the participants thereof. I'd say principles of processing are what I'd call into question.
--Bob

Tomfl101 Loc: Mount Airy, MD

This is a good action shot but my guess is it was over exposed and darkened in post with some uneven burning, particularly around the sign in the background. If overexposure is the case I would presume there was uneven lighting in the arena. Auto exposure settings rarely provide even exposure so I would shoot manual and adjust ISO or shutter/aperture as best as possible while following the action. Shoot raw so as to get the most out of exposure variations. If the image was exposed correctly then less processing is in order.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

Shooting sports usually are shot in JPG with a minimal amount of processing as they are used (by a magazine, news paper or TV) the next day. With no time too spare.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Not necessarily true anymore. I've shot Hunter-Jumper-Dressage competitions with over 2000 shots in a single day as raw, and uploaded a full set of edited, nearly finished jpeg images (excellent proofs) before turning in for the night. The quality and shot-to-shot consistency was always better than anything the other shooter I worked with was able to produce.

I think more and more photographers are realizing the benefits of a raw workflow - but there are still news organizations that insist on straight out of the camer jepgs (Reuters, and others).

FreddB Loc: PA - Delaware County

What’s on your list? No one can tell you what you’ve missed without knowing what you did.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Define "improve" also.

Shooter41 Loc: Wichita, KS

Dear Longshadow...
I am inclosing a new before and after editing photograph; along with my camera data used; the steps I took in editing, my final edited image and my definition of "improved" for you and your fellow sports photographers. I am once again asking for everyone's suggestions to improve my image.
I am shooting a Sony ILCE-7RM4 set manually at 1/1600 second shutter speed; F3.5 aperture; ISO 20,000 to get a perfect exposure under the poor mercury vapor lighting; focal length of 135mm.
I define the concept of "improve" as having a genus of "making something better." The differentia of improve when used in sports photography becomes, "making an image; include a face or faces; include wild action; possess tack sharp focus; display beautiful colors; display an excellent choice of subject that is preferably interesting and unique; timing the shot to capture split instant peak action; let any faces in the picture show their emotions; include the ball; include at least two opposing players fighting over the ball; show unusual beauty or ability in the image; crop so as to tell a story without words; evoke fond memories in the viewer; show courage or patriotism, avoid clutter or distractions, etc.
The attached image does not show the ball or an opposing player. But it does give the sports photographers on UHH the opportunity to tell me what mistakes I am making in editing, so that I can IMPROVE!

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Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Dear Shooter41,

You mean you were not asking about how to improve the image posted initially, but how to improve overall, in general?????
I'll bet most thought you were asking how to improve the first image posted.
To wit one would reply "What don't you like about it?"
50 people here will have at least 40 different opinions.

My error on misunderstanding your writing:
What principles of shooting indoor soccer that I missed would improve this image?

Shooter41 Loc: Wichita, KS

Dear Longshadow...
What principals of shooting indoor soccer that I missed would improve this image ***and therefore all future images that I make. (Is that better?)

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Now it may.
But I can't see how improving one image will make all future images better.

Again, better than what?
Is there something wrong with the first one?
Don't you like it, or think it's not good enough?

Grahame Loc: Fiji

Firstly, the edited image is a crop of what is also a crop of the original. So we are talking a very severe crop and one shot at ISO20,000 ! But, it's well exposed which is in its favor.

You have not mentioned what editing you undertook, but to me, in common with all of your images posted it looks overdone but not as much as in many of them.



Without knowing exactly what processes you are using it is not easy to give advice and it could be that you like what you are producing. I have taken the original (which was cropped already) and put it through a very basic process in ACR and then PS, no fancy noise reduction and sharpening software.

One thing you have not mentioned is whether you are shooting jpg or raw, I would strongly recommend that if you are going to be undertaking such severe cropping at high ISOs raw is essential to give you the greatest scope at correction.

Here are my results against yours, note the difference in contrast, colour and noise specifically on the shirt, which do you prefer?

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