Cardiff v Blackburn - for Gary Speed

[bexman]

Very emotional game on Tuesday night. I was a little unsure of etiquette for photographing minute silences, I decided as I'm not a pro and dependant on the shot for a living that I would shoot the applause minute and rested my camera on the floor and paid my respects to Gary Speed with the fans for the silence minute.

I've had some great tips on here about placement etc...and I'm really starting to see a difference with my shots. As always thanks for looking!


IMG_5543 by Bexman, on Flickr

Miller dedicates his strike

IMG_5595 by Bexman, on Flickr

Shame I lost the top of the goal post in this one

IMG_5797 by Bexman, on Flickr

[Bumble]

Re: Cardiff v Blackburn - for Gary Speed

Three good shots there, you must be very pleased.

Minutes silence/applause are always awkward things to snap. I only snap them if I feel they are really news worthy (which this one was). Often you would do better with a wide angle lens, but its not always practical just before the match to be swapping lenses on cameras. The applause usually makes the better photo as the playershave their heads up and that one works ok, if the officials were on the other side it would have been even better. I tried something a little different on Tuesday. I was behind the the goals so I focused in on the players furthest away who were facing me, so I had their full line up, but only half of the players who had their backs to me. Kept the players with their backs to me in soft focus and the players towards me, in sharp focus and it worked ok.

The second shot is great. but I would have cropped it portrait style. The player is the important thing in the photo and you could crop quite tightly still leaving an impression of the crowd in the background.

The third one is is all you can ask for in a goal shot. You've got player looking towards you and ball in the net. Yes, it's a shame you've cut the top of the goals, but that can often happen if you use centre focus, you also end up with wasted empty space at the bottom, which makes the action appear to be squeezed in at the top. The easy way to sort it is to crop. All the action is in the goal. So crop the left hand side just to the left of the goal post and as much of grass off the bottom as you can and the photo will look much more balanced and bring you closer to the acton. Never be scared to crop, modern cameras allow you more than enough pixels and the action doesn't always come to you, so you've got to take the camera to the action. If you are using a prime lens the only way to bring the action nearer is to crop when you process.

[bexman]

Re: Cardiff v Blackburn - for Gary Speed

Thanks Bumble appreciate the great comments. A quick few replies:

Shot number 1 - I did have a 17-50 in the bag but as you say just didnt have chance to swap it over. The pro's were on the half way line and some of the shots I've seen are brilliant but I quite like your idea of being at the one end and using depth of field to blur out the backs of the one team. Something I'll try next time, although I hope we dont have any more for a while.

Shot number 2 - Unfortunately I dont have a ball head on the monopod so camera is fixed in one position, however I have ordered a ball head so next time hopefully I'll get him portrait!

Shot number 3 - I do need to crop a bit more agressively, I used Canons DPP to process these and when I crop in that it seems to lose the aspect ratio so I need to work out how I crop to original size (will have a look later).

Next thing I'd like to explore is selling a few images, I've contacted a few local papers and they've advised me they use agencies and they've got contracts in place. It seems a tricky thing to get into!

[paul linton]

Re: Cardiff v Blackburn - for Gary Speed

Shot number 3 - I do need to crop a bit more agressively, I used Canons DPP to process these and when I crop in that it seems to lose the aspect ratio so I need to work out how I crop to original size (will have a look later).

Hi Mike,
when cropping in DPP I use Aspect ratio 3:2 for landscape and use 2;3 portrait that will then keep to your original ratio of your camera.

Next thing I'd like to explore is selling a few images, I've contacted a few local papers and they've advised me they use agencies and they've got contracts in place. It seems a tricky thing to get into!

Not sure you'll own the copy rights to sell pictures of Cardiff City and you'll upset the rest of the togs Bumble will come looking for you and have words (or at least the agency will ).
The local papers will always use image BUT WILL NEVER PAY FOR THEM.you would have to be self employed and work to there criteria which would mean doing all bloody sorts of things that may not interest you,I was asked to work with a guy who does the papers over the weekends my jobs included ; cover local marching band at 10.30; school gala 11.30 ; cheque presentation local pub ; football 2.00pm;rugby 3.00pm, back home later dinner dance at hotel 8.30pm. Lets just say i reclined the offer.But that's how it is been a photographer.With working for HU17 i can just cover the sport and if i want to do some of the event work i just ask if he doesn't mind if i come along to help him out Like the fashion shoot he did.

Paul

[bexman]

Re: Cardiff v Blackburn - for Gary Speed

Hi Mike,
when cropping in DPP I use Aspect ratio 3:2 for landscape and use 2;3 portrait that will then keep to your original ratio of your camera.

Cheers Paul, will try this tonight.

Not sure you'll own the copy rights to sell pictures of Cardiff City and you'll upset the rest of the togs Bumble will come looking for you and have words (or at least the agency will ).
The local papers will always use image BUT WILL NEVER PAY FOR THEM.you would have to be self employed and work to there criteria which would mean doing all bloody sorts of things that may not interest you,I was asked to work with a guy who does the papers over the weekends my jobs included ; cover local marching band at 10.30; school gala 11.30 ; cheque presentation local pub ; football 2.00pm;rugby 3.00pm, back home later dinner dance at hotel 8.30pm. Lets just say i reclined the offer.But that's how it is been a photographer.With working for HU17 i can just cover the sport and if i want to do some of the event work i just ask if he doesn't mind if i come along to help him out Like the fashion shoot he did.
Paul

Well the club have given me permission to start selling my images as long as I let them know who I sell them to, which is easier said than done! I wouldnt know where to start, I did think maybe I should set up a website and sell the pics directly from there as HU17 do (I just checked out the site) but realistically how are people ever going to view the site. I'm happy snapping away for the time being and building a portfolio but it would be nice to sell the odd image and get a bit of cash for it!

[paul linton]

Re: Cardiff v Blackburn - for Gary Speed

Hi Mike.
As you say its very difficult to fine an opening,HU17 make money not from selling prints but Advertising,(look at the amount of company's who advertise with us every week and growing, the website is also getting huge and gets approx 50,000 hits per week, this site started from nothing so if you know how to set up a website just get one started you have nothing to lose)reprint sales are small and make up a small percentage of profit.
I find the only people who will buy prints are the parents of the children's football,Adults just don't buy very many. stick to the kids and you'll sell!!

Paul

[Bumble]

Re: Cardiff v Blackburn - for Gary Speed

It is tough getting to sell pics and also a minefield.

I'm getting ready for a long trip tomorrow, so this is done in a bit of a rush but a few quick pointers.

To take pics at a League match you need a dataco license. I'm guessing in your case the club have provided you with one (if not please look into it, as you need one to go pitchside and without one you could run into serious insurance issues, they don't cost you or the club anything to get. I would recommend you have your own public liability insurance as well, as that will cover you at any non league games you decide to cover.).

The terms of your dataco license allows the club to show your pics on their website, programmes and promotional material. I'm a bit vague on the facts here as I comply with my agency requirements and am not sure on the terms for some one working under a football club. I do know that even if you were allowed to put the photos on your own website, you would either have to have the site locked with a password so only the press who knew the password could get in to look, or you would have to have an End User Agreement which costs hundreds of pounds. I would certainly check with the club and dataco to find out what the requirements are before going to the time and expense of setting up a website.

Getting a break and selling pics is difficult but you have made a great start by getting into a club and learning the trade. Keep going and the breaks will come. In the meantime I would suggest you look at your workflow. To sell to the papers you need to be able to upload at half time and immediately after the match, and in most cases you need to embed the details of the action into your photo (names of players and what's happening). Look at using a simple program like photo mechanic that will do the naming quickly and a basic editing program like elements to crop and straighten, that won't take too much resource on your laptop.

Best of luck.

[bexman]

Re: Cardiff v Blackburn - for Gary Speed

Thanks Bumble, some very intuitive advice there.

I'll check out everything you've mentioned, I know the club mentioned accrediting me but there's a lot I need to look into. By day I work im an ops manager for an IT company but eventually I would like to at least make a part time living from sports photography, a full time living would be a dream!

Thanks again