Highlights from the 3rd Soccer Game

             

                                                      

                                                      

                     

                                                     

                                                     

         

                                                     

                                                     

'The most important thing you learn as a sports photographer is anticipation - not where the action is taking place, but where it's going to take place. Not where the subject is now, but where they're going to be.'     

                 -  Lawrence Schiller

Two Reasons Why I Always Bring My Camera With Me

      Why do I always have a camera with me, or atleast in my car?  Simple, you never know when an image might present itself.    Take the photos below for example, my 2 reasons,   I captured the sunrise this morning on my way to drop my boys off at school.  I had the camera right next to me and could see the colors starting to become more vivid as the sun was rising.   I always go the same route, passing a grass farm field, and every morning (well school morning) I get to watch the sunrise.   Sometimes its dark and eerie, or foggy, or rainy, but not today.  Today was absolutely gorgeous and I couldn't resist to pull over on the side of the road and take, literally 2 minutes: 1 min to get the settings right, and another to capture a couple images.   

       It's that easy and simple, so remember don't leave home without your Camera, and make sure your batteries are charged, your card is formatted, and lens clean: I will be talking about that in an upcoming post, possibly a video, so check back for that in about a week.  

f/9.0  1/15th sec 800 ISO,  focal length 35mm, Av Mode

f/9.0, 1/20th sec, 800 ISO, focal length 37mm, Av Mode

‘Photographs open doors into the past, but they also allow a look into the future.’    - Sally Mann

Processing Images in Lightroom

      Today I am going to be writing about image processing and the way I personally do it.  First of all before I start, I'd like to give a shout out to Jared Polin from FroKnowsPhoto for introducing me to Lightroom and the editing process, and well basically everything I know about photography.  (P.S. - Jared if you happen to see this post, send me a RAW shirt so I can feature it on here.)   Speaking of RAW, as he puts it, always, always, always shoot in RAW mode, if you have the capability.   

       If you are shooting in jpeg just so you can get the photos too the client faster, I guarantee they aren't as good of quality as they can be and if you are having the issue of taking too many photos too process, then you need to focus on better quality images, and less quantity.  
      Mind you I am not a pro, nor do I make a living from photography, but would one day like too, I am a very enthusiastic amateur photographer, for now.  

     As I said earlier, I use Lightroom (Currently LR4), to process my images.  After I import them, I quickly go through and weed out the ones I don't like, at this point I'm not too critical because if I capture the moment, but the lighting is off, I can always bring it back in the editing process.  Once I narrow it down, I go through them individually and process each one.  I will eventually be putting out a video on this and let you watch as I process some of my images.   

       I always make sure the camera settings in LR match the camera and lens that I used.  I then start from the top and work my way down the sliders on the right hand side, starting with exposure.   I almost always bump up my contrast between 30-50, sometimes higher for black and white images.  Everyone is different and will process their images differently, but this is the way I like to do it.   

       The best thing about shooting in RAW mode is that I can tweak an image anyway I want too and always be able to revert it back to the original, or export it halfway through, or if I process it, print it, don't like it, I can go back and make the correct changes without ever affecting the original file.    And always make sure you have a back-up for your back-up!!

Below is a screen shot of a before and after, left is original and right is processed.
This is just an example of how you can make an image pop with color, without over doing it, check out the levels of the sliders on the right for how I processed this image.

'Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communication, offer an infinite variety of perception, interpretation and execution.'   - Ansel Adams

Youth Soccer Slideshow

     I absolutely love making memories with my children, so I put together this slideshow of their first 2 soccer games.  At the end of the season I am going to pick the best of the best of the best pictures of each child and create a stunning sports video of each of their seasons.  So stay tuned and keep checking back for that video and more!!!



"Capture the moment, and it will capture your heart"
                                                                    - Michael Tesar

Youth Soccer Slideshow