Sport photography is a combination of story telling and record keeping.
The better you cature it, the more compelling the image, the more likely you will be to create an audience and keep it.
At first, any in focus, reasonably dramatic and interesting image is considered a winner, but as you get more practiced, the ok, the good and the better images start to become clearer.
These are fine, but they are a dime a dozen (I got 17 of them in this game alone) and they are a poor shape for print. Still impressive to see the heights reached though.
The running hero shot is a must. These need to be noble, uncluttered (un or victoriously contested) forward facing and clean. Used as stock images for player based stories, the more of these you get, the better, but they are rarely compelling.
The “player in control” shot is the other version of above.
No amount of athletic awesomeness makes up for the players facing the wrong way (for me) or the ball missing or cut in half.
This image has a dramatic contest, tight, strong and emotive. It is not mobile enough though, looking too much like the break down of play (which it was).
I love these, but they often fail when faces are lost or if the angles are too tight.
The “eyes on the ball” shot is full of intent, but this one lacks a feeling of direct pending or contested contact, it only has intent.
Timing is the key to this one, a little contest and some mild drama, but not quite enough of the latter. I feel I am “on” when the ball is caught just on the tip of the finger or surrounded by hands that have not yet taken it (I do not rely on burst shooting which I find time and time again breaks my feeling of connection). I feel as yet unrealised potential is more compelling than actual contact.
Like any story, an image needs a hint of a journey and a destination or an overcoming victory, all encompassed in one frame, generally using several of the these elements at once.
The strong mark is a reliable winner, but like the centre bounce or boundary throw in, it is a predictable staple and needs to be above average or contextually important, like a game winner, or just better than the usual. It is also a good hero shot if you can marry the right player to the right action.
This is getting there. Drama, a feeling of desperation and a player breaking through to free play in front of a gallery of concerned allies are all decent themes, the level of action though is a little pedestrian.
So, what makes a winner for me?
For me, an image needs drama, timing, a strong feeling of action and momentum, with context and that special something, usually to do with eyes on the ball.
This one has the important connection point, the player’s eyes on the ball, the ball seemingly floating and the “breaking free” feeling of the file above, but with more desperation. Even the ball is the right orientation and the player starred on the day, so a hero shot for spotlight articles etc.
This is my favourite from this match, but fails slightly by being a little remote and the late afternoon light is a little too contrasty. The angle is ok, but slightly more forward facing would be better, or even directly face-on would have been spectacular. Timing is spot on, the feeling of avalanche-like momentum also, so nearly there. It is hard to over stress the importance of eye on ball.
It is stronger tighter, but the first file was already cropped (I was following the action with a shorter lens), this one is pushed to the “news print only” level.
When you go looking, with tight cropping you can find more like the above, but there is a limit.
Every game I find myself pushing for better images, rejecting many I would have once called acceptable.
Shooting for the paper was easy by comparison. All you needed was a back page winner, maybe a small gallery of 3-6, possibly a specific player called out or an event that stopped play etc. With a lose and small remit, a ten minute stint will usually get you the job done.
Shooting whole games for one side or an organisation can be harder, because you have more time, but you have to fill it. I usually aim for 100 usable files from one hour of shooting, but with sport, where one hour may be the whole show, I chase more like 2-300. Editing is then the tough bit.