Daily Snap: Friday Football

Gear: Canon 5D Mark III; Canon 70-200 2.8L

Settings: f/2.8, 1/800th of a second, ISO 6400, 200mm

The story: First football Friday of the year. Good fun. Really harsh light, shadows all over the place in the first half, then no light in the second half (of course). But the camera held up pretty well at ISO 6400 and some heavy noise reduction in Lightroom.

Why I like this one: Lights fell on this sophomore QB just right. Really stands out, and has a pro-looking stance here. Clean, dark background. I caught a bunch of the QB in the first half, when there was light, but I like this picture better.

Bonus. A cool pic that just missed out on being a spectacular pic thanks to the ref. See the ball? Maybe? Yeah, it's right behind the ref's head. And below that, fan shot with a little flare from before the game.

Daily Snap: Set 'em up

Gear: Canon 5D Mark III; Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L

Settings: f/2.8, 1/800th of a second, ISO 5000, 165mm

The story: Nothing spectacular yesterday. Late running to a volleyball game, so couldn't get a rhythm. Pretty pleased with the Mark III at ISO 5000, just couldn't find the right spot to get good action.

Why I like this one: Clean. Face. Sharp (my tenets!). Framed by people below, the bottom of those Ohio championship banners above. And this is barely cropped in post, so the framing was pretty spot-on in-camera.

Daily Snap: New perspective

Gear: Nikon D300S; Nikon 300mm f/2.8 IS
Settings: f/5.6, 1/1000th of a second, ISO 320, 300mm

The story: There's one thing that's really cool about photographing golf. Every single shot is going to be different. Every walk down the fairway. Every chip. And for the photographer, every step offers a different angle of a different shot. For this shot, I was actually just walking ahead of them to get to the next tee box. I turned around just to see their progress, and fired off this frame.

Why I like it: Layers & colors. There's a very different sense of place. The negative space up top is just odd, because the foreground and background are so far apart. I like it. And the orange stands out, and the different poses of the girls make it engaging.

Bonus pic. Trying to follow the Peter Read Miller advice that you can always crop a sports photo EVEN TIGHTER. And I find something soothing about the shaft + tree in the background forming a right angle.

Daily Snap: Kill-joy

(Kill-joy ... volleyball pun. Get it?!?!?!?)

Gear: Canon 5D Mark III; Canon 70-200 2.8L
Settings: f/2.8, 1/800th of a second, ISO 4000, 200mm

The story: Rushed over to a girls volleyball game after the soccer game I was at got rained out. Showed up after second game ended, so didn't really get to settle into a rhythm. But caught this celebration after a spike.

Why I like it: Pretty energetic. Clenched fists, flying hair. Clean background. Lots of red always complements an emotive shot well.

Daily Snap: Eyes on prize

Gear: Nikon D300S; Nikon 300mm f/2.8 IS
Settings: f/5.6, 1/1250th of a second, ISO 200, 300mm

The story: Evening soccer game. I've been disappointed with image quality at f/2.8 from the 300mm for the past few weeks, so I tried shooting at f/5.6 for a while. Quality was better, but you really see the DOF difference. I'll have to try f/4 my next time out. Boring game. One of those good light, bad action games.

Why I like this one: Two big reasons. Her eyes & the good, warm light. That said, I dislike the pole behind their heads and the coach in the background. Distracting. But I think the determination in her face, and the fact that it's so tack sharp, make up for it. Oh yeah, bonus points as a PJ ... this Mapleton girl scored a hat trick.

Bonus shot:

Daily Snap: Looking "Fore!"-ward

Gear: Nikon D300S; Nikon 300mm f/2.8 IS
Settings: f/2.8, 1/800th of a second, ISO 100, 300mm

The story: Just a standalone assignment for the club championship at a local golf course. The golf/photography gods smiled on me, because (1) the course gave me a cart and (2) I caught the final pairing as they came down 17. The guy above was the winner.

Why I like it: I'm a sucker for a photograph with an emotive face looking off frame. To me, it's a great metaphor for the vulnerability in life: looking to an uncertain future. And it works for sad, pensive faces. But it also works for hopeful, positive faces (like this guy). There's pretty good energy to this shot, too, which is sometimes tricky to find in a follow-through. Interesting lines with arms, club, eyes.

Daily Snap: Ace of Shades

Gear: Nikon D300S; Nikon 300mm f/2.8 IS

Settings: f/2.8, 1/3200th of a second, ISO 320, 300mm

The story: Girls tennis. Employed a variety of techniques (tennis can get boring to shoot real quick), and this was with the 300mm, back beyond the baseline, focus trained on the girl at the net in this doubles match. Just stuck with her and let that shutter fly when a volley came her way.

Why I like it: The shades!! They draw you right in between the ball and the racket, putting you in the shot immediately. Yes, it's a bummer as a PJ because you can't see eyes. But if you look close enough, you can see the reflection of the court in her shades. Kind of cool. Also, I love a good tennis photograph that keeps the action in a tight space -- those stray legs, arms or balls in the corner of a shot just ruin any vibrance it might have. Also, this photo has good depth with the foreground (net) and background (top of fence).

Aside: I was also shooting with 5D Mark III + 70-200 (infinitely sharper than Nikon rig) on different courts, but nothing had the dynamism of the one above. Since I'm feeling kind, here's a few selects:

Daily Snap: Elusiveness

Gear: Nikon D300S; Nikon 300mm f/2.8 IS

Settings: f/3.2, 1/1000th of a second, ISO 200, 300mm

The story: High school football scrimmage. Starters only played for one quarter, but I knew this QB would be scrambling all over the place. Set up right around the line of scrimmage, caught this one when he pulled a Mike Vick and tried reversing himself in the backfield.

Why I like it: This is a good example of the compression and perspective you get from shooting from a low angle. I was on both knees, shooting from monopod at lowest height (maybe 20 inches?). It has that unique quality that your typical amateur won't get from a standing position. I love using the grass as a level frame to the bottom of the image. I love the blue, red and green repeating across the image. And I like it particularly as a PJ, because this guy scored two rushing TDs. 

I hate that pole in the background.

Daily Snap: Presidential Candidate?

Gear: Canon 5D Mark III; Canon 70-200 2.8L
Settings: f/2.8, 1/250th of a second, ISO 2500, 100mm

The story: I was called to cover the annual John Ashbrook Memorial Dinner at Ashland University, an event which has featured previous keynotes like Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Margaret Thatcher. This year's speaker was Dr. Ben Carson, a famed surgeon, author and philanthropist. When asked about a possible 2016 presidential run (his name has been tossed around here and there), Carson said: "We're laying the groundwork."

Why I like the photo: Your options are pretty limited at events like this. Low light. He's pretty distanced from the crowd. And there wasn't anything spectacular about the venue. So I had a bunch of photos that look somewhat similar. But this one stands out to me ... I'm not sure why. It might be because it looks a lot like an AP photo you would see from a politician's campaign spot, and that type of photo been embedded in my brain as a good photo to get. He's got some leading room. There's an interesting echo of the patterns in the tie and the background. The glint in the glasses draws your eyes into the shot. His eyes are on the same plane as "University."

Daily Snap: Teeing off

Gear: Nikon D300S; Nikon 300mm f/2.8

Settings: f/3.5, 1/3200th of a second, ISO 200, 300mm

Story: Caught some high school golf. This was actually one of my first shots of the day... turned out to be one of the best. Golfer was looking right into the light, shades give it a little pop, the flying grass adds some dynamism. Sharp. Good background. I like it.

Oh. Bonus shot. Kind of stock, but I love the layers to the foreground, midground, background:

Daily Snap: 50/50 Ball

Gear: Canon 5D Mark III; Canon 70-200 2.8L

Settings: f/2.8, 1/800th of a second, ISO 1000, 160mm

Story: Northwestern High was dominating this game, so I set down my 300mm and shot exclusively with my 70-200 for a bit. Had to wait longer for the play to come to me, but it gave me a little more time for analysis as the play came upfield.

Why I like it: It was shot at ISO 1000, so you can see a bit of noise. But I think it complements the light (the sun had literally just set beyond the horizon) nicely. It's got a nice, gritty feel. Background is pretty clean and undistracting (Bokeh!). Good faces.