Forgotten
by jiggs

Comment by MarkRob:
A little sharper focus would have been nice

Heads Up
by jiggs

Comment by CEJ:
Hello from the Critique Club!

I have studied your image and have the following to offer:

Composition/perspective - For a sports shot - taken at the moment - overall, this is not bad. Your subject(s) are clear and in focus. Your timing was good as you appear to have caught the main subject at the height of his jump. The fence in the background is a major distraction and appears to cut your subject off at the neck. Also, below the knees is cut off. You didn't list the lense you used, so hard to tell, but if you were not zoomed/positioned so close you could have made the same capture and then cropped to get the final result. This would have shown more 'action.'

Color - you listed 'partial desat' as one of your processing steps. I think this leaves the background a little flat instead of letting your foreground stand out. The colors of the subjects are strong enough to offer a nice contrast to the browns/greens of the background.

Lighting - very nice control of natural light. The jersey is not blown out at all although in direct sunlight. The skin tones look natural and not washed out or ghostly at all. The shadow on the second jumper makes him a little dark, but this is not a distraction.

Challenge requirements - without following a few sure bets, shutter speed is not necessarily a key element in an image. Your timing of capture - getting the jumper at his highest, also captures the hair in the movement which really gives the strongest element of action in this shot. It is this action that relays your shutter speed aspect. Well done.

Overall/my opinion - a different crop or zoom to allow more of the subject would have been a stronger image. Different location on the field to get better control over the background would have also helped with this image. Nice capture that demonstrates an eye for the shot and good timing.

Span
by jiggs

Comment by TroyMosley:
this shot s a little blown out on the left from the sun, the bird is a good add, and so is the golden gate, maybe a polarizer next time would be a great additive.

Heads Up
by jiggs

Comment by Man_Called_Horse:
As a sport photog myself there are mainly two problems with this pix.

The fence line cuttimg your athlete at the neck, and the decapitation at the knees. You would never be able o sell this to a publisher.

Color good, lighting good, nice capture, Dof good, emotion good, B&W good. Nice idea. Overall just OK.

Points of Color
by jiggs

Comment by sfalice:
Greetings from the Critique Club

You certainly found a varied group of colored pencils for your entry. I like the many colors and the jumbled mix of them.

For a really good picture of perspective, you might want to concentrate on depth of field. Picture perspective usually means showing the relationship of things that are far away and close up. With your pencils, that would mean getting the background and foreground really sharp. This is because none of your pencils are really far away.

You might try this grouping with an aperture of, say, 6.3, 7, and even 8 or higher. This will slow down the shutter speed, so you will have to hold the camera extremely steady, or use a tripod. But everything will likely be nice and crisp. I think you probably used the kit lens and that is probably your best bet with this closeup.

Good luck in future Challenges. I shall look forward to seeing more of your work.

Shadow Play
by jiggs

Comment by Sherri1209:
I really love this shot...minus the camera shadow. I love the contrast shadow with the blue. Really great shot.

Shadow Play
by jiggs

Comment by fotodude:
this really doesn't have enough of the rule in it to grab 1s attention

also it is a major "no" to have your shadow in the image or at least to show the camera.....not always but in a shot like this 1 it definatly detracks.

well doe with the desaturation tho.

Points of Color
by jiggs

Comment by TheresaA:
Interesting subject, but I am not seeing the perspective.

Points of Color
by jiggs

Comment by Bus352:
Interesting shot, thought it's tough to see a true perspective--maybe a wide angle lense would help

Points of Color
by jiggs

Comment by Germaine:
Nothing in this picture is really sharp. (No pun intended!) Good subject with a lot of potential. Try it again.