Soccer Shot in Portrait Orientation

[ldreher]

John's been beating it into my head enough that I'm finally starting to feel a little guilty about ever holding my camera in landscape again:blah:

Here's a couple from the weekend...I'm thinking that they don't really count due to the smaller size of the 2nd grade field and the pace of the action, but I guess I need to start somewhere.

#1

http://dreher.smugmug.com/photos/397939657_BwuRh-L.jpg

#2

http://dreher.smugmug.com/photos/397952225_UynKy-L.jpg

#3

http://dreher.smugmug.com/photos/397951393_WYYZR-L.jpg

[ldreher]

Ok, I was hoping to have the pictures hosted by smugmug appear here in the forum without needing to click the link. Is that possible?

[JohnG]

ldreher wrote:

Ok, I was hoping to have the pictures hosted by smugmug appear here in the forum without needing to click the link. Is that possible?

You need to use the "insert image" icon at the top right toolbar (looks like a piece of paper with 3 circles on it" - click on that icon and a window opens up - paste the URL in that window.

Now,

John's been beating it into my head enough that I'm finally starting to feel a little guilty about ever holding my camera in landscape again:blah:

Glad you're paying attention. These 3 images are pretty good. Exposure is good, framing is good and sharpness is pretty good. Framing is nice and tight and backgrounds are good (i.e. blurred without distracting elements). Did you apply any USM to these? If not, that will really help them pop a bit. In any case, very nicely done.

[JohnG]

By the way - I took a look at your previous posts. There's a definite improvement in sharpness in these. You're definitely on th right track!

[ldreher]

OK, Trying out the direct embed....



Not really much of an action shot but I tought it was a cute picture. I haven't applied an unsharp mask to any of these. I use qimage to take a first shot at cropping for the web site. I occassionally have to lighten or darken them up a bit in there too. With hundreds of pictures, I don't have time to fuss over too much unless a parent really likes one. Is it safe to apply an USM universally to all the pictures or do you have to tweek individually for the best results?

[JohnG]

ldreher wrote:

Is it safe to apply an USM universally to all the pictures or do you have to tweek individually for the best results?

I have a standard action defined in photoshop I use to apply USM to my sports images. It's not worth fussing over but USM does make a huge difference.