Shooting sports for my local newspaper offers me a lot of great 'candid' opportunities. When I saw this referee, his intensity caught my eye. His name is Ray Sceizina and he does this part time. This photo was made at a college basketball game between Lenior-Rhyne College and Shaw University. The game attendance was very poor because it was played during the Christmas break and the students have not returned to school yet. There were probably less than 200 people at the game, including the players.
This challenge description contains a few words that make this photo a sure candidate for a mediocre score. This photo is grainy, but it is that way because of the shooting conditions. This gym is poorly lit and it requires either shooting at high iso or blasting a flash. Regardless of those issues, this is one of the best candids I had during this challenge week. The image certaionly could have been better, but not in the given circumstances. You can't ask a referee to pose for you during a basketball game. Even if I could, it would not have been candid :)
I don't shoot enough candid stuff when I'm shooting sports, but I think I'm going to try more in the future...
EXIF:
File: IMG_4916.JPG
File size: 2,560KB
Image Serial Number: 249-4916
Camera Model: Canon EOS 10D
Camera serial number: 1020300016
Firmware: Firmware Version 2.0.1
Owner: John M. Setzler, Jr.
Date/Time: 2004:12:30 19:36:43
Shutter speed: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 2.8
Exposure mode: Av
Exposure compensation: -1
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Evaluative
Drive mode: Continuous: frame 1
ISO: 800
Lens: 70 to 200mm
Focal length: 175mm
Subject distance: 5.12 m
AF mode: One-shot AF
Focus point: [- - O - -]
Image size: 3072 x 2048
Rotation: none
Image quality: Fine
White balance: Auto
Color space: AdobeRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Contrast: Normal
Tone: Normal
Custom Functions:
CFn 2: Shutter release w/o CF card: Not possible
CFn 6: Tv/Av and exposure level: 1/3 stop
CFn 7: AF point registration: all
Statistics
Place: 23 out of 173 Avg (all users): 6.1721 Avg (commenters): 7.2500 Avg (participants): 5.9767 Avg (non-participants): 6.3023 Views since voting: 1498 Views during voting: 326 Votes: 215 Comments: 20 Favorites: 1 (view)
I rated this for a (bronze) ribbon, John. Alas, I feel there is too much fixation on technical "perfection" and not enough on challenge context and creativity. This image is a whole lot better as a memorable candid photograph than almost all of the shots that placed higher. Yet 24 people rated it less than 5! I am about to submit my own first entry. I guess I'll get hammered. Best wishes. Paul.
This is a great image hurt only by the lack of definition in the hair that becomes shadow. A slight tweak in curves or use of the dodge tool on the top of his head might correct this and push the image up a couple notches. The whistle is also lost in the dof shadow, which really hurts the whole as it is part and parcel of the main subject. Since this is a desat, I would suggest offestting color and monochrome between the subject and the background. This would create the contrast you need to fully define his outline. How?: Create a duplicate layer of the original, and desat only that layer. Click the history brush tool into the color layers selection box and then select the desat layer. Brush in the color where it should be. A 6 with a big potential to be a 9.
I couldn't see the whistle at first and thought it was spit coming out his mouth. A touch more detail in the shadows would give just a little more depth and make his whistle more obvious. Good though :)
The whistle is very hard to see, being right in the foreground of a black background spot, so the referee almost looks like he has an open mouth on nothing. But the expression is great and the zoom in makes this even more dramatic.
Very nice job! I even like the grainyness! One nit pik is the whistle kind of gets lost? Just a little dodge would have taken care of that. Good intensity though! 8
I love the serious look. He means business. You must have shot this with a pretty long lens. Looks great...even though I wish I could see the whistle a little better, I still know what it is. Great job.
Awesome shot. In view of the ref's shirt, black and white was an excellent choice. It has a very intense feel to it--that is to say, you did a great job capturing the mood. Well done!
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