DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register) 
 
Challenge Entries
Portfolio Images
This image is not part of a public portfolio.
Sand Volleyball
Sand Volleyball
ti_evom


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Games II (Advanced Editing VII)
Camera: Pentax K100D
Lens: Pentax SMC-DA * 16-50mm F2.8 ED/AL (IF) SDM
Location: Marshall Park, Lansing, MI
Date: Apr 21, 2008
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/1250
Galleries: Sports
Date Uploaded: Apr 22, 2008

 I'll have to put up the original later, but this is the second iteration of the shot. The first one I tried showed his partner standing there on the left looking up at him in bright, multi-patterned, blue shorts. I know a lot of people are going to comment that I cut off his right ankle, but in order to get his partner out of the image, it had to be done. The image isn't saturated either - it was probably less than an hour before dusk. The sun/clouds that evening were really giving off some color.

I cloned out two shadows - one above his left knee, and the other in the bottom right corner which was cast from my shoulder. I'm not too happy about the jpg compression. It left some reddish tint on his shorts that wasn't there prior. I also burned his shadow just a tad to help make it stand out.

And yes, even though the title is of a volleyball nature, there is no "volleyball" in the shot...sort of. A shadow of the ball exists with his right hand. You can tell by looking closely that there is definitely something round attached to his hand shadow.

All in all, this was a tough shot to get while also getting all of the factors close to being right too. If I had to do it over again, I would probably move the the aperture to f/8 or f/11. At f/5.6, it wasn't quite sharp enough at the close range I was to him(6-7 feet). My ideal image would have included both feet with nothing else except his shadow. I wasn't about to have them "fake" it for me. The guy pictured in the shot is Jon M. He is one of the MSU men's volleyball players. His partner is also a MSU player(the other Jon). I scrimmage against them on occasion during the winter months indoors and sometimes in the summer when I get the urge to hit the hardcourt. Otherwise, they come out to our sand courts every so often during the warm months.

_________________________________

The "muddy" looking sand is just that. It rains quite a bit here during the spring months and you can tell by looking just beyond the orange court line that the sand is compacted down and wet looking. The orange line may be distracting, but it is definitely part of the game. I wasn't about to clone that out to make it a cleaner looking shot.

Statistics
Place: 28 out of 123
Avg (all users): 5.9157
Avg (commenters): 6.1667
Avg (participants): 5.7647
Avg (non-participants): 5.9826
Views since voting: 1317
Views during voting: 268
Votes: 166
Comments: 8
Favorites: 0

Please log in or register to add your comments!

AuthorThread
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Sigma DP1x
05/02/2008 11:36:49 PM
Nicely composed, but the color seem unnatural -- especially the sand in the foreground. Too green.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-550D Rebel T2i
Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon
 05/01/2008 02:11:34 PM
Cool idea! I like the composition, I don't like the border, the general color tone (seems pretty muddy, no pun intended!), and I would love for it to be sharper. Still worth a 6 in my book.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS R5 Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS
 04/29/2008 05:11:36 PM
I like the Brazilian colors.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-40D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
 04/29/2008 04:42:37 PM
I liked this much more on second viewing! Good composition, and the shadow is very good. Nice.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D Mark IV
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS
 04/29/2008 03:17:55 AM
good capture, well seen that a shadow sometimes makes an image. overall hue is a bit on the red side. i find the green border somehow distracting
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D200
Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
 04/28/2008 06:57:40 PM
Love the shadow. The red line in the background is a little distracting
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS
 04/28/2008 04:52:19 AM
Great shot to show of this very entertaining sport. Nice idea, good execution.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Sanyo Xacti CG6
04/28/2008 02:41:15 AM
Nice job capturing the motion!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Theme: Classic / Light / Dark
Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2026 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 10/15/2026 09:27:24 PM EDT.