Mega Update 3 - Basketball : This is what we do now.

Well, fresh off my success of actually getting a remote to fire when i wanted it to (and in focus), i decided to push my luck at the UGA Men's basketball game.

Good game action in the first half. Reminded me of an old CAA game rather than a power conference like the SEC. Georgia is still rebuilding. They should be a .500 club come conference play. Good light in the building. 500/2.8 at ISO 1000. Had a 70-200 on one camera, 300/2.8 on a second. The remotes had a 24mm on the pole and an 85 aimed at the basket (basically a CYA remote that wasn't really needed)

Anyhow, i got some fun stuff. The top image isnt the one that was published, i didn't find it until i was weeding through the 1300 images of crap.

Anyhow, me likey.

Mega Update Pt 2: Soccer

The University of Georgia hosted two rounds of the the NCAA women's championship this past weekend. Georgia scored a total of 6 goals in the two games..... but got them all in the first game. Naturally, i shot the second. Pretty standard soccer shots. NOthing spectacular.

Finally got a remote in focus. (Lets here it for a 24mm lens at 500@f/8!) Sadly, there was no action for Mr. goalcam to capture. I was going to put up a second remote BUT the camera i had grabbed had a blown shutter. Ce' La vie.

Mega Huge Update Pt. 1 UGA vs Kentucky

Okay, well I've shot 3 different sports between Saturday and Tuesday. Football, Soccer and Basketball.

The football game was pretty good. Its the first (college) game I've shot since the Florida Game and only second since the end of September. (I'm none to happy about that)

The first half light was beautiful; the second was backlit like a lite-bright.

Usually cast of characters had their usual days. Moreno eclipsed 100 yards for the 5th straight game. Georgia's defense was huge. They have a chance to go to the SEC title game and if they don't, odds are they'll go to the Sugar Bowl.

37 Degree Football

While the pictures don't exactly show it, it was bloody cold out during Athens Academy's opening round playoff game. 37 degrees out with a windchill. Thankfully, there was a running clock come 4th quarter (42-7 blowout) thus we all go to warm up quick.

This is week 2 of good light during Friday night football. And by good light, I mean 320th at 2.8 at 1600.

Kayaking

Freestyle Kayak champion Noah Fraser




Imagine 40 freestyle kayaks in an itty-bitty indoor pool. Now add a photographer with a fish tank into the mix. Picture someone floating around a waist deep pool holding a 15 gallon glass cube to their chest with a camera in it. Just about as insane as freestyle kayaking, except without the risk of a sharp glass penetrating the chest cavity. So a big shout out to Chris (now at the Wash Times) who first explained the fish tank concept of underwater photography. It worked.

I think in the future an ewa marine bag might be wiser and safer.

Friday Night Lights

Well, i had one of the best nights I've had shooting High School ball. For the D2X shooters, you can pull 1600 ISO with little noise. You can pull 3200 ISO with some noise. These were all shot 1600 at either 250 or 320, all wide open at 2.8. Clarke Central has some nice lights for high school and it seemed to work well.

I really was enthused to get out there, mainly because it was the only game i shot this week. For you non-sportsshooters or the newer once, i just tried to focus on the game and the plays. I try to stay on the QB and look where he looks and either stay with him after the pass (when he gets leveled) or follow the pass to try and get the catch. Most defensive backs say that they watch the QBs eyes to get an idea of where the play is going. I highly recommend it.

Not much jube, very low scoring (14-7 Clarke) and lots of inside handoffs away from the camera. I didn't mean to shoot just Derrick Smith (5 in Red) but he's the one who made all the plays.

Attn UGA Kids: DONT BE THIS GUY

Okay UGA kids. Time to eat one of your own. Don't be like this UGA video guy who's out on the field, shooting video of the Clarke Central marching band, in everyone's picture. No he wasn't working for the band (i asked) but i did find out he's a UGA technology kid who seems to think that the FOXsports way of putting a camera on the field from third to home is the right way of doing things.

Well guess what? Its not. Its rude. I was annoyed, the school was annoyed and the band wasn't happy either. (What they had to say was far more explicit then i tend to share here)

You simply don't belong on the field and you don't have any more of a right to go out and get that shot just for yourself then i do. So get off the field, jerk.

Astrophotography, take two

Okay, while this looks really cool, it could have been better.

The details: ISO 200, 17mm f/2.8, 30 minutes, D2x, Long NR On. Original is in raw. And a fresh battery.

Here's what i don't like. First, Sowers gets the nod. An exposure that long needed f/4 or f/5.6. Second, the sharpness just kills me. While it said it was on infinity and it looked like it was on infinity, turns out infinity really isn't infinity at 2.8 on that lens. Shoulda been sharper. Third - Reprocity failure seems to happen on Digital too.

So thats 1/2 an hour of taking the picture then 1/2 an hour of in-camera post processing while it was sitting in the back seat while i drove home. I was not going to wait around another 1/2 hour just for it to process and see if it turned out. Luckily it did (hense the raw usage).

Anyways, thats one more project down and in the books. Turns out my boss has gotten more calls and emails wanting to buy a reprint of it then anything he's gotten in the past few years. (Shame i cant get a commission on sales) My ME said it shoulda printed 1 column wider, and i agree there. But here's how it should have looked. Well, 576 pixels wide of how it shoulda looked.

Sportrats, Basketball Edition. V1.

Georgia Bulldogs sophomore point guard Ashley Houst.

Turns out its hoops season now, So its more sportrait time. Until i actually get the sports section to run a mixed lighting balanced picture in color, i'm going to continue to turn them in. Its not my only trick, but its something i want ti run. I'm still peeved about the Knowshon picture (see below), so until they get it right, i'm going to continue to at least turn one in.



I had a really cool idea with this that just did NOT turn out whatsoever. So back to the lab with that one.




And on a housekeeping note here, thanks to Josh who pointed out that you couldn't do a google search on my name and photoblog and get this page. Instead, you would get my sportsshooter page and then a refer to a blog containing a photo of Sir David Manning. (Clearly i am not an older British gentleman) But thats fixed now.

Emails.....

For some of you commenting, i cant seem to email you back. Thanks for all the kind words and such.

Comets!

Astrophotographer Michael Covington looks up at Comet Holmes outside of his Athens home on Thursday, November 1, 2007.

And i have one of his books too. Covington has three books on astrophotography, including his latest on digital astrophotography. This was the last picture i took, 30 seconds with a red flash popped. You can find his books here at Amazon.

Then i took a picture of Comet Holmes through his telescope, so here it is in all its glory.

Astrophotograpy, Take one.

This is a work in progress. Hopefully i will go back and do it right in the next few days.

This is the Watson Mill Covered ridge here in Georgia. Built in the 1800s, its creepy as all get out to drive over, yet the North Celestial Pole is conviently right over the bridge. One cannot ask for a better photo.

This was at ISO 200, f/2.8 for 8 minutes. (No noise NR) The 15 minute one looked much better (stars wise) but just wasn't good enough. I'll keep working on this, I'm expecting to do a 1/2 hour exposure with some NR.

Canopy Studio

So i like the artsy stuff every now and again. Turns out the music editor Julie does the trapeze and aerial dance stuff ala Cirque du Solie, which i find entirely cool. So i went to a dress rehearsal at the Canopy Studios here in Athens for their next show and came back with this stuff, shot in a very time limited manner. (I had another assignment)

Fun with designers, Part 2.

Time is very limited with athletes. VERY limited when it comes to football. So imagine my surprise when i found out i had 8 minutes to photograph running back Knowshon Moreno at Sandford Stadium.

It was supposed to be 15 but he was in the middle of a phone interview with .... a dying sports publication (last i worked with them, they didnt even have an assistant's fee) So 1/2 my time got cut by an interview.

I ended up getting 4 shots. One on the field (for inside), a portrait in the stands, a tunnel shot (that didn't work because it wasn't a true tunnel) and this (see above) portrait that is a mix of daylight and tungston lighting. SO i figured if they used the funky white balance mixes, it would be in color. Instead, they turned it into a 6-column, B&W mug that embarrassed me a lot.

So naturally I'm going to complain about the same designer here and show the picture as it was meant to be seen.

Crazy Busy

So its been a fun week. Had Monday off to recover from the Jacksonville trip. I swore I'd never drive to Florida again, yet it seems to be a continuing theme. Hopefully next time i'll at least have a hot tub to rest in.

Anyhow, Yesterday i was bombarded with good assignments. (Well one was a self assignment) We'll start with cross country, nicely scheduled for 5PM, during the golden light hour. I hiked down the trail some, still within running distance of the finishing line to get some good shots of runners with the mixed light filtering down on them.

After that i moved towards the start, shot wide as they ran across a bidge and then somehow ended at the finish. Good pics, but they ran the cliche` shot of the girl crossing the finishing line. (She did break the school record) and nothing else. But i found this cool spider web....