team sport

Morley v Macclesfield - January 2008

Daniel Pendery — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 01:43:51 -0700

The Match

Morley RFC 1st XV are currently near the bottom of the National Leagues (National Three North) and this match, against fellow tail-enders Macclesfield, was critical as they both strive to avoid relegation. Morley looked strong throughout and a penalty put them ahead early. They certainly had the lion's share of the possession but Macclesfield played a determined defence allowing only one try in each half, the match finished 13 - 0, a good result for Morley.

The Club

This was the first Rugby Match I'd been to let alone tried to photograph so I was a little unsure what to expect. A promptly answered email to the club had confirmed that there were no issues with me taking the camera so off I went with family in tow. We received a very warm welcome, including a guided tour of the facilities which was much appreciated.

The Photography

As usual I took the Canon EOS 5D and the Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 an excellent combination which I have yet to get the best out of. Although it was suggested I might be able to go over the fence I opted to stay with the family this time as I wanted to keep out of the way and suss things out. If it was an option in the future it'd certainly provide more opportunities for better shots. As with the football it's going to take a few visits before I can start to anticipate where the action's going and get the better action shots but I got a few reasonable images on this outing and things can only improve.

ALC Celtic V Bramley Town - January 2008

Daniel Pendery — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 05:37:00 -0700

Second Round Division Cup

Sunday morning was dry and bright so we headed down the road to watch ALC Celtic play Bramley Town. Bramley got off to a strong start and were 4-0 ahead by half time, Celtic came out fighting in the second half and were unlucky not to get a goal from a number of opportunities. Bramley eventually won 6-0 and go through to the next round.

The Photography

Despite being a welcome change from the recent grey weather the sun created a number of problems for the photography. It was bright but the sun was low in the sky and the shadow cast by nearby buildings cut the pitch in two. This was quite a challenge for both the automatic metering and the white balance which resulted in a lot more tweaking post processing than I'm used to. Lightroom it quick for this kind of job but when each image needs individual attention it's very time consuming. I shall be researching tips for dealing with these kinds of situations and see what I can improve. Having said that I did get some reasonable results as you can see.

ALC Celtic v Mill Lane

Daniel Pendery — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:26:04 -0700

Out of the Cup

Another ALC Celtic match, unfortunately they were beaten again, Mill Lane simply played better and although Celtic scored the first goal they were 3-1 down by half time. They failed to capitalise on another goal in the second half and Mill Lane quickly increased their lead to 4-2 eventually ending 3 goals ahead.

The Photography

We've had a fair bit of rain recently so the pitch was wet and muddy which resulted in several spectacular slides unfortunately it was still very grey and overcast so I struggled (even at f/2.8) to keep the shutter speed high enough, I ended up taking a lot of shots at ISO 800 which has lead to some noise being introduced although this is not too much of a problem with the 5D.

ALC Celtic v Crossgates WMC - November 2007

Daniel Pendery — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 10:19:51 -0700

The Match

I returned to watch local football team, ALC Celtic play again today, unfortunately they were beaten 5-1 by Crossgates WMC in the third round of the Sunday Cup. Once again, I'll keep my comments about the photography (I'm not qualified to speak about football), there's a match report on the team's website for those who are interested.

The Photography

Unlike the last time I saw them, the weather was fairly unpleasant. It was cold, grey and raining which was certainly more of a challenge than the nice bright day in October. Stupidly I forgot to increase the ISO enough to compensate and so ended up with a number of less than sharp shots as the shutter speed slowed to keep up with the conditions. However, for only my second football match I'm quite pleased with the results, a good collection of acceptable shots and hopefully I've been able to catch the action reasonably well.

Once again the Sigma 120-33mm f/2.8 proved more than lens enough for the job, in this light the Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 would certainly have been challenged to keep up with the action. Every time I take this lens out I'm more impressed by the capability and the image quality than the time before. Yesterday at the rally and today, proved that the autofocus works well on the 5D in low light and although I'm no weightlifter I'm have no trouble hand-holding at 300mm and still getting good results after 90 minutes.

ALC Celtic v Queenswood Social - October 2007

Daniel Pendery — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 14:48:36 -0600

Football Virgin

Having recently become more interested in various types of sports photography I thought I'd give football a try. There's an active Sunday League club that play quite near to us so they seemed like ideal subjects, I didn't have a clue what time the match was due to start and ended up getting there about 30 minutes from the end, I'll know better next time.

The Photography

I took my new Sigma 120-300mm F/2.8, which hasn't really been put through its paces yet, I thought this would be a good opportunity to see what it can do and post a mini review. It was a good bright day so I'd have been worried of focussing were an issue and the lens didn't disappoint, focus was quick and accurate. Any problems keeping up with the action were more my issue than the lens's, the players just wouldn't stay still for long enough! This lens is some weight but manageable, I had a tripod with me but was finding it too restrictive and so most of the shots were hand held, with the good light I was able to keep the shutter speed up so camera shake wasn't an issue. Having never used a 300mm prime I can't make a comparison against one but it certainly compares favourably to my Canon 100-400mm L and the wider aperture will be useful on overcast days.

Looking through the images when I got home I think I could have used a wider aperture to get a little less depth of field as the background is a little intrusive in some. However, I'm pleased with these for the first 30 minutes of football I've photographed.