Not too much out of the ordinary here. I really wanted a good shot of a dive, though, and I didn’t get one, so there’s something to work on in the future…
choate rosemary hall
Choate Sports: Water Polo [lots of photos]
Went back up to Choate today to practice some water polo photography. This is yet another sport I had no experience shooting, but I have (sort of) played before, and I know the basic rules, so it was pretty easy to adjust to shooting. Water polo is an intense sport; not only are you treading water or flat-out swimming the whole time, but you have to fend off fouls from the other team. The ref was pretty good at catching them, but I had a far better vantage point than he did (the viewing area for the pool is elevated, which was great for nice clean backgrounds), aaaand he missed a lot.
The lighting in the pool area is awful and dark (and red- what?), and I was already intentionally underexposing in order to get the shutter speed I needed…so there was a lot of color correction involved in these. I know that in a perfect world you’re supposed to shoot correctly in-camera, but it was more important to me to have that shutter speed (I was using 1/250, and in some cases even that wasn’t fast enough) than to listen to my light meter. 
It’s basically an advanced game of “Not touching! Not touching!”
After several failed attempts to actually get the ball in mid-air, I had a brainwave and decided to try shooting vertically instead. This led to a couple of compositions that I liked (I’m a big fan of busy compositions), as well as a freaking photo of a goal save, which I had also been trying to nab.
Color-corrected for the pool…not the sidelines, which remain bathed in red (why red? can some swimmer help me out?)
Choate Sports: Football and Football
The football and soccer teams at my old high school played like polar opposites this weekend…football stomped all over NMH 54-7, but the boys’ soccer team lost 5-0 (I didn’t make it to the girls’ match. I’m hoping they fell on the stomping side of the spectrum).
I love how much closer you can get to the action at high school games. It makes up for only having a 70-200 to work with (regardless, most of these have been cropped).
Choate Sports: Field Hockey
I went up to my old high school today to practice some sports shooting, and had a great time roaming around all of the fields photographing whatever I felt like (such freedom!). It was a beautiful fall day, and the leaves have just reached their peak here in CT, so I tried to incorporate this into the photos whenever possible. I’ve missed New England falls…I haven’t been here during autumn for six years, and there’s really no place quite like it.
I’d never shot field hockey before (well, I’ve shot pre-season training. Not the same thing), and decided right away to stop by that game. And I can always, always use practice photographing soccer and football, so I went by those matches as well…I missed the water polo and volleyball games, unfortunately, but I’m planning to go back up to Choate later this week when they play again. Water polo should be especially fun.
Anyway, these are my field hockey photos- the field is in a little valley, so I had a great angle for shooting just by standing on top of the hill. This is a very strange sport; I don’t know how the girls don’t all break down with back problems. Plus, they’re wearing sneakers, not cleats, which I found odd (maybe it’s because they were playing on the brand-new turf field and didn’t want to mess it up? Discuss). I did find it easier to shoot than the last first-time sport I shot (lacrosse) though, which was nice.
…one of those times when you go through your take and wish you’d just stepped a foot over to the left. Argh!
I started playing a little with depth of field after a while, and I can’t decide which of these two photos I like best (I am leaning towards #2, but I think #1 definitely has merit, too). Thoughts welcome!
