Wow time flies when you are a hamster on a wheel! Okay, not exactly but that is the only reason that can be given for the blog being a weeeeee bit behind once again. The past few months have been a bit of a blur with a trip to California as well as the booming metropolises of Prince Albert, Lloydminster, Saskatoon and just this past weekend, Calgary. Truthfully one of the other reasons for the delay in publishing this blog is the fact that Rob lost his motorcycle blog on sportsshooter.ca which is published using the same application... one he no longer trusts all that much. Over a years worth of writing and trip photos vanished into interweb space and he is still trying to find the time to put it back together. Granted it may have been his mistake but something that should have been easily rescued with a "restore" has cost a significant amount of cash and way to many hours of frustration and telephone support calls. With a little help from our friend Shane he may well get it back into place but until then, the stress level when the subjects of blogs comes up will still be rather high.

Hopefully all of you have been heading into the great outdoors with your cameras in hand. With this beautiful weather we have had of late there really is no excuse unless of course you too are suffering from “Hamster on a wheel syndrome” and then we completely sympathize!

Onwards and upwards and onto some photos as I know that besides my witty banter that is the number 2 reason why you are here. My good friend Lana and I decided that it would be a fantastic idea to get together and have a girls night pj party a few months back so we loaded up the vehicles with king crab, beef tenderloin and all the fixings as well as some scrumptious chocolate and caramel fondue and a couple of movies and away we went. The image below is just a small preview of the first course and it was absolutely amazing!

The following images are from my trip to California. My God-Daughter Valentina was getting baptized so I spent the better part of a week out in Carlsbad, California.

Lens (mm): 42
ISO: 400
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter: 1/2500
Exp. Comp.: 0.0

Lens (mm): 42
ISO: 400
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter: 1/4000
Exp. Comp.: 0.0


Could she possibly be any cuter??!! And Valentina is pretty adorable too

Nothing like a short walk down the hill to the ocean! There are tons of photo opportunities along the way!

Cozy little community


Lens (mm): 50
ISO: 320
Aperture: 5.6
Shutter: 1/80
Exp. Comp.: +0.7



Lens (mm): 10
ISO: 320
Aperture: 6.3
Shutter: 1/1600
Exp. Comp.: -0.7

After a busy week getting everything ready for the Baptism we decided that a much needed spa day at the Marriott in Palm Springs was in order!


Then it was back home to reality and more volleyball tournaments.


We had a great time gathering with family over Easter. Thanks Goodness for stretchy pants!!!



Little nephew Ethan loves to pose for the camera.


Lens (mm): 50
ISO: 800
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter: 1/100
Exp. Comp.: 0.0

 
Another weekend another volleyball tournament. Take note that it isn’t always about getting that peak action shot. In this image you can see the intensity just by looking into her eyes.

and at this point, I will hand things over to Rob for more on the subject of sports.

The following images all by sportsshooter.ca - "Anticipation is Everthing" (shameless self promoting plug)

Last week we covered the concept of being friendly to your subjects and perhaps avoiding the use of "impact" photos that often distort the body of facial features. This week we'll go a little deeper into sports and discuss other important peak and non-peak action images that can help tell the story. (It goes without saying that I've had zero time in the last five months to shoot anything other than sports)

Let's start with "Environment". We all love tight sports shots but there are times when it is important to portray the scene just a little wider so as to allow the viewer to experience the environment in which the athletes work. We've all seen the netminders supersave where said goaltender snags the puck from mid-air with a quick trapper or kicks out one of those mattresses to stop the puck from getting into the bottom corner or covers the five-hole butterfly style.... but where did that puck come from? How does it feel to be that netminder. In the image below, you see the shooter, the puck and the netminder giving the viewer more of the story and not just another save photo. In these days of 10 frame per second slr's nearly anyone can get an action shot, it takes though, positioning, and composition skills to "create a feeling".

How about the traffic a netminder needs to deal with on a daily basis and the concern about how this puck in the face is going to feel.


And the same can be said for someone trying to go over the top of a pair of defenders.


"No Ball" images are photos that do not include the puck, ball, bat, stick etc. but instead speak to the other battles that are taking place during the game, the spectators or those team members not currently in play.


Classic basketball "no ball" image of players on the key battling as a free throw hits the rim.

The "no ball" image shows players on the bench engaged in what their team mates are doing.

A coaching "no ball" image in which you actually get to see what the coach is coaching

Then there is the case for the "all ball" image where the ball itself is the subject.

Another sports photography topic of importance is that of eye contact. Eye contact in sports is not about eye contact with the camera, it is eye contact with the activity said athlete is engaged in. There can be peak action without eye contact but without eye contact there can be no emotion. If you have a bunch of sports photos of players looking into your camera you may want to ask said players if they would preferer a modelling career promoting plastic surgeons over playing sports. You can't win smiling at the photographers.

You can have traditional two-eye contact...

but where I come from eye is not plural.

And finally a case for the non-peak action no ball eye contact emotionally engaged image. lmao ;) or just some cute kids. lol

{Thanks again very much for taking the time to read this. Sorry again for the wheels have fallen off the podcast train but there are only so many hours in a day and I'm sure you can appreciate that we all need to choose our battles. Don't forget to "Like" our Facebook group. For that matter, show some love for sportsshooter.ca on facebook as well. Comments, questions, concerns and credit cards are always welcome. For convenience, please subscribe by clicking on the "Subscribe" Button on the Main Page of this blog... a mechanism that will provide you with notification each time we publish a new blog. For information on photo workshops and field trips please visit http://www.thosetwophotographers.com/Classes.html
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