looking for some feedback

I spent this last school year taking pictures of my high school (ragsdale) football, basketball, and baseball teams for a local newspaper. I'm going to post a few of my better shots for review, and ask that you experienced photographers feel free to leave any tips as I hope to take pictures for the school at several events again this year.



















My current camera is a panasonic lumix dmc fz28 which I have found to be a very functional point and shoot digital camera.

 

#1 There's a hand in front of the guys face and a grey streak running the length of the pic.

#2 & 3 seem to have same streak

#4 nice color to the blue

#5 lots of background distraction

#6 eh no action

#7 without signs above would be better and that guy in white w/o the ball looks like he has no arms.

#8 grey stripe thing again

#9 bit blurry

 

thanks

I appreciate getting some feedback.
The gray blur in the baseball pictures was actually from the chain link fence in front of my camera, its hard to find good locations with out a fence in the way at most high school baseball fields.

 

TBR has some photographers that are professional, hopefully they'll drop by and offer you some advice.

 

what kind of camera/lens do you use?

 

my camera

I own a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28. It's supposed to be very close to a DSLR and has worked great for sports pictures so far. Eventually Id like to invest in a DSLR camera but thats going to be down the road when I have some money to spare.

The lens is built into the camera but I recently found out there is an attachment I can by that will allow me to add zoom lenses and a few others on top of the built in lense.

It has an indoor and outdoor sports mode that I use frequently and a flash that pops up from the top of the camera..

As an amateur photographer, I have been very happy with the results I'm getting.

 

i'd have to agree about the hand in the face being a problem. he's got a great smile and there's good emotion and action in the shot, it's just too bad the hand is there. also the cropping is a bit funny to me. you're catching too little of the guy on the left.






these are pretty good. the chain link fence in the fg almost feels like a bloom effect from the sky.




kinda dark on my screen, but okay otherwise.



would have been much more interesting if there was a ball in the frame.



this one is blurry. prolly just a matter of trying to get too much out of a digital zoom. also i would agree that it's a bit static feeling. basketball is such a fluid sport, i would imagine there are more interesting things to shoot.




the signs almost feel like you're trying to make a statement by having them so prominent. if you cropped the image down to eliminate them i think it'd be a better shot. also, you could prolly paint out the "20" sign as well. this one also seems dark on my screen.




very nice action. i would be tempted to crop off the left side to leave just the shooter and the guy looking at the ball -- that look is great. that might make the image a bit too tall, tho, so maybe what you've got is better.







also a bit dark like the other night football shots. it's okay, but i'm left wondering what makes this guy important enough to shoot. he doesn't have the ball. he doesn't seem to be exerting himself in any particular way. there's nothing iconic about his action (like the basketball photo of the guy shooting). he seems to be just a guy who's maybe sorta running somewhere.


i'd say you could prolly get a lot better shots by simply overshooting. sports are going to be hard to capture by setting up and just clicking once or twice. you're gonna have to anticipate the action and then overshoot hoping to capture a meaningful moment. it's digital, so you don't have to worry about film costs and handling. just blast away.

 

shooting for friends

A lot of the pictures I take are for my friends that play the different sports so that's why some of the pictures (like #42) aren't your typical actions shots.

I actually liked the blur of the chain link fence in the 2 baseball ones so it's good to hear that it doesnt look bad.

I'm getting used to over shooting, trust me I have tons that didnt turn out so great but the great ones that I do have are because of that.


Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it.