garry_young1 Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 <p>Hi all, long time no see! I've been really busy but have been shooting some stuff here and there. I read some posts recently to do with macro lenses, and wanted to share a fun project that I conducted with my old 100mm macro.<br> My school had a sports day, and of course I volunteered to shoot - partly as a way to avoid doing some other torrid task!<br> It turns out that my camera bag is sitting with a large gap between 100mm and 500mm as my DA 50-200 has developed nasty softness due to barrel looseness and is off being adjusted. This meant that I needed to shoot with the 100mm macro for reach. It worked out well, and on the small track 100mm was too close at times. In the end, I was pleasantly surprised by this weighty old dame.<br> I started the day by shooting in manual focus, mainly because the macro lens has such a long throw, and it is also heavy glass. At some stage during the day, I decided to change to continuous focus just to see how it would do, and the percentage of keepers are as high as when I was using manual - about 90%!<br> Now let me clarify what I mean by keeper - I mean in focus! ;-) Composition is another story entirely! I could do with advice on shooting an event like this - so let me know what you think!<br> Fortunately it was very bright sunlight and I was shooting small kids, who obviously move a lot slower than adults, so the camera, lens, and I were up to the task. I can't for the life of me remember when I switched over to continuous focus!<br> Here are some of the shots for your enjoyment. Don't you just love the expressions on these kid's faces?<br> 1. Keeping an eye on the competition:<br> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3526/3183658507_d8c8f63235.jpg" alt="" width="333" height="500" /><br> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3387/3184496736_2b2514505a.jpg" alt="" width="333" height="500" /><br> 2. The proverbial tongue focus trick:<br> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3124/3184496612_fb8f75df12.jpg" alt="" width="333" height="500" /><br> 3. Utter determination:<br> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3104/3183658855_5074937605.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" /><br> 4. Now on to the class relays. Some kids took in the scenery while going around the tight bend:<br> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3355/3184496990_fd2d337a50.jpg" alt="" width="333" height="500" /><br> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3345/3183669237_9186485147.jpg" alt="" width="333" height="500" /><br> 5. And others were really focused: (but not necessarily faster)<br> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3355/3184497112_7fb288da02.jpg" alt="" width="333" height="500" /><br> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3118/3183668777_697be780fd.jpg" alt="" width="333" height="500" /><br> 6. Some seemed to be in pain:<br> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3416/3183668267_7d12dd55e6.jpg" alt="" width="333" height="500" /><br> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3106/3184507646_b6590cc6e9.jpg" alt="" width="333" height="500" /><br> 7. While others seemed to revel in their speed:<br> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3322/3183669131_e27d3d0005.jpg" alt="" width="333" height="500" /><br> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3415/3184507496_89c7b64f4f.jpg" alt="" width="333" height="500" /><br> 8. And then the fastest kid on the day! He's one of <strong><em>MY</em></strong> 6th grade kids. I was this little guy's homeroom teacher 6 years ago when he was grade 1! He took the baton with his class in third place and over half a lap behind, and without a grimace or a smile, he took his class into first! Go Danny!:<br> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3108/3183670189_b36dbf068d.jpg" alt="" width="333" height="500" /><br> Great sense of pride for the kids in my department to take first place in the 6th grade class relay!<br> 9. And then this amusing shot. The kid in the lead looks deadly serious, while the kid on his shoulder looks scared witless, but the truth is the scared kid passed the serious dude!<br> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3101/3183668367_4d780ecc31.jpg" alt="" width="333" height="500" /><br> Here's a close up of the faces:<br> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3456/3184857840_6e769a338b_o.jpg" alt="" width="547" height="557" /><br> Hope you enjoyed! Any advice on what I could have done better would be great too!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shots worth sharing Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 <p>Wonderful! The only "advice" I'd venture would be to open up the aperture even more to get more isolation of the subject (and put more pressure on yourself to nail the focus ;~)</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaloot Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 <p>These are some of the best facial expressions I have seen! Great job! My fav is the speed kid with both his feet in the air, good capture on that one. But like I said, the expressions on the photos are fantastic.<br> So for your manual focus do you just prefocus on an area and wait for the kids to pass through it? I think the dof is fine esp when there are more kids in the photo because you can see the expressions. But good job, and very fun to look at!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r.t. dowling Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 <p>Those shots are fabulous! Very well done!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgredline Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 <p>Number 3 and 5 are by far my favs...Well done!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommyinca Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 <p>Did the kid in white T-shirt on #1 pic win? He look tough :-)</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chune_hoong_pong Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 <p>Mighty mighty set of action pics Garry :) these kids are too cool for school!<br /><br />The DOF was perfect in capturing all the details, especially of the runners in the background.. they absolutely turned those great pics into brilliant ones!<br /><br />Way to go!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmichel Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 <p>I enjoyed the variety of expressions on their faces. An elementary school with a track!<br> The DOF looks fine to me. The last photo was great. It is nice to see the interested parents.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmichel Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 <p>I enjoyed the variety of expressions on their faces. An elementary school with a track!<br> The DOF looks fine to me. The last photo was great. It is nice to see the interested parents.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vegard_nervik Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 <p>Marvellous. Impossible to pick a favourite. The school is lucky having you taking the pictures for them. Chinese determination captured.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael_kuhne Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 <p>These are great shots!! And being outdoor daylight events, you don't even need a fast lens. I can tell your 50-200mm would have done the job well too. I'll bet the parents will be delighted to have copies. Looks like Danny is developing into quite an athlete! As a grade school teacher, it must be wonderful to see them grow up like that. Shooting school athletics really is so much fun, especially when you know them. I have shot middle school, high school, and college wrestling, soccer, and roller hockey, and it was all challenging and fun. And yes, I have also found continuous focus to be best for most action shooting.</p> <p>Having some coaches, team mates, or spectators in the background is a good thing, as you did here, and somewhat defocussed. I am wondering which camera model you used, whether you shot in RAW or JPEG, and if there was need for any post processing?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garry_young1 Posted January 10, 2009 Author Share Posted January 10, 2009 <p>Thanks for all the comments guys.<br />Somanna - my manual focus method is exactly as you say. Set a predetermined spot on the track and fire as they run through it.<br />Tommy, he came second. He's a great little kid too.<br />Michael, I used the K20D with battery grip. I always shoot in RAW DNG. The post processing was veritably non existant. I haven't cropped any of these, and the exposure hasn't been touched in pp at all. I just put all 400 shots through a batch in Lightroom where I sharpen and increase clarity and vibrance for pop. There were a number of shots of a different activity that happened half in shade earlier in the day, and there I found I had to do a lot of exposure tweaking. The shade was too dark or the sun was too bright, and that is where RAW saves you in PP! But these track shots were just a matter of picking out the in focus ones.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starvy Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 <p>the facial expressions does make this a very interesting series of pictures. i have to say that the fat kids made me laugh. you could really see their pain in your sharp capture. as others have stated, i would recommend opening up the aperture a little more to discover new possibilities.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hagar Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 <p>Excellent stuff Garry.. aside from the fact that you got good shots, the various expressions when viewed as a group makes it quite the collection :-). I think you should make a collage..</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrewg_ny Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 <p>These are great, Garry. You're right, expressions on the kids faces are priceless. I think you did a great job--whatever you were doing seems to have worked.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garry_young1 Posted January 13, 2009 Author Share Posted January 13, 2009 <p>Thanks guys.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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