straightarm

Pretty good shot. Agree with the others that it needs a little cropping.

Simon

In black and white, everyone's a hero!

(not that I'm one)

You've taken this picture from the touch line. The professionals usually shoot from the goal line. The rationale for this is the interesting and thus marketable pictures are generally the attempts at goal and you want to see the faces of the players not their backs.

Simon

In black and white, everyone's a hero!

Taken from the Newcastle side of the bridge looking across to the

Gateshead side

Simon

In black and white, everyone's a hero!

Technically, it's well exposed and it's sharp.

However, the background is distracting. Perhaps this could be blurred and darked in photoshop.

Secondly, the righthand rower is distracting , mainly because she's not looking at the camera, perhaps you could crop her out.

Basically, the lefthand rower is where the interest lies, so you should concentrate on her

Simon

In black and white everyone's a hero!

Took my camera with me when playing cricket. Wasted day. Took 1 1/2

hours to get there, we played for about 20 minutes and then the

heavens opened. After about an hour of sitting around we decide that

there would be no further play.

Taken at my local rugby club.

Simon

In black and white, everyone's a hero!

This is a pretty good first effort, but to be a top class picture, the player's eyes should be sharp. You have focused on this foot.

Secondly you should be able to see his standing foot as well as his kicking foot. Shooting with the camera held vertically might have been a better option.

One thing to do is to study pictures in newspapers and magazines and see what makes those pictures stand out.