Thom Marshall Photography & Imagery

FootBall

2008-01-13T12:31:00.001-08:00

Football

2007-11-01T13:42:00.001-07:00

Sports Action Photography by Thom Marshall. Call 818.618.7076 for bookings.

Baseball

2007-10-29T19:53:00.001-07:00

Sports Action Photography, Call 818.618.7076 for bookings.

I have been inspired by these photos to do a study on candid portrait photography .

I like how the eyes have framed between the mask of the ball players. Each giving a differant expression, and light.

I burned the surround of the face to draw the eye to the players eyes.

These particular close ups I like because of the "bird cage" attached to the helmet.

The bird cage is kind of like a natural frame for the eyes, and the brim of the helmet is a natural cutter.

Candids of kids can be a great way to produce a story.

The close up shot makes for a more intimate way of showing the emotion that is on a players face.

Soccer

2007-10-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

Sports Action Photography, call 818.618.7076 for bookings.

One sample of a slide show for the whole team.

2007-04-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

Strictly sticking to the guidelines.

Candids of players at the youth level can result in cuteness.

Even here sticking to the guidelines is desirable.

2007-04-01T19:33:00.000-07:00

Stricktly sticking to the guidelines when possible.

I try to stick to the guidelines of sports photography as much as possible.

Clean backgrounds, tack sharp images, blah, blah.

As in some of these examples however, a yellow fence line gets in the way.

I can clone out the fence line, or blur out the back ground, but now we are talking a bunch more work for little fare.

I like the action, I hate the fence line. What to do?

Keeping strictly to the guidelines of sports photography.

2006-10-04T09:38:00.000-07:00

Story telling through the lens v14.

2006-10-04T06:56:00.000-07:00

Story telling through the lens v13.

2006-10-03T19:14:00.000-07:00

Story telling through the lens v12.

2006-10-03T18:22:00.000-07:00

Story telling through the lens v11.

2006-10-03T05:34:00.000-07:00

Story telling through the lens V10.

2006-09-30T21:29:00.000-07:00

Some new pix from the things I have learned for sports photography.

2006-06-11T18:39:00.000-07:00

Story Telling Through The Lens v9.

Knowing the key players, or the impact players, or the star players can make for nice
results in action shots.

2006-06-11T07:44:00.000-07:00

Story Telling Through The Lens v8

2006-06-11T07:30:00.000-07:00

Story Telling Through The Lens v7

2006-06-11T07:16:00.000-07:00

Story Telling Through The Lens v6

2006-06-10T18:11:00.000-07:00

Story Telling through the lens v5

2006-06-10T17:54:00.000-07:00

Story Telling through the lens v4.

2006-06-10T09:05:00.000-07:00

Some Basic Guidelines for

Sports Photography

1) Rule of 6= Don't include the whole team in any one picture frame. It looks too cluttered. Use no more than 6 players from the team to get your point across that there actually is a team.

2) Action shots should include facial expressions and the ball. Opposing teams are good to get in the shot, but make sure to get the main player comped before the secondary player.

3)Focus all your shots to be tack sharp. Anything less is not a good picture.

4)Comp your frame to have all of the players limbs in the frame. Try not to cut limbs off.

5) A player running twords you is a better picture than a player running away from you.

6) Keep your bg soft, and don't include ANY advertisment. Banners of the teams are ok, but Nike, or Burger King is distracting unless you are going after a ad shot. Also, recon your venue. Find the bg you like best and use it. A blank wall is better than a parking lot.

7)Crop tightly.

8) Anticapate your shots. Especially on a long lens. Know your sport, put the lens where on a part of the playing area where you think the most plays will be, and let the action come to you.

9) Wide lens shots are great for full team shots, full stadium shots, fan shots, fields shots.

10) There is more to sports than the competition. Look for stuff before, during, and after any game. The lone ball, the hash mark, the tossed baseball cap, the deranged fan, the drunk owner.

11) I mentioned this, but I can not stress enough but KNOW YOUR SPORT. Anyone can shoot a sporting event, but if you don't know when to anticapate the action, then why are you there. If it is a new sport to you, start watching ESPN and go to that sportin event. Ask questions to people that does know the sport. Baseball is differant photographically than football. Baseball you are limited to where you can stand, football you can roam up and down the field.

12) Find out who the stars are, or the impact players are before the game. These people will be more in demand from editors, and/or they will be the players that make the great plays.

13)Know your peramaters with the sport. Youth sports usually has no problems of where you can be to take pictures. But, when you get into college, and pro sports, there are guidelines to be aware of to not interfere with the coaching staff and the players.

14)Bring a flash with you, but ask first if you can use the flash. Sometimes coachs don't like flashs to be used, e.g. the fast lens. 15)Bring extra everything with you, you will need it.

16) Avoid fence lines going throuh your players image if possible.

2005-12-20T10:30:00.000-08:00

Story telling through the lens v3.

2005-12-20T10:28:00.000-08:00

Story telling through the lens v2.

2005-12-20T10:17:00.000-08:00

Story telling through the lens.

2005-12-20T10:08:00.000-08:00

Above and beyond the basic rules of thumb for a great sports pix, my personal opinion is that trying to antisapate the shot to create a story is a value that is overlooked.

Throwing the ball doesn't tell me much, but throwing the ball and having a defender go for an interception tells me more.

2005-12-18T11:26:00.000-08:00

2005-12-18T11:04:00.000-08:00

I am an amateur sports photog with high end equipment.

I know some of the basic rules of thumb about shooting sports from Sportshooter.com, and other places like http://www.photo.net/learn/sports/overview that give more of an overview of sport pix.