Collage

The Collage

I sometimes like to do collage's. This is a pure artistic effort to the photographer, or it can be a teaching tool for the coaching staff of what ever sport is being shot.

A Series Collage is my specialty. A series collage basically is 8.5 fps my camera can shoot, capturing the mechanics and a point in time of an athletes abilities.

The beauty of a series collage is that within the frame rate you choose on your camera, you can either accept the first burst of shots taken like the above collage...

...or you can take several bursts, like the below series,  and edit together more frames into the series to tell more of a story, and show more of the mechanics of the athlete in motion.

Collages can be fun and artistic at the same time. They can be revealing and catch what the eye misses.

Here are more of the series collages I have made.

Also check out my web sit at http://mostlybaseball.sports.officelive.com ALSO http://thommarshallphotography.art.officelive.com/default.aspx

Black and White

Color sometimes can be distracting in an image. There are many reasons why...perhaps the color is too flat, or too saturated. Sometimes there may be too much of one color, or too much of one color offsetted by one lonely color. Who know's what reasons why, but the fix is simple. Black and White.

The trick to a good black and white is making sure that you have pure blacks and pure whites and still maintaining texture and detail. If your whites go too far, they will be blown out. If your blacks go too far they will look abysmal.

The three photo's here are examples of BAD, BETTER, and BEST. In that order.

The first image, the back ground is almost hiding the players because of the similarity in contrast. To fix this, when in editing mode, make sure to have a layer fix for the back ground, a layer fix for the foreground, and a layer fix for the players.

 The second image is getting there.

It doesn't matter where the pure blacks and whites are in the image, but again, it is important to have texture. The white blob in the background is blown out, probably a reflection on a sign from the Sun. Her hair is abysmal.

 The last image is best because, you see pure whites with texture, and even though the blacks are really dark, you can still make out detail.

Here are a couple more from my portfolio.

Also check out my web sit at http://mostlybaseball.sports.officelive.com ALSO http://thommarshallphotography.art.officelive.com/default.aspx

Baseball

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.

Strictly sticking to the guidelines.

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

Even here sticking to the guidelines is desirable.