Lakewood Varsity vs Compton

This marks our second week of season play and finds us matched against Compton, who last week played a tight match up against Poly, which lead me to think this was going to be a close and tough game. Was I wrong, although our offense started off slow during the first quarter, our defense was on top of things and simply dominated Compton's offense. By the second quarter our offense opened up that can and took charge. I think the final score of 54-0 says it all.

Enjoy the pictures from the game.

Lakewood Freshmen vs Compton

Here are some pictures from the freshmen game against Compton.

When I take pictures of the cheerleaders, especially action shots of them jumping or being tossed up into the air I tend to take them from the side. I do this to avoid the infamous crotch shot. I want to take an action shot while keeping it tasteful for these young ladies.

Just prior to the start of the second half the cheerleaders will bring out the paper that they have painted up for the players to run through. Now I've tried for several years to get the perfect shot of the players or player running through the paper and I think I've finally achieved it. Once the cheerleaders set up I will position myself usually right in front of the paper to get the shot(s) I want. Well this is the first one I really liked, so you be the judge and tell me what you think.

Flash Set-up "Friday Night Lights"

I've been asked a few times how I set up my flash when shooting night football games, so I thought I make a post here to make it easier for all to see.

This first shot shows how my setup looks. Since I shoot while kneeling my monopod is only extended a bit higher than what you see here. Now you may ask why go through all this trouble and simply put my flash on top of the camera where it belongs. Well this is done for the same reasons why someone doing weddings or portraits will use OFC (Off Camera Flash). One to minimize red eye and second to control where the light goes and how it effects your subject. Although I still have my flash pointed straight ahead from the camera I do have it lower. The purpose for having it below the camera is to provide light into the face mask and face area inside the helmet.

If your wondering why the pink bandana, well two years ago our teams starting sporting pink gloves, mouth guards, and tape to support brest cancer. Duing one game I obtained this bandana and put it on my camera where it's been ever since.

Here you can see how the off-camera shore cord is attached to my camera and extends below to the flash.

The flash is attached to the opposite end of the off-camera shoe cord, which is has a standard stud screwed into it. This stud in then attached to a super clamp and attached to my monopod. I usually have the super clamp attached just above one monopod section, which prevents it from sliding downward during the 2-2 1/2 hours of game shooting.

A Canon off-camera shoe cord with standard stud.

Super clamp

I hope you find this post useful in setting up your flash for the night games. Enjoy and among everything else - Have fun shooting.

Lakewood Varsity vs Wilson

Our season has officially started with an away game at Long Beach Wilson. I'm not sure what Lakewood expected, but Wilson wasn't going to go down easy and game to play some football, especially their quarterback #8.

The game seemed to changed momentum back and forth between each team throughout the first half and when Wilson took the field during the 3rd quarter, their quarterback, weather by design or of his own choosing, pushed Wilson back into the game by pretty much doing anything and everything. If he didn't pass the ball he ran it moving them forward. I have to say he was the man to stop and did a great job, but in the end Lakewood pushed harder and wanted the win more as their defense put a stop to Wilson's QB and the offence continued their drive.

A great game of football.

For tonight's game I decided to bring out the flash. First my camera was set to manual with the following settings. ISO 3200, f/2.8, shutter at 1/400. Now the flash was set up off camera, about 1 1/2' below the camera attached to my monopod. By setting up my flash this way it lights up the inside the helmet better and lessens red eye. This conversion is an action I made in Lightroom.

The below shot is something I've recently started to look for when covering these games. I look for a shot that has a little emotion to it, without seeing a face. A shot that might tell a story that each viewer will see differently. Wilson was setting up for a kick-off return while being behind in points. Our kicker was putting the ball in the end zone on most kicks preventing Wilson from getting a return. You can almost see the frustration in this athlete knowing that an opportunity for a return will most likely go unanswered.

Lakewood JV vs Wilson

Here are some shots from the JV's first season game. I used the 300 (f/2.8) for all of these shots.

I'm going to add a new feature for those who follow my blog and for those seeking information on shooting sports. I will take one shot and tell you how it came to be. In other words I'll go into my thought process and my positioning to get the shot I've highlighted.

Today's highlighted shot will be the below QB sack, or I should say "The sack that could have". Depending on how the team is doing and how much penetration the defense is getting I will position myself just behind the line of scrimmage looking for the below shot. In this game our defense was getting to the QB a lot and causing him to scramble to the outside. So by positioning myself about 3'-5' behind the line of scrimmage and watching / focusing on the quarterback I was able to get the below shot. Now this wasn't an automatic thing, I did have to wait a several series before capturing this shot. So be patient, be aware of how your team is doing, and then position yourself where you can increase your odds of getting the shot.