Photo of the Day
Tonight has been circled on the calendar for a couple of weeks. At a birthday party we were invited to tonights soccer game by one of the coaches who is a friend. Harrison was playing West Lafayette so we had a chance to see a couple of local teams. On the way to the game we saw the dark clouds overhead, but we were hoping to see some of the match. We no sooner walked through the gate when the rain started. It did not start slow either. We went straight into a downpour. I did not let that stop me. I made a makeshift shelter with my camera bag and an umbrella. I had my day bag on my shoulder, and I tucked the umbrella into it so it would stay above me without me actually having to hold onto it. That seemed to work fairly well. The rain kept coming down hard, and I knew that it would lead to some interesting pictures. My new lens started to get way too wet for my liking though, and I soon joined the rest in the car. I did manage to get a few minutes worth of shots though.
Those few minutes were my first shooting a soccer game. In fact it was my first soccer game in person since I was a little kid. I knew two kids who played soccer, and one of their dads coached the team. Somehow at my first game I was put in charge of the possession flag (if that is what it is even called). I didn’t exactly understand which way I was supposed to point the flag. Without that knowledge I kept pointing it in the wrong direction leading to some boos from the elementary school parents. Until today that is my one and only soccer game that I have been to in person.The action was pretty exciting, and I captured it pretty well despite only taking a few shots due to the weather. I think that I need to invest in the rain guard for my gear. I don’t care if I get wet, but my gear can’t.
I used to shoot a lot of sports before starting this project, but because of it I have really broadened the scope of what I shoot. This project started with two straight days of shooting football. From there I kind of got away from sports although it has been sprinkled in. In 11 months though I have shot high school and college football as well as high school, college, and pro baseball. I have also shot some college basketball. It helps when you live in a college town I guess. In that time I have also expanded to shoot volleyball, roller derby, and now soccer. I also found a great spot in Indy to shoot some Indy Cars going around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Although I have shot less sporting events than in the past I am much happier with the quality of what I have shot.
Technical Data
Today I have a few things to talk about here. The first is that I went into the shoot determined to shoot in aperture priority mode. With all the distractions around me though I was not paying attention to my shutter speed so I was much lower than I should have been. This shot was taken at 1/250th of a second, and I normally like to stay around 1/1,000th of a second for sports. Anything over 1/500th of a second is good though. I corrected that near the end, but I didn’t take another picture after that. I brought this into Lightroom for cataloging purposes. I did decide to up the highlights and add a little clarity. I tried the Matt Kloskowski sports presets that I downloaded earlier in the week, but they were too strong for my taste here.
Kelby Worldwide Photowalk
Here is that part of the post where I talk about the photowalk that I am leading on campus after the Wisconsin game in October. The date is October 13th to be exact, and the walk will start at 4 o’clock est at the Neil Armstrong Statue in front of the Armstrong Hall of Engineering. That is a month from today. Over 1,000 photowalks are planned around the world. If you are not near West Lafayette then you kind find a walk near you on the Kelby site. Sign up now to be part of this event. Nearly 17,000 walkers have already signed up so far. Activity has picked up a bit on the Purdue sites even with the short time being posted. You don’t have to be a pro (I am far from it) to attend. Any kind of camera is welcome as well. Here are a few links to the various sites which promote the event. If you want to sign up you should do so on the Kelby site in order to be eligible for the prizes though.
Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk ( Official Purdue Site)
Dave Wegiel Photography 
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