Reading mode: Light Dark

To Crop or not to Crop-Soccer

Go to last post
N

NJ-Darlene

Active member
Messages
84
Reaction score
0
Location
Central, NJ, US
NJ-Darlene:

Soccer is a hard shoot for me, I dont really know the game.

1. Yes, crop EVERY image.

That is to say, shoot with extra space around every image. You can keep the space or lose it. YOU have it there for choice.

For sports its a must, they move so fast and if youre zoomed in it is hard to stay on the subject.

2. Sharpening before or after cropping, etc. doesnt matter. I crop first, then make adjstment. If you do an "auto" exposure adjustment, definately crop first as this averages the whole image area.

here is a link to some soccer I have done:
http://www.fotops.com/autofoto/Slideshow.php?directory=011027BVSoccer
--LarryB http://www.fotops.com
 
Darlene, depending on what the viewer is looking for, cropping or not is very subjective.

If you want to focus on the sibject or person or action zoom in and crop.

If you want to see the action or scene as it actually appeared don't crop or crop less.

The shots you cropped all look good with or without the crop.

The one pic I think that looks better cropped, is the corner kick shot, because it is a specific event including only one person, and the original is not close up enough to get the viewer into the picture.--DomDP-NJC-2100UZPbase Supporter http://www.pbase.com/domdp 'Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.' --Malcom Forbes
 
I like the crop on this one, it takes out the player on the right who was not all in the picture anyway.

On action shots like these I usually like to crop leaving an open space in front of the way the person is moving, giving them room to move after the shot.

Dave
NJ-Darlene said:
Hey Everyone,

Questions.

1. - The only alterations I have done here is crop the photo.

2. Don't know much about Photoshop, but do you make adjustments
regarding sharpness and such, before you crop or after? Can these
photos be corrected?





I have a couple more like this in my gallery...
http://www.pbase.com/darjovgo/to_crop_or_not_to_crop

Thanks!

--
Newbie in NJ - E 1OO RS -
http://www.pbase.com/darjovgo/galleries
Darlene
Click to expand...
 
I do quite a bit of post-processing and have found that it works better for me to crop AFTER I've completed all the other processing. The reason for this is that I sometimes crop too much or crop an image incorrectly and decide to redo it. If I crop first, then edit out all the dings, errant background distractions, fine tune it for contrast, saturation, etc., etc., and THEN I decide I don't like the crop, I have to go back and do all that editing all over again!! Bummer. Edit first, crop last, making certain you 'Save As' on the crop so you can go back to the full-size image if you change you mind.--C-2-100uz
 
I think most of the crops work well, removing elements like in that first shot that aren't part of the action.

The only one I'd change would be P4060021.jpg in the gallery. I'd crop off the right side instead of the left to leave more room for where she's headed with the ball. The other girl on the left seems to be more involved with the action too.

I see you've got an E100, so depending on how large you want to print these, I'd be a bit careful about leaving lots of room to crop around your subjects as 1.45MP doesn't leave a lot to cut.

I've been shooting a lot of soccer lately myself. It's tricky to get good looking action. Last time out I was setting precapture for 2 or 3 shots with drive mode set for 7.5FPS. That burns up your memory quick but can really help you get the shot, and lets you make little animated sequences like this:

http://www.pbase.com/image/1642599
 
NJ-Darlene said:
Hey Everyone,

Questions.

1. - The only alterations I have done here is crop the photo.

2. Don't know much about Photoshop, but do you make adjustments
regarding sharpness and such, before you crop or after? Can these
photos be corrected?
Click to expand...
I liked how you cropped this image better than not cropped. I use Photoshop elements ($30.) and am slowly learning the how to's. Yes, I always adjust contrast, color, clean up noise, and sharpen the images I don't delete. But first I always duplicate the orginal image and work on that.

--BarbaraC2100uzi http://www.pbase.com/barbarabreits/galleries
 
Hey Larry,
Thanks for replying. Love the action shots!

Particularily, #s 19, 20, 21, 24 & 26 - 19 is really kewl with the way the ball is rolling on her foot.

btw...what camera are you using?

I hear what you're saying about, shoot, shoot and shoot. I took about 144 pics this past Sunday and probably have about 20 that I like.

But they'll still need some photoshop work. Once I finally understand all the settings on this camera, i'll take some more time to really learn that program.

I never realized I would have to learn so much for just buying a digital.

Thanks Again,
Darlene
LarryB said:
NJ-Darlene:

Soccer is a hard shoot for me, I dont really know the game.

1. Yes, crop EVERY image.
That is to say, shoot with extra space around every image. You can
keep the space or lose it. YOU have it there for choice.
For sports its a must, they move so fast and if youre zoomed in it
is hard to stay on the subject.

2. Sharpening before or after cropping, etc. doesnt matter. I crop
first, then make adjstment. If you do an "auto" exposure
adjustment, definately crop first as this averages the whole image
area.

here is a link to some soccer I have done:
http://www.fotops.com/autofoto/Slideshow.php?directory=011027BVSoccer

--
LarryB
http://www.fotops.com
Click to expand...
--Newbie in NJ - E 1OO RS - http://www.pbase.com/darjovgo/galleriesDarlene
 
Hey Dom, Thanks for the vote of confidence!

I'm still learning the E100 and I didn't use precap or seq shooting. I was just pulling the triger...oops, I mean pressing the shutter. I do notice a delay. Is that normal with digitals?

dar
DomDP said:
Darlene, depending on what the viewer is looking for, cropping or
not is very subjective.

If you want to focus on the sibject or person or action zoom in and
crop.
If you want to see the action or scene as it actually appeared
don't crop or crop less.

The shots you cropped all look good with or without the crop.
The one pic I think that looks better cropped, is the corner kick
shot, because it is a specific event including only one person, and
the original is not close up enough to get the viewer into the
picture.
--
DomDP-NJ
C-2100UZ
Pbase Supporter

http://www.pbase.com/domdp

'Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what
they are.'
--Malcom Forbes
Click to expand...
--Newbie in NJ - E 1OO RS - http://www.pbase.com/darjovgo/galleriesDarlene
 
hey dave,

hmmmmm....now that's an interesting thought. Something I really didn't give any thought to, when I was cropping. I'll keep that in mind.

darlene
Dave Justice said:
On action shots like these I usually like to crop leaving an open
space in front of the way the person is moving, giving them room to
move after the shot.

Dave
NJ-Darlene said:
Hey Everyone,

Questions.

1. - The only alterations I have done here is crop the photo.

2. Don't know much about Photoshop, but do you make adjustments
regarding sharpness and such, before you crop or after? Can these
photos be corrected?





I have a couple more like this in my gallery...
http://www.pbase.com/darjovgo/to_crop_or_not_to_crop

Thanks!

--
Newbie in NJ - E 1OO RS -
http://www.pbase.com/darjovgo/galleries
Darlene
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--Newbie in NJ - E 1OO RS - http://www.pbase.com/darjovgo/galleriesDarlene
 
hi inigo,

ok, you caught me on this one...P4060021....i cropped it to the right, cause that's my daughter in the back....he he.

dave justice said the same thing about leaving more room in front. I'm going to recrop P4060021 and see how it looks.

I did some precap stuff in Md a couple weeks ago. I have a nice little sequence of my daughter and would love to do an animation thing. I loved yours.

Is that something easy to create or would it take me a while to figure out. I'm just trying to get this camera down.

As far as printing, I havn't even tried that yet either!

thanks for the comments

darlene
Inigo Montoya said:
I think most of the crops work well, removing elements like in that
first shot that aren't part of the action.

The only one I'd change would be P4060021.jpg in the gallery. I'd
crop off the right side instead of the left to leave more room for
where she's headed with the ball. The other girl on the left seems
to be more involved with the action too.

I see you've got an E100, so depending on how large you want to
print these, I'd be a bit careful about leaving lots of room to
crop around your subjects as 1.45MP doesn't leave a lot to cut.

I've been shooting a lot of soccer lately myself. It's tricky to
get good looking action. Last time out I was setting precapture
for 2 or 3 shots with drive mode set for 7.5FPS. That burns up
your memory quick but can really help you get the shot, and lets
you make little animated sequences like this:

http://www.pbase.com/image/1642599
Click to expand...
--Newbie in NJ - E 1OO RS - http://www.pbase.com/darjovgo/galleriesDarlene
 
good point, maria, thanks!
Maria Holmes said:
I do quite a bit of post-processing and have found that it works
better for me to crop AFTER I've completed all the other
processing. The reason for this is that I sometimes crop too much
or crop an image incorrectly and decide to redo it. If I crop
first, then edit out all the dings, errant background distractions,
fine tune it for contrast, saturation, etc., etc., and THEN I
decide I don't like the crop, I have to go back and do all that
editing all over again!! Bummer. Edit first, crop last, making
certain you 'Save As' on the crop so you can go back to the
full-size image if you change you mind.
--
C-2-100uz
Click to expand...
--Newbie in NJ - E 1OO RS - http://www.pbase.com/darjovgo/galleriesDarlene
 
hey barb, thanks for the tip. Sounds like a good one.
dar
Barbara B. said:
NJ-Darlene said:
Hey Everyone,

Questions.

1. - The only alterations I have done here is crop the photo.

2. Don't know much about Photoshop, but do you make adjustments
regarding sharpness and such, before you crop or after? Can these
photos be corrected?
Click to expand...
I liked how you cropped this image better than not cropped. I use
Photoshop elements ($30.) and am slowly learning the how to's.
Yes, I always adjust contrast, color, clean up noise, and sharpen
the images I don't delete. But first I always duplicate the
orginal image and work on that.

--
Barbara
C2100uzi
http://www.pbase.com/barbarabreits/galleries
Click to expand...
--Newbie in NJ - E 1OO RS - http://www.pbase.com/darjovgo/galleriesDarlene
 
Oh... well then by all means keep your daughter in the pic! :-)

The animated GIF was a piece of cake to create with Photoshop Elements. You just copy each frame of the sequence into a new layer, first frame on the bottom, last frame on top, then "Save as..." and choose "Compuserve GIF" as the type. You'll get a checkbox that says "Layers as frames". Make sure that's checked. When you click OK you'll get a nother screen to set options for the animation such as delay between frames, etc.

I had to do a little more work with this set as I was panning with the shots, so I had to manually align the frames to keep the goal in the same position through the animation.

If you don't have Elements there are a number of free tools on the net that will let you build animated GIFs.
NJ-Darlene said:
hi inigo,

ok, you caught me on this one...P4060021....i cropped it to the
right, cause that's my daughter in the back....he he.

dave justice said the same thing about leaving more room in front.
I'm going to recrop P4060021 and see how it looks.

I did some precap stuff in Md a couple weeks ago. I have a nice
little sequence of my daughter and would love to do an animation
thing. I loved yours.

Is that something easy to create or would it take me a while to
figure out. I'm just trying to get this camera down.

As far as printing, I havn't even tried that yet either!

thanks for the comments

darlene
Click to expand...
 
Hey Inigo, Thanks!!! This doesn't sound too dificult. I'll get back to ya if I need some help and i'll post it when i get it done. may not be tonite though!
dar
Inigo Montoya said:
The animated GIF was a piece of cake to create with Photoshop
Elements. You just copy each frame of the sequence into a new
layer, first frame on the bottom, last frame on top, then "Save
as..." and choose "Compuserve GIF" as the type. You'll get a
checkbox that says "Layers as frames". Make sure that's checked.
When you click OK you'll get a nother screen to set options for the
animation such as delay between frames, etc.

I had to do a little more work with this set as I was panning with
the shots, so I had to manually align the frames to keep the goal
in the same position through the animation.

If you don't have Elements there are a number of free tools on the
net that will let you build animated GIFs.
NJ-Darlene said:
hi inigo,

ok, you caught me on this one...P4060021....i cropped it to the
right, cause that's my daughter in the back....he he.

dave justice said the same thing about leaving more room in front.
I'm going to recrop P4060021 and see how it looks.

I did some precap stuff in Md a couple weeks ago. I have a nice
little sequence of my daughter and would love to do an animation
thing. I loved yours.

Is that something easy to create or would it take me a while to
figure out. I'm just trying to get this camera down.

As far as printing, I havn't even tried that yet either!

thanks for the comments

darlene
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--Newbie in NJ - E 1OO RS - http://www.pbase.com/darjovgo/galleriesDarlene
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Keyboard shortcuts

f
Forum
m
My threads
Mobile site
About
Editorial content
Cameras & Lenses
Community
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1998–2025 Digital Photography Review All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.
©GPS Media - Guides, Products, Services.
Back
Top