Mentoring

 

Having worked in non-league photography for as long as I have, it would be amiss if I didn't give something back.  Whether you are new to photography or not, I'll be happy to help and advise where I can.

 

Help, Advice & Support

Being a mentor isn't just about providing the help and advice with a camera in your hand.  It is also about the support that is given without one.  Whilst knowing camera settings is important, perhaps 70% of the time, the remaining 30% is about understanding your positioning, timing, focus point and making sure your images tell a story.  All of this comes over time but it's never a bad idea to get some help when first starting out.  


Whilst mentoring is all well and good when there is an opportunity to be at the same game together, in most cases it is about answering questions online.  To aid this, I offer an online photo critique service which enables you to send me a photo you have taken at a match, and I'll provide my feedback which can help you at your next game.  

The service involves sending me 5 images and I'll provide my feedback on each one and what I would have done.  If at all possible, send me the original files as these will contain the meta data so I can see what your settings were at the time of taking them.  This is just £25 .


At present, February 2025, I'm mentoring two students from the local college who are on a media course and both are interested in football and having a future in media within the football industry.  Whilst they are using my gear, which already has my settings dialled in, I'm happy to let them snap away and critique the photo's they've taken.  Here's a couple of examples:

Nikon D750  |  f/2.8  |  1/1200th second  |  70-200mm @112mm  |  ISO 1000

ORIGINAL IMAGE

GENERAL COMMENTS

It is clear you are on the touchline with players running toward you, which is perfect.  The players are in action pretty much in the middle of the image and appear to be in focus.


CRITIQUE
  • First things first; straighten the horizon.  Eyes naturally pick up an image that isn't straight.  The image here is sloping right to left so adjust it slightly so that the it doesn't distract the eyes from the action
  • As we continue to adjust the image, I would crop in and ensure the players are in the centre of the image.  Too much space around the players, again, takes the eyes away from them as the main focal point
  • Although this is already wide open at f/2.8, there is scope here to have zoomed in a little more from the 112mm it was taken at.  Zooming in further would have blurred the background a little more
  • There is also a possibility to drop the shutter speed too.  At 1/1200th, although this has stopped the action enough, I personally think the image is very slightly underexposed.  Dropping to around 1/800th or even 1/1000th, would make this pop a little more.  This isn't much of an issue though as exposure can be increased in post-processing.
  • From a focus point perspective, I'm not 100% sure the focus point is on the player as they're not as sharp as I think they could be.   
  • Finally, I think the image is being taken when sitting down, which is another good habit.  Taking from a lower angle, the players should hopefully look bigger and fill the frame more as part of the final image after post processing.

 

My Edited Image

 

If you use photo editing software, you should be able to amend the image.  I personally use Lightroom but there are plenty of other alternatives out there, including free options.


So what have I done to the image?

  • I've straightened the horizon and increased the exposure, plus added a touch more saturation to make the colours pop a little more
  • The biggest change you'll see is that I've cropped in to make the players the main focus point
  • The focus point certainly seems to be very slightly off as the players are a tad out of focus now the image is cropped.


I'm more than happy to offer advice with post processing.  In most cases, the image straight from the camera will need a helping hand to bring it up to scratch.


If the critique service is of interest, drop me an email info@offsidephotography.co.uk