What makes a good shooting picture?

[Scooter]

So what makes a good picture? Some people want to see both the shooter and the stage. In talking with Ray Solomon at 2003 USPSA RGN , he said to get the picture of only the shooter. Keep the stage out of the background to keep the picture clean.

I'm not a pro photog, just an aspiring amateur that wants to get better. I've nearly master the art of getting the brass in the picture without shooting continuous.

Here's a link to my local IDPA club's gallery. My re-sized low rez pictures are from December through May. http://www.sdps-idpa.org/gallery/index.html Comments are welcome.

Taking pictures is almost like shooting, sight picture and trigger control.

[Shooter Grrl]

I wanna go home

Your pictures are great Scott. I really like the ones with the stages in there too though, just the shooter alone is getting boring.

[Gun Geek]

Scooter:

To me, good shooting pictures freeze something that is clearly in action - i.e. not staged. Gun cycling, shooter on the move, reloading, etc.

A pic where it looks like someone is just aiming is not very interesting.

Several of your pics fit this description, and are very cool!

I agree wih focusing on the shooter - maybe one close target, unless the stage is important or shows action. Steel is always cool - a Texas Star just after a hit, a popper on the way down, etc.

[tyro]

Scott,

I IMHO, the best shots are from the Dec. match and the May match. I can really see your improvement in May in CAPTURING the ACTION of our sport, which is what this photography is all about. I do think that you need to have a little of the stage (what the shooter is shooting at if possible) in the pic because it adds to the excitement of the photo to see what the shooter is reacting to.

Great Pics....

[SiG Lady]

What KIND of photo you take depends largely on the intended END USE of that/those image/s. When the event or subject matter is a one-time opportunity, best to take ALL kinds of views--just in case.

And I agree with Shooter Grrl... the backdrop or target stages tell the whole story and leave no doubt about what the shooter is DOING there. There are, however, times and places for good close-up, fast-shutter imagery of the shooter doing his/her shooter thing up close and personal.

[Scooter]

It's pretty hard to get a good picture of the shooter and the targets without the RO getting in the way. I get a lot of pictures with either the RO's hand or the timer covering the shooter's face. Thankfully I shoot digital and it takes a lot of pictures to fill up a 1GB CF.

Thanks for all the input.

[shred]

I like to think 'the picture tells a story' and figure out what that story is.

Photo after photo of head-n-shoulders shots of shooters standing and shooting gets boring quickly. But you've gotta get a central point to the photo or it doesn't talk to anybody. Action is what makes these sports so cool, so you want to get the dynamic feel in pictures. Sometimes that's a close-up of the shooter, sometimes it's a longer shot including the stage features. The limited angles we have to work in only make it worse.

Digital is awesome for this-- experiment with everything and trash most of 'em. You can't take too many pictures.

[EricW]

A few tips from my photog classes (some of which are redundant suggestions to other posts):

- Tell a story (The most important rule for ANY form of communication whether it's a 30 second commercial, a photo, music, art. People are story-oriented. It's who we are.)

- Rule of Thirds

- Good lighting = early morning or late afternoon/evening. (Nyle Leatham has some pictures over on Robbies sight which use absolutely OUTSTANDING lighting and contrast. Blue skies with puffy clouds near dusk with fill-in flash.... )

- Good Lighting (2) - I know this will offend most everyone, but I think that really good shooting photos are staged - not match photos. Then you can control the lighting and the surroundings. Although I saw some of JJ Racaza running and gunning like a gazelle that were really special in FS recently.)

- Depth of field - This is a toughie for non-SLR users. Open up your aperture to maximum to cut your depth of field. This will place more emphasis on the subject and de-emphasize some of the bland surroundings. If you're shooting in spectacular country, like Arizona, keep the background - it really add to the "texture" of the shot.

- Change your perspective. Get on the ground. Get on top of a berm. Show me something I don't/can't see normally.

- Resist the urge to freeze action all the time. Drop that shutter speed. Let the action flow occasionally.

- Break the rules. Use wildly off exposure settings if you have spectacular lighting. It can help. Bracket your exposures. Backlight your subjects occasionally if you can.

Personally, I think one of the biggest problems with "shooting" photographs is that they "shooting" photographs. There shouldn't be such a thing - only photographs. And personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with driving the discipline toward the artsy side.

Patrick and Nik can tell you more about the capabilities of high-end digital SLR's. The consumer digital cameras just aren't terribly capable for anything more than snapshots. If you want flexibility, you'll have to upgrade. Or you could drop back to a film camera, but as nostalgic as I am, I can't even see myself do that unless I had a darkroom (which costs more than a good digital SLR if you do color).

Good job on the pics! Wish mine all looked that clear and sharp.

[eerw]

Your photography is very nice..you seem to have good grasp of the fundamentals..

everyone has given you some good hints and ideas..

photography needs to tell a story or communicate information..be it action, equipment, emotion..

understanding the fundamental relationship between shutter speeds and aperture, light and light temperature ( color balance ) will give you great control over what you are doing..

things that might help you are utilizing fill flash techniques to help you manage deep shadow areas, also great for helping freeze part of the subject if playing with slow shutter speeds for motion blurs..many of the newer cameras and flash let you trigger the flash at the end of the exposure. another technique that is nice to play with is using remote cameras to put the perspective from a point that person would not normally be..( in front of the shooter, below or above.)

both canon and nikon good systems..most my experience is with the nikon side..

the D2 is good in that it allows you a framing rate up to 8 FPS..what is also nice is you can customize your white balance instead of just having to select a predetemined one...pocket wizard also makes a nice remote too that work well for triggering remote setups..

the D1H is almost as nice and you might find one at a good deal since the D2 replaced it..one nice thing that the D1H does that the D2 doesn't is that you can shoot with a flash above the prescribed sync..so you can get away with a high shutter speed with flash in daylight..

anyway..I think you are doing well..shooting a nice variety of action, tight, wide and different angles...

keep up the nice work..

[Scooter]

I'm using a Nikon 5700, I do have the SB-800 flash. Some shooters have found the flash kind of distracting, so I don't use it. I wouldn't mind a D2H, but that's $3200+ I don't have.

[GRD]

Your shots look good.

I don't know squat about photography, but I'll mention that I like photos that frame something other than the shooter...meaning it's not just a picture of someone shooting, it's a shot of an event. A moment in time, emphasizing something other than the fact that there's someone shooting a gun at something. Like your shots of people moving to the next position. I like to see looks on shooters faces other than just the 'aiming' face.

I agree with the art-shot attitude. I wish shooting sports photography did more than just catalogue the event. Think up new perspectives and things to take pictures of. A full photo essay should capture the flavor of the day on the range. For instance: a cool shot of someone's feet skidding to a stop, bullet impacts, closeups of cool looking things on the range. Shots of people in action are great. As are shots of people watching or doing something other than shooting, to get a fuller picture of the day's feel.

A great shot has to have emotion, too. I can realate to what was said above about telling the story - it needs to be more than just: guy shooting from behind cover.

One thing I can say: take alot of pictures. Nobody gets a great shot every click. Shoot shoot shoot!

- Gabe

[JD45]

Not a pro, but aperture priority is sometimes a must. I know nothing of auto SLRs or digital, but when exposure is set on auto, you get what the camera wants you to get, and that may not be what you want. I use an all manual SLR and have plenty of bad photos, but I know what the exposure was and can learn from the experience. If you have a digital SLR that has manual settings, use them when you can.

[Scooter]

The nice part with digital is you get the Exif info. I typically shoot in aperature priority at f4.

I do have shots of people just joking around in the back. I should put those up too.

It's hard to get pictures of the shooter's face due to the way most stages are set up. Since I don't get paid to do this, I wouldn't dare put anything down range. If you saw the Shooting USA when they had Jerry Miculek, he clipped the tripod leg on their down range camera.

[RaySolomon]

So what makes a good picture? Some people want to see both the shooter and the stage. In talking with Ray Solomon at 2003 USPSA RGN , he said to get the picture of only the shooter. Keep the stage out of the background to keep the picture clean.

I prefer only the shooter and close enough to invade their personal space (from a distance) because stages come and go, but shooters shoot with a certain emotion and passion that I'm after. www.raysolomon.com is a good place to see what close-ups can reveal - emotion and passion.

Close-ups by themselves mean nothing if you don't get a clean look of their face - the eyes are the most important ways we express ourselves. Don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes---I digress. Closeups with faces in the shadows don't work for me.

One series of shots of Saul Kirsch (yes, I'm dropping a name) that he says is the best shots ever shot of him is used by him in promoting his latest venture with CED, his new CED7000 which I just received from CED (free) for the use of that photo in their advertisements, etc. The reason I bring this up is if that image were a long shot, it wouldn't work because the shooter disappears into the stage unless there were other design elements working - which is hard to predict and highly dependend on luck. Closeups seem to have more commercial potential. Hopefully one of your shots is used by one of your favorite shooters in this manner.

I prefer shots of competitive shooters for ads, etc. made while the competitor is shooting a real match under match stress situations because you can see the emotion and that thousand yard stare in their eyes that they mean business. You just can't re-create that on-demand for pictures. Not the same.

If I were commissioned to photograph an event, I would shoot everything, all the stages, look for design elements, etc. If not, I go for shots that may have some commercial value down the road - closeups with a longer than normal lens or an extreme-wide while following the shooter through the stage while they are shooting if you are allowed. One year at nationals I shot Max shooting a stage he won, I photoshopped in the stage graphic into the image - best of both worlds thanks to Photoshop - closeups that the shooter likes and something unique to the stage. I printed him a copy of that image and he says he likes it because he won that stage.

I always publish a lot of repetitive shots of shooters because if that is a photo of you, you tend to examine every detail of your image to try to understand or remember what you felt while you were shooting at that moment, hey, the more the merrier. Plus, when viewing on a FLASH presentation, they tend to work by blending in/out from one to the other. Music would be nice with a select group of images...more digression.

The technical stuff: D1X, 70-200 F2.8 shot either at 2.8 or F4, ISO at 400-800, shutter speed: out of this world from 1/4,000 - 1/16,000. Exposure: Manual (no exceptions), Metering: Matrix, Single shot mode (never in motordrive mode). Every shot I liked used the above for action/closeup shooting.

I could drone on and on but I will stop for now.

Ray Solomon

Edited November 23, 2006 by RaySolomon