'New Carolina' playing in Williams-Brice with new signage...

Gameday atmosphere improving at Williams-Brice...



Lately you've probably noticed the players, and some fans, referring to the team as 'New Carolina' as the players and coaches have taken the task personally to make needed improvements. Likewise, Williams-Brice Stadium has also been receiving improvements and up-grades. The new signage (shown in the first five pictures in this blog) on each of the four corner ramps lends a dramatic improvement to the gameday atmosphere. One of the players, while standing on the sideline two hours before the first home game, told me, "Wow! This looks more than ten times better!". I was in complete agreement with the statement. Today's Blog addresses a question from the message board as well as brief comments and information about a wide variety of photos from the last two games. Also, a 'story behind the picture' will be shared that you may find interesting.

What better way to honor achievements than by replacing the plain concrete ramp walls with colorful banners? Each of the four corners now have garnet, black, and white signs with names and statistics that are worthy of special recognition. One corner welcomes you to Williams-Brice and honors the Heisman Trophy winner, George Rogers. Other corner ramps are devoted to the Offensive leaders or Defensive leaders or for coaching achievements. The 1969 ACC Championship is shown on the edge of the South Stands (on the left side, possibly leaving room for anticipated future championships).

The South-East Ramp (behind the Visiting Team Band).


Having the players names, and meaningful statistics displayed, is doubtless a great motivation for the players. Whether you are a current player, and/or contemplating quitting the team before graduation for the lure of the NFL, or a recruit thinking that his family would be incredibly proud to see his name on the wall. The signs and banners can be motivators but they also improve the appearance of Williams-Brice Stadium and photographers find them to be excellent backgrounds for crowd shots.

The South-West Ramp (behind the '2001' entrance).


The North-East Ramp (behind the Carolina Band).


The view from the endzone in the South stands (from below "'The Zone").


I have been asked about what shutter speed I use when I shoot. I will give a few brief illustrations in this blog but the answer will often vary depending on a variety of factors.

Three main questions to consider:
1. What is the lighting? The upcoming game with Kentucky will be the first game NOT under the lights this season (12:30PM start).
2. What type of action am I shooting (high speed or very limited motion)?
3. What depth of field is desired? (How much of the photo should be in sharp focus.)

Day games are usually a photographer's delight. Almost anyone can get a great picture, even with a cheap lens, a disposable camera or a cell phone camera. A professional will adjust camera's settings to take advantage of the brighter lighting. The ISO will typically be reduced to something between 100 and 320. Depending on the depth of field desired in a particular group of photos, the shutter speed may well be in the range of 1/3000ths of a second or greater. Note: it is NOT always desirable to freeze action to that extent as a certain degree of 'blur' shows motion nicely. A case in point, you cannot, generally, photograph the wind. But, you can photograph the effects of wind as it blows leaves, grass, snow, etc. A slower shutter speed is often desired with moving water, waterfalls, waves, etc.

A note on weather conditions: Rain is NOT usually a fun environment to shoot in. However, harsh shadows can be a problem with bright sunlight and are seldom a problem with cloudy or rainy skies. In sunlight, colors are brighter but are duller or more muted in wet conditions. Rain, especially heavy rain, can allow for some great pictures. One thing for sure, a variety of 'trade-offs' occur whenever the weather conditions change.

By the way, EXIF information is captured and embedded with each digital image. It can be useful but also misleading. For instance, I have three lenses that could be used to take a 200mm image. The EXIF image information could state that my image was shot with the f-stop of f6 (for instance), which would be accurate. However, that is only PART of the story. Each of those three lens, I just mentioned, are very different and produce noticeably different results.

Each lens is Canon brand and quality and each one could shoot an f-stop of f6 but one could shoot an image as fast as f2, another f2.8, and the third one a relatively distant f4.5. One is a 'prime' (non-zoom) and the other two are zoom but all three have 'image stabilization'. These factors all contribute to producing a dramatically different image. Just a word of caution when interpreting EXIF information and trying to read too much into a specific detail. You must know the lens that is mounted on the camera.

This brings me to mentioning the camera body. Finally, with EXIF info, you need to be familiar with the camera body as well. Some cameras handle high ISO speeds exceptionally well and others, quite simply, do not. Also, a wide variety of software is now available to reduce the 'digital noise' of higher ISO photos, thankfully.

In summary, I generally try to maintain a minimum shutter speed of between 1/500th and 1/640th while keeping the ISO as low as feasible. None of this creates a problem until you are shooting sports action 'under the lights'!

This picture was taken with at 1/500ths of a second with f-stop of f2.2 (on a lense that is capable of f2).


Shot at 1/500th of a second (to help with the fireworks), 24mm wide-angle at f2.8.


Crowd shot at 1/500th of a second, 24mm wide-angle at f8 (for greater depth of field).


Faster shutter speed of 1/640th, f4, 75mm lens used and the image has been cropped making the image appear to be more zoomed.


Shot during warm-ups, limited action so I used 1/400ths of a second with f-stop of f2.8 for greater depth of field (on a lense that is capable of f2).


At the edge of the endzone, you are often guessing (as is the defense), pass or run, in the near corner or going all the way to the other corner. The key is to be as flexible as possible, have a good guess and hope that the official does not obscure your angle on the play. This picture was shot at 1/500th of a second, with the 24mm-70mm wide-angle zoom lense (zoomed to 70mm) at f2.8 to capture Stephen Garcia diving over the goal-line for the touchdown.


This picture was shot nearly the length of the field, with an ISO of 3200, at 1/500th's shutter speed but the f-stop was f3.5(which gave better depth of field focus while adding a little bit of digital noise due to the higher ISO value). It was a planned trade-off.


The photo, of Coach Shane Beamer and Eric Norwood celebrating, was shot from the other side of the field. I used an ISO of 1600, with 1/500ths shutter speed and f-stop of f2.8 on the prime (non-zoom but with image-stabilization)300mm lens.


Sometimes when concentrating on taking a picture, getting the image framed correctly, sharp focus, and such, the obvious isn't always obvious until later when you study the image that was captured. This picture was taken during team warm-ups. Another photographer and myself were standing on the sidelines, several feet away from the field, talking to each other.

After I had been shooting the quarterback and receiver drills, I changed 'targets' to take a few quick pictures of Coach Steve Spurrier. Suddenly, the other photographer exclaimed to me, "Coach is pointing at us and wanting us to move!". We then quickly moved. What had happened was that the players changed the passing pattern and the receivers were now going to be heading directly toward us running an 'out pattern'. No doubt, we were both embarrassed to be called out but really appreciated the "heads-up" from the always vigilant Head Ball Coach.

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2009 Football - Back Home to Williams-Brice...

2009 Football- Back Home to Williams-Brice...



After starting the season with the ACC road game at NC State and then the SEC battle in Athens with Georgia, the time has finally come to play at home in Columbia. The stadium definitely has a new 'look' with many improvements (and signs/banners) and there will be many players and coaches who will finally be able to experience the excitement of Williams-Brice stadium for the very first time. Gamecockcentral has been busy covering everything from practices, to the games, and I wanted to share a few photos and thoughts with you as I resume my 'Photo Blog'.

In this blog, I am going to show a few differences that you may notice when games are shot at home, in Williams-Brice Stadium, as opposed to shooting in a road stadium. Angles. Briefly stated. When on the road, photographers are able to shoot from behind the endzone. At Williams-Brice Photographers are only able to shoot from the sidelines beyond where the teams are located. Hopefully, you will not be able to notice much difference in content but many times it does present challenges for the photographers.

When shooting from behind the endzone, one sees a unique perspective on the interior line, quarterback, and running backs that is often not visible from the sidelines. Especially seeing the facial expressions and the eyes of the players. All of these pictures were shot from behind the endzone.

Another huge difference for the game at Williams-Brice Stadium is for the players. Those players who have never experienced running onto the field to '2001'. For those freshmen, walk-ons, JUCO's, etc., it will be an adrenaline rush to run out on the field in a rocking stadium for the best entrance in college football! Bar none.


Here are a few pictures from galleries of the last two games, along with a comment or two.








Several true freshman players are expected to contribute in the game. Shown here is Jarvis Giles running the ball.




Alshon Jeffery with a reception...




The view from behind the endzone of Eric Norwood running the 'pick-6' into the endzone while Tavarres King is desperately trying to knock the ball loose from behind (his hand at top of picture).



Stephon Gilmore, another true Freshman, sacking Joe Cox and knocking the football loose (recovered by Georgia).



This picture of Coach Lorenzo Ward illustrates a photo technique that I often get asked about. How do you make the subject stand out and get the background to appear blurry? The term for this is 'Bokeh'. Bokeh is how lenses render out-of-focus areas. Ideally these areas are soft and smooth. Basically, this is determined by three main things.

1. The aperture of the lens
2. The focal length of the lens
3. The distance you are from the subject.

Usually I prefer using the f.2 200mm lense because the lense is superior to every other lense in this area (Bokeh) but this one was shot with my f2.8 70-200mm lense which was zoomed to 130mm. When this photo was shot Lorenzo was about ten feet away and the f-stop was f4.5. If my goal had been to make the background even more blurry (which wasn't my goal), I would have probably moved a step closer and lowered the f-stop to f2.8.



This group shot captured the cheerleading team in Athens. At home at Williams-Brice, it will be a much different story (and pictures). There will now be many Carolina cheerleaders everywhere.



See you Saturday night!

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Baseball - On the Road to Hoover...

- This weekend, we're in Knoxville...


Opening Day at Carolina Park!

This has been a great team to watch this year but trying to figure them out is another story. David Cloninger and I went to Florida and returned home after being swept and turned right around this week and swept Vanderbilt decisively. Currently the team is in the thick of the race for the upcoming SEC Tournament in Hoover, AL.

Something that has been equally hard to predict each week is what the weather will be at game time. We've experienced games postponed due to rain or fog, but yet played a game with a temperature of 38 and a windchill factor of 28 degrees(Kentucky).

Some of the recent baseball news regards changes for next season. Next year the season will start one week earlier, after two years of playing only 13 weeks the teams will be back to the 14 week schedule and play 56 games. "I'm ecstatic," South Carolina head coach Ray Tanner said in response to the NCAA's much anticipated vote. "This will allow us to have less five game weeks and protect the academic integrity of our student athletes. I'm a big proponent of playing no more than four times per week."

Since this is a 'photo blog', I will say that the student athletes won't be the ONLY ones that will appreciate the new schedule as I can attest to how brutal the five day a week can become for the media that cover the games and for the fans. It's great to be able to post to my blog again as I've been busy shooting five days a week of baseball (home and away) but also basketball (home and away) and football practice (home only!) for a while when the sports overlapped. It seemed that if I wasn't at a game or practice, I was on the road either coming or going to one.

Today's blog shares a few images from various recent galleries.

Ribbon cutting ceremony on Opening Day.


The Friday night game at Mississippi State postponed due to conditions.


Scott Wingo applying the tag on the attempted steal.


Talk about COLD. Windchill of 28 degrees for the Sunday game at UK.


The outfield sign did not relate to playing in the cold weather, as Whit throws the ball into the infield as DeAngelo backs up the play.


Some are more 'bundled' than others...


Bobby Haney forces the runner and throws on to first.


Drew Crisp lays down the sacrifice bunt.


One of the nice features of Carolina Park is the fact that we can now shoot pictures from the outfield!


A unique perspective of Whit Merrifield catching the ball over the wall in Center Field and preventing the home run.


And from the opposite side of the stadium, we can get good shots of the pitchers (Nolan Belcher pictured) delivering the ball to the plate.


Ray Tanner and Jack Leggett in the Umpire Meeting at home plate. Carolina won the game.


Jackie Bradley Jr sliding safely into second.


Celebration in the bottom of the 9th inning in the come from behind victory over Clemson.


Whit Merrifield doing it again as he catches the wannabe home run in Center Field.


Casey Rihn, playing 2nd base, makes the catch of the ball heading into the hole for the out (at Florida).


DeAngelo Mack is safe at home (at Florida).


Scott Wingo slides into 3rd base after hitting a triple.


Justin Dalles behind the plate prepares to throw the ball back to the pitcher.

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Hoops- On the Road in the SEC...

Hoops- On the Road in the SEC...



SEC Road trips for basketball are always important and usually memorable. Pictured above is Devan Downey hitting the game winning shot while being closely guarded by Jodie Meeks (23). To go into Rupp Arena and come out a few hours later with a victory is not something that many visiting teams get to experience. Recently we've been to Knoxville, Lexington, Gainesville, and Tuscaloosa and every trip has been memorable.

The drive to Lexington, although through steady snow flurries, was smooth with no traffic situations encountered. The entire region of central and northern Kentucky (as well as elsewhere!) had just experienced the worst ice storm since the bad one of 2003. There were hundreds of thousands of people without power and some remained without power a week later.

The next morning, I was out before dawn to take a few pictures in the horse country. The temperature was between 6 and 8 degrees, the sky was clear, the wind was calm and ground fog was everywhere. These were perfect conditions for some winter-time pictures!

A barn at sunrise with ice on everything including the fences and trees.


A few horses waiting for some hay to be brought to the field.


This horse is outside the WKYT-TV, channel 27 offices in Lexington. The icicle from the chin helped create an unusual photo.


They say the best time for landscape photography is within thirty minutes of sunrise or sunset. This is for a variety of reasons, none of the least being the great lighting at that time of day. This day combined so many good elements of landscape photography it made a "can't miss" type of morning: Sunrise, fog, cold temperatures, snow, and ice.


This man was out for his Saturday morning jog that began with temperatures around zero and had now warmed up to seven degrees. I got a few directions from him as far as what roads were still bad and which route would work best and he kindly consented to having his picture taken. His breath had frozen on his features and clothing but he was enjoying the morning.


Garnet Army invades Alabama...

These pictures were taken at the Alabama Game. Cameras often do not handle light as well as the human eye does. However, with good software you can do some interesting things with light in a photo. Note in this picture the four members of the Garnet Army directly above Devan Downey as he shoots his free throw. I enhanced the light for the photo (in an oval pattern) to brighten the dark area of the coliseum for better visibility.


In this picture the Garnet Army was directly above the hands of Evaldas Baniulis as he shot the free throw. The students were standing and active for the entire game. I enhanced the light for this photo (in a rectangular pattern) to brighten the dark area of the coliseum to make them more visible.


Every free throw was done exactly as if it have been in the Colonial Life Arena.


When the free throws were made, the routine/reaction was done EXACTLY as if they had been standing in the Colonial Life Arena.


Since the lighting was so poor, away from the court, I ventured up for a closer photo. To me, the short trip up the stairs was worth the effort.


Driving in winter weather can always be a memorable experience.

The drive to Lexington was in the snow flurries, no problem, rather pretty. The drive home after the Knoxville game with freezing mist and flurries, as we came through the mountains was a bit more adrenaline rush. The drive to Gainesville, Florida, where it took over a half hour to drive through downtown Gainesville, as the sign 'Do Not Block the Intersection' meant absolutely NOTHING to the local drivers. Then this week I set a personal record, as we drove to Tuscaloosa, when it took over three and a half hours to get through the Atlanta area with various wrecks on the Interstates. Coming back from Tuscaloosa, after the game, we encountered DENSE fog between midnight and 1:30 in the morning.

This week, the next stop on our current tour of the southeast begins early Wednesday morning as we head to Starkville, MS.

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Bowl Week in Tampa..

A Tampa Bowl Week in Photos...



How to describe a Bowl Week in Florida? Well, it's been said that a picture may be worth a thousand words and since this is a PHOTO blog (and nobody wants to read that many words anyway), I am choosing to use a variety of pictures that I took throughout the week along with a few comments for each image. We stayed at the Mainsail in Tampa and while Shoe was handling the checking in duties, I spied some birds and turtles in the nearby lake/pond. This bird, as most, was very cooperative for me.



Steve Spurrier speaking at the Outback Bowl Welcome Banquet.

That night, Friday the 26th, both teams feasted on the best that Outback Steakhouse had to offer.



On Saturday morning, I was able to get to Jefferson High School for practice early enough that I was able to shoot the locker room prior to practice. The facilities were definitely not as spacious but appeared to me to be very adequate and met the needs.



On Sunday, I wanted to go to Clearwater to check on the Sand Sculpture progress. The people that do this every year are from the area, I believe they live twenty miles away and they were busy at work. I found it fascinating to watch their techniques and had gotten to know them when I was last in Tampa for the Outback Bowl in 2000 and 2001. As you can see, there is a wooden 'form' at the base (and on upward). Several days previous to my arrival, they had added the sand to the form (a foot at a time) and packed it with a typical construction type packing device.

The Sculpture that they create is very elaborate and two-sided. They commented to me that as they were preparing for this year's event (making sure they had the correct teams, etc.) that they noticed that the Outback logo had changed. Needless to say I was VERY surprised to arrive on Beach Day to see an entirely different sculpture in place. I found that they had encountered the sand version of an avalanche and had to start over again. Later in the blog you will see how the design changed, became simpler and one-sided but looked great nonetheless!



Next on the agenda for Sunday was a trip for several of the team to visit the children in St. Joseph's Children's Hospital in Tampa. Since this is a photo blog, I will point out that when shooting the 'little people' it is a good thing to frequently get on their level and not shoot down on them. If your camera has 'auto focus', as most do, you can even put the camera on the floor and shoot 'up' at the scene before you. Although angle viewfinders are available, usually you can do fine by merely taking extra pictures and then deleting what wasn't aimed perfectly.



On the way back to the motel from St. Joseph's Children's Hospital, I saw a couple of lakes beside the road and pulled over to check it out. I got wonderful bird shots as well as the alligator sunning beside the water. That was a better looking alligator, in a more natural environment than what I later took pictures of at Busch Gardens when I accompanied the team on that event.



Once the players found that the Python (or was it a Boa Constrictor?) wouldn't move fast, they 'warmed up' to it considerably. I wonder what was going through the minds during this "look'em in the eye" picture?



Coach Spurrier talking to the team at the pre-practice huddle.



I was sitting in a swing reading, early in the morning, by a pond on the Mainsail grounds when I couldn't resist the temptation any longer and HAD to go back to the room and grab my camera. This duck and the ten(10) ducklings were some of the many great duck/bird pictures taken that day.



Ahh, Beach Day arrives and I see the new simplified and one-sided sand sculpture and wonder what happened! Oh, it looked great and no one would've known if they had not seen the previous creation.



Some sights and scenes from the Hilton overlooking the beach (complete with Outback Bowl blimp high overhead). A had a lot of fun that day with that gallery of over a hundred images (but this blog is long enough without going through those again here!).



Cocky, always a crowd favorite, being cocky on stage!



Ybor City Parade. I decided to use a variety of angles to give a different perspective. This was taken from the balcony of the Carmine's (where the GamecockCentral gathering was held). Note: the creatures being taken along the route to the delight of the crowd.



What says a parade better the looking straight into the United States Marine Band!



There are two sides (at least) to every parade. I found the spectators and their reactions fascinating to observe.



And then there were the many priceless (and tired) children perched on the shoulders of parents, grandparents, and anyone with the strength to do it. This was shot through the crowd with flash and f/2 200mm lens with Image Stabilization turned on during the Pep Rally at the end of the parade between 14th and 15th Street.



Then on to the game. Since this is a photo blog and I use Canon equipment, I thought I would give you a shot of the photographers. Just because a lens is all black does not mean that it isn't Canon. The camera around the neck of the first photographer kneeling on the right is a Canon f2.8 24mm-70mm zoom lens. Various other Canon lenses are on the ground ready to be used when the scene changes and they are needed.



Oh, and there was a game so I had to include a shot of a Kenny McKinley reception in a highly contested moment.

My intentions were to do a daily blog from Tampa but my days and nights were full with taking and then editing pictures. I thought about taking a picture of the traffic on I-95 but thought NO ONE wanted to see that image again. And a 'high speed' lens would not have been required for many sections of that Interstate.

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Rivalry Week - Noon Showdown At Clemson's Memorial Stadium...

End of the Regular Season is upon us...


Coach Spurrier on Day One of August Practice

Not long ago we were shooting hot August practices at Bluff Road trying to put names, numbers and faces together and getting to know the 2008 Gamecocks. Now, so quickly, the weather is much cooler and the final regular season game approaches this Saturday with the showdown at high noon in Death Valley.



There is considerable planning and preparation for every game. Each game is important but the last game is often the biggest of the year, even if it weren't a rivalry game. Although this is true for the coaches and players, I was thinking of the last game, from the photographer's perspective.

One of the things that makes photography so interesting are the challenges of capturing the images of the day regardless of the time-of-day, the lighting (or lack thereof), and the weather. This Saturday's Noon kickoff game was working out beautifully with a forecast calling for no rain and partly cloudy skies (40% - 60% cloud coverage), well... that was as of LATE Wednesday. But Thanksgiving morning came along with much more rain possibilities in the weather forecast (depending on where one looks and when it was last updated) but suffice it to say by Thursday all of the forecasts were calling for 50-70% chance of rain during the game timeframe.

Often photographer's prefer some clouds to cloudless sunny skies as the clouds reduce the contrast and harsh shadows allowing one to better see the athlete's face within the shadow of the helmet. Dealing with challenges, and overcoming them is fun but it's even better to not have to worry about the challenges and just enjoy taking the pictures. It is much like when the defense knows that it is a passing down they can just concentrate on getting to the quarterback or stopping the pass, well the photographer, in this case, can just concentrate on getting the best image and not have to deal with all of the obstacles.

Dealing with rain...


Shot from the end zone, at night, during the rain.

The last game, at Gainesville, Florida, began with considerable rain during pre-game and warm-ups and then occasional rain off and on during the majority of the game. A learning lesson can often be an experiment that turns out well (or, at least, better than you had hoped). The Florida game provided a learning experience for me that I want to share with you. Now it appears that I will be able to work this aspect into ' my game' this Saturday. Although our cameras and lenses are supposed to be able to handle the rain, I do not know of a photographer that will shoot in the rain without protecting the equipment with some type of 'raingear'.

One sees all kinds. Nice expensive 'rainsuits' that may cost two or three hundred dollars cover some cameras and lenses but likewise you will also see a variety of plastic bags, freezer bags, tape and rubber bands holding something together on the camera. At Florida I tried something new, that worked well for me, and I plan to try to improve on it for my next rain event ( this Saturday?).

What I will do is wrap the camera and the lenses, individually, with something like clear Saran Wrap. Clear, in order to see through easily and while this is protecting the equipment from the elements it is very lightweight and non-bulky. The reason I mention wrapping the equipment separately is that you are then better able to change lenses (changing lenses is often NOT a good option when the cover is taped or velcro'd together as one piece). Whatever you decide to do about the 'rain cover', I suggest that you rehearse it prior to the event to see if it will work and meet your needs.

Back to the planning and preparation for the last game...

This is not only the last game of the regular football season but a rivalry game. Although there is still a bowl game to look forward to, remember that there are special memorable moments in this game that should be captured. That key block, that goal line stand, that pass to the corner of the end zone or the fumble recovery or interception. Everything is magnified in importance on the last regular season game and it's a rivalry match-up. We are not guaranteed the future and this could be the last college game that a particular player participates in and how special would it be to capture the emotion and action in a special photo.

What's new?

November 7th, right before the Kentucky Wesleyan basketball game that night and the Arkansas football on Saturday, I got a new lens. The lens is the new Canon 200mm F/2L EF IS USM lens and it is as good as advertised. The photographers reading this may wonder what makes this lens so special. Briefly, it is made for low light (f/2 is much faster than an f/2.8 lens) and being a Prime lens (non-zoom) the sharpness of the image is without compare. The lens is popular with two groups of photographers, the sports action photographers and wedding or portrait photographers for obvious reasons. It is beyond compare when creating a good bokeh (the out of focus area in the background).


200mm used at the D. J. Swearinger Press Conference at Greenwood High School

I've found it to be excellent when using it at basketball games but it has been a pleasant surprise when shooting press conferences (such as the Swearinger and Quarles Presser at Greenwood High School on Monday) and for daylight football games (no-brainer that it would be great for night football). The advantages manifest themselves in all of the key areas of camera settings as I am able to shoot without maxing out the F-stop setting with a lower (maybe an 800) ISO and 1/640th of a second for basketball. Or I would also have the ability to change some settings and greatly increase my depth-of-field (amount of image that is in sharp focus).


Using the wide angle zoom lens under the basket.


Using the 200mm at a basketball game - picture is cropped.

For basketball games I like to team the new 200mm lens (for normal shots) with a wide-angle zoom lens for close-up shots under the basket action (see picture above). For football, if a day game, I would mount the 200mm lens on the Canon 1D, Mark 3 body for a shot equivalent to 240mm and use the 300mm lens with an extender on a Canon 40D body giving an equivalent magnification of a 672mm lens. With that degree of magnification for football, I would use either a normal wide-angle or a super wide-angle lens for the up close shots (Captains at mid-field, stadium and crowd shots, post-game celebrations and interviews).

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A sequence of photos - "The Lost Helmet"...

How can this happen?



I put a picture in an upcoming Gallery from the Arkansas game that showed Jordin Lindsey with his helmet in hand. By the way, the referee is catching the football, it isn't a magic stunt. Previously, in the game, Kenny McKinley had also lost his helmet on a play. Surely you have wondered how this happens. A football helmet has not one but two straps securing the chin strap to the helmet. This will be a sequence of eleven (11) photos that I shot during one play (in less than two seconds time). The photos illustrate what happened on one particular play but obviously there can be other reasons for a helmet to come lose and go bouncing across the field.

Since I was dealing with the shadows on the field, my camera settings had been changing throughout the day. At the time of these photos, and on this particular camera I was shooting at 1/664th of a second with an ISO of 400. The f/stop varied from f/5 to f4.6. Remember, the camera (a Canon 1D Mark 3) is capable of ten frames per second (depending on other variables that we won't go into at this time).

These pictures were also shot with my newest lens. It is the latest Canon EF200mm f/2L, IS USM lens with some utterly amazing ability to capture action shots, especially in low light. But that's a whole different story that we will save for a later time.

I find it truly amazing when you split a football play into ten or twenty pictures. Incredible detail in Hi-resolution. Often when I am watching the replays of a game on television I am still surprised that the plays only take a few seconds of high-speed action and then they are over. It is really interesting to see the photographers checking their digital cameras after a play, in essence doing the famous 'further review of the play' to their own satisfaction (with no delay of game!).

But there has been discussion on the Insider Forum lately around a series of photographs breaking down a play, in this case, Mike Davis's touchdown run (a play or two after the 'helmet photos' that I will be showing in this blog). So today when I was going through my Arkansas game pictures putting together my next gallery I noticed these pictures that illustrated at least one way that a player lost his helmet while in the midst of doing battle (trying to tackle Mike Davis).

Of these eleven pictures, only picture number 2 is included in my galleries as we try to NOT show too many rapid sequence shots but make ourselves try to decide which shot would capture the essence of the play and tell a story. Truthfully, it can be a difficult call to make when there are so many to choose from and the pictures can vary ever so slightly.

Hopefully, you will find this interesting as well. Also, I did not crop the pictures as tightly as I normally would as several people were enjoying studying the linemen handling their blocking assignments.

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Tennessee...

Changes in Knoxville...



Prior to the game, I was able to capture the intensity in Philip Fulmer's face as he studied the Gamecocks during the pre-game warm ups. When we have opportunity to get pre-game pictures of the coach's, I always find it interesting to study their faces, demeanor, and body language. This is definitely not always an option though as some coaches will remain focused on their teams (or at least away from the center of the field).



On Saturday, both coaches chatted for, what was to me, an unusually long period of time. Who knows, or cares, what was talked about but they both know football, coaching, and each other in depth and have for quite some time. I am not as familiar with Phil Fulmer as I am with Steve Spurrier, but it never ceases to amaze me how Steve can remember the details of such-n-such of a play in a game that was played MANY years ago. Specific details. But the pictures recorded the event of them chatting during pre-game at mid-field , and as happens so often in life, the event will not happen again.



How about those new Palmetto Tree's and Crescents on the field! As soon as I arrived in the Press Box, two and half hours, or so, prior to the game and looked at the field I immediately noticed them and thought "Wow!". I do not know whose idea it was, but it seemed to be very well received. I could have taken the picture from above with a telephoto but decided that a closer perspective would appear better. For those who were unable to see the game, I captured this image that was painted on the field. There was one on each side of the field balanced with the SEC logos beside them.



Now to get into some of the photography part of the photo blog. As many of you know, all during August we took pictures of the team practicing over at Bluff Road and scrimmaging at Williams-Brice, and then the games began. Occasionally (?) we take pictures of the guys as they warm-up and stretch. How to keep it interesting and provide a fresh perspective? In this case, I was able to lay the camera on the grass (Canon makes a 'Right Angle' viewfinder that makes this so much easier than other methods of obtaining the same picture). During this time of the day, I was able to get the proper lighting on Ryan (and NOT too much back lighting behind him) by aiming towards the corner and use the light that was being reflected back onto the field from the stadium that was basically behind me.

Whatever works...



I decided to take a moment and shoot those shooting around me. Hey it sounds like war but it's not! If you are watching the game on television the photographer's are usually right out of the camera's view. If we are 'above' the field/picture then that area on the television is where the network puts the 'details' at the top of the screen (time, down, score, etc.). So I included a couple of pictures to give you a general idea. Remember that I mentioned previously in the blog that at Williams-Brice Stadium we cannot shoot from the end-lines? Well, that is one of the reasons why the photographer's are packed in so tightly next to each other.



There is always much discussion amongst photographer's as to which is best. Nikon or Canon? Both are very good and the results can be outstanding with either. At USC there seems to be more Canon equipment than Nikon by a fairly good margin. The Canon telephoto lenses are the cream colored lenses in the pictures. However, not all black lenses are Nikon. You will see a variety of other cameras and lenses on the field (Fuji Cameras, Sigma Lenses, etc.). I have three different Canon wide-angle lenses that are all black lenses. Also, lenses perform differently on various camera bodies. Without getting too technical, depending on the size of the sensor on a particular camera, a telephoto could be much stronger on one camera than on another camera body. Likewise, a wide angle could become almost a super wide angle, in effect, if it were changed from one camera body to another.

However, if you are thinking of investing in some camera equipment, it is worth some very serious research. Before I committed to Canon or Nikon, I did my due diligence. One of the people that gave me good information was Ken Rathe (Mike Rathe's, late father). We had many good discussions on the sideline as Mike would play and Ken would come from California to watch. I really appreciated his input. I talked to many people and did lots of reading before committing and I am glad that I was thorough.

But remember, a good lens will likely last a lifetime or decades. Cameras get passed by with new technology regularly so you will probably be replacing a camera much sooner than you will be replacing a lens. Prior to the game Saturday, I had fun with one of the players that is redshirting this year. He was interested in watching me take pictures. So I let him use one of the cameras to try and get a picture, he was blown away with the technology and the fun part of it. We both enjoyed that experience!

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Basketball and Football...

SEC Basketball Media Days...

First, a few words on Basketball before getting back to Football coverage. Beginning the 21st through the 23rd of October, David Cloninger and I were in Birmingham, Alabama covering the 2009 Hoops Basketball Tipoff for the Southeastern Conference Media Days. It was a great event as all of the SEC Men's and Women's teams were represented by their coaches and a couple of players from each of the school's basketball teams. For the writers, it was a great time to meet one-on-one with all of the coaches and athletes, and get their stories and answers to whatever questions were pertinent. From a photographer's perspective, it was an excellent opportunity to get candid photos of the various coaches and athletes.



Here is a link to one of David Cloninger's stories from Birmingham (I will be discussing part of this story in the blog). Usually this is PREMIUM content but the article is now FREE so you can now reference it. As always, there were a variety of points of emphasis or rule changes discussed. The easiest was the movement of the 3-point line to 20 feet, 9 inches and, in my opinion, the most difficult was the discussion regarding Technical fouls and the new Class A and Class B classifications. This is all covered in Dave's story.

A LINK to David's 'Media Days Notebook, Day 1':
Media Day Story


The restraining line and the restraining box...

As David mentioned, The SEC Supervisor of Officials, Gerald Boudreaux, stated that one area that has drawn a lot of comment is the restraining line or the restraining box. This is NOT a new rule; the rule just states that there should be six(6) feet from the end line to the end of the court.

That is a no zone area; non-playing personnel should not be in that area. As David said, "How that affects Colonial Life Arena is how much room there will be between the first row of seats and the court. Normally, that area has been reserved for photographers and/or the cheerleading/dance team." This will be something to watch for and see how it is handled in Columbia as well as across the country. Speaking from experience, usually every square foot of space is used on these end lines with network and local television cameras, action photographers, and at Carolina the Dance Team is on one end line and on the opposite end line are the cheerleaders and Cocky. This emphasis on clearing the area is for a good reason, safety. However, although it won't change anything regarding this emphasis, but it is not an unusual occurrence to see a player end up in the front row of seats, down an aisle, or leaping a table along the sideline. Who can't remember seeing this happen at games?



So there will be a new floor to play on at the Colonial Life Arena, and who knows what other changes will be evident! There is definitely excitement as the tipoff is much anticipated by team and fans alike.



Two weeks from today is the first game. The Jacksonville State Gamecocks come to town.

On to football...



Now a few tips on photography as it relates to shooting football. It seems like there is always much discussion each week around the kickoff time for the upcoming game. Day or night makes little difference, photographers adjust.

Sunset Saturday is 6:34PM, so it'll be a 'night game' for the entire game (kickoff at 7:05PM) . With night games, there are advantages and disadvantages when it comes to setting up the cameras for good picture taking. The disadvantage is that for an afternoon game a photographer has to be aware that the light is constantly varying and when a different camera is used you have to be aware of what the light was when you last shot with it. That sounds simple but when you are caught up in the action, you have to remember to be ready and monitor the changes. Even 'white balance' may vary during the course of a afternoon ballgame and may need to be adjusted.

The main advantage when shooting a night football game is that once you have the settings where you want to have them, the light does not change much for the entire game. You may or may not have noticed at Williams-Brice Stadium that there are more lights in the Press Box bank of lights than on the opposite side of the field. This translates on the field to your ability to generally be able to shoot with a lower ISO, a faster shutter speed, or a higher f- stop, when you are on the brighter side of the field. And vice versa on the side of the stadium that is darker.

Your goal is to find the best balance of the three key factors (ISO, Aperture, Shutter speed). With today's new high quality cameras, the digital noise has been greatly reduced when using the higher ISO settings. There are different theories on what f-stop to use but I try to avoid f2.8 if I can get by with f3.2. Why? Just that little bit of difference on giving you slightly more depth of field can be very useful as you can often get a more meaningful action shot. The key factor is shutter speed. The minimum is generally is considered to be 500th of a second. Both CJ and I shoot with Image Stabilization lenses and use monopods to help give us the sharp clear images desired and I have had good fortune (luck?) shooting some night action at 400th of a second shutter speed. The Canon Image Stabilizer uses sensors to detect motion and generate a corrective signal to reduce blur caused by camera movement. An image-stabilizing lens group along the optical axis is shifted in response to the detected motion, providing effective cancellation of unwanted lens movement and vibration.

Depth of field is fun to experiment with as different situations provide nice opportunities. If you are shooting something fairly stable (or non-moving) such as the offense in the 'set' position you could drop your shutter speed to 1/200 or 1/250 and gain substantial amounts of the picture that are in focus (depth of field). If you are shooting a receiver running a pass route into your corner of the endzone, you better have AT LEAST 1/500 shutter speed or you'll be rewarded/penalized with a blurry picture.

ISO settings can be a discussion in itself. I've found that I can experience relatively low noise as high as ISO3200 or ISO6400 (or am able to reduce noise sufficiently with post-edit software). However, I suggest that you use your camera and take a variety of test shots at EACH ISO setting so that you can actually know beforehand what will result. If I am shooting in daylight conditions, I prefer an ISO or 250 to 320, although I could go as low as ISO of 50. Situations will often dictate how your camera will be setup but you know prior to shooting the expected result.

Okay, I don't want to lose you, nor bore you, so that'll be all of the 'technical information' shared in this blog. Not to worry, we'll include much more in future blogs.

This week, the Tennessee Volunteers...

Hey, the State Fair is gone. Parking is back to normal. This week the South Carolina Gamecocks will welcome the Tennessee Volunteers to Williams-Brice Stadium Saturday. The game will be nationally televised by ESPN2. The weather forecast currently appears to be cool but NOT COLD. For me, it will certainly be good to be back shooting football after a week off.

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Another Away Game - Kentucky...

Another SEC 'road trip'!

What a beautiful time of the year to make the trip up the Interstate system to Lexington! The weather was beautiful all the way and we had no traffic problems. From Clinton, SC to Lexington took around six hours and the return trip was under six hours as the traffic was much lighter than the Friday traffic.

Lexington...

Each city has it's own personality, so to speak. Lexington is in the middle of 'horse country'. Our motel was on Man o' War Boulevard, one of the major arteries of Lexington. Named after a famous race horse, this road was completed during the 1980's. Absolutely an abundance of shopping malls, restaurants and motels in a suburban environment.

We arrived in time to go into the downtown area for the evening. This Friday the night found the city to be in an excitement mode of operation. Big football game tomorrow right? Wrong. Anticipation was all surrounding the Midnight Madness introduction of the Men's and Women's basketball teams at Rupp Arena. Elsewhere (away from Lexington and a handful of other schools) this type of event was causing a furor.

That the NCAA gave permission to several schools (Illinois, Kentucky, Marshall and West Virginia ) to hold public events a week ahead of the official start of practices angered many. The National Association of Basketball Coaches said a jump start may give programs a significant recruiting advantage since it can lure recruits a weekend ahead of the other Division I teams. Because of the uproar over these events, the NCAA is expected to ban future public preseason events, like Saturday's practice at Illinois and Midnight Madness at Kentucky, through emergency legislation on Oct. 29.

Tailgating atmosphere...

The stadium and grounds are beautiful. Not a warehouse in sight. Rolling hills, grassy knolls, and sidewalks introduce you to Commonwealth Stadium. Unlike other Venues in the SEC. Tailgating is setup wherever one parks and it could be on, or beside, a paved parking lot or it could be in the grassy areas adjoining the paved ones. The color of the day, to be expected, is BLUE. Very little white although , yes, the Gamecocks were setup as always with the traditional Garnet and Black.

As I mentioned last week, each stadium is different. This stadium was very photographer friendly! Unlike last week, there were zero (0) steps (either up or down) to get to and from the field. The photographer area was near the field (in the opposite corner from our band and fan section), as was the room for the Visitor press conference (post game) and the Visitor locker room. Although the photographer's room was tight (space-wise) , we had everything conveniently located in the vicinity.





Game on...

It was a beautiful clear day with a temperature beginning in the 70's and moving to the mid-80's. As last week, the photographers can shoot from the end lines (and the sidelines were not crowded at all). When Weslye lined up prior to his touchdown catch, I was able to move about fifteen feet from where I had been and stand right between two of the UK Dance Team members and was ready as he came directly toward me. Of all the plays that could have been run to score the touchdown, THAT was the perfect play for me at that time.





This week, LSU comes to town...

Game's at 8PM on ESPN, the State Fair is setup 'next door', the weather forecast currently appears cool but rain chance minimal. My prediction: it'll be a late night (or Early Morning) leaving Williams-Brice. My goal is to be out of there before 2 a.m. after having sent the first of our various Game Galleries to the site, for all of those who are up at that time of the morning anxiously awaiting them!

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