Rugby

I just love this image!!! It sums up rugby in a single capture. The melee of the ruck, the muddy and bleeding players, the seemingly injured player in the foreground, the line of defending players waiting in apprehension, the almost nonchalant look of the man at the back of the ruck and last but certainly not least the look, of dare I say madness, on the face of the player with the ball.

I think the shot has been taken at exactly the right moment to capture all the expressions of the players and convey the story of the game. I have actually constructed a scenario in my mind around the game and what is happening simply because the picture seems to convey so much. I am left wanting to know what happens next?

Excellent photography and a well deserved winner.

My first reaction to this image was that it was not particularly well composed, as it was too squashed into the right, with no space for the player with the ball to move. However, that only applies if you perceive that the player with ball in hand is the subject of the image. Consider the player on the extreme left as the subject and the image has a whole different meaning. She is clear and sharp and entirely focussed on the ball. The position of her limbs pointing to the corner diagonals and her position within the shot gave a sense of power and dynamism. Does she make the tackle before the ball is away? Is she offside? What happens next? Better overall framing would have made this a fantastic image.

Well spotted!

It is not often that we get moments like this in rugby. The player in the ground seems entirely relaxed and comfortable being there and his face is just catching the light too, you must have been happy when it all came together for you.

A quirky and unusual image. To most people what happens in the scrum is a dark art that they have little knowledge or understanding of. To see the scrum from this perspective therefore is interesting in itself. However, the photograph has been well taken, the white of the eye of the player with the scrum cap is clearly visible and he is looking at something off camera. His eye acts as the focal point of the image and is almost in the classic rule of thirds position. This clever composition humanises the unfamiliar and allows the viewer to comfortably explore round the image, taking in the hand positions, the face of the other second row player and the physique of a typical front row.

Well done!

I like this image, so why didn’t I place it?

Scrums are always a good place to get interesting photographs and this one is no exception. There is a mass of muddy and dirty bodies fighting over a ball. The low perspective is perfect for seeing into the scrum, but it is difficult to see the ball, in fact it is difficult to pick out any real focus point for the image.

The close crop reinforces the feeling that the image is a mass of bodies and it may be difficult for the viewer to make sense of them. This, coupled with the lack of a clear and distinctive focal point for the viewer to rest their eye suggests to me that most viewers may not take the time to explore the picture in the way that it deserves.

At 3200 ISO I assume the picture has been shot in low light and the processing appears to show that there has been further attempts to lighten the image. I personally would have not been afraid to have gone for a much bigger aperture f2.8 if available and higher ISO to have a lighter exposure. The shallower depth of field and resulting grain would not have detracted too much more from the photograph but may have allowed more opportunity for the viewer to see into the scrum and pick out the ball.