Sports

The interesting birds eye view is what makes this image so dynamic. Even though the depth of field is so shallow due to the scale of the shot and the wide aperture of f/2.8, the climbers’ hands and feet are clearly visible. The dark side of the rockface forces the viewer’s eye to the right, where it’s brighter, and incidentally where the action is.

Tracking fast-moving subjects is hard, but dragging the shutter and hoping for a sharp shot at the same time is very difficult, indeed. Here we’re able to read the name and number on the players shirt and also view the extreme blurring on background, and players alike.

The eye contact is what draws us into this shot. We connect with the bowler, who has also connected the ball with the wickets to bowl out the batter. You can feel the speed of the throw by the bowler’s body flying through the air.

The lane marker lines on the floor run in opposite diagonal direction to the line-up of the athletes as they sprint off the line. The tight crop brings us close to the action, and it is well-timed so that no competitors’ face is obscured by a stray hand which is tough to do with runners.

The dust cloud kicked up behind the subject occludes a busy background and makes a great backdrop for this action-packed scene. Riders are in full right-turn and we can feel the exhilaration with one of them just inches from the ground.

You can feel the visceral energy as the athletes pound away at each other in the ring. The power is shown through the clashing heads and sweat flying off their bodies. A fast shutter speed of 1/1000 sec has frozen the motion and even though ISO is 2000 the exposure is balanced nicely to as to avoid high ISO noise.

Shooting at just -2 degrees celsius on a cold January day, you can feel the chills as rugby players scrum in the precipitation. The image is full of movement and actually shows a story. One player on the team that’s won the ball from the scrum has run out to the right but an opposing player lunges forward ready to tackle.