Competition #82 - Sport and Exercise

[PhilipHowe]

Well, it's coming to the end of January. Many people will have joined the gym after new year, started a new sport, taken a bit of exercise, bit of walking, yes? I'm sure by now it's waining slightly, so theis competition is about those who haven't given up yet!

Sport and exercise in the broadest terms please, man, woman, child, animal. Any sport will do, any exercise will do.

Competition end will be midnight Monday 6th February, thanks.

[mike-e]

A I don't do exercise I though I'd ask someone else to try some
Here is my take on sport and excercise
'Jump'

[yachtsman1]

My picture was taken at the Hunton Steam Fair in Wensleydale a couple of years ago. I chose it because IMO it depicts the concentration a 12 year old is using to acheive his skill.

[John]

How about a bit of pole dancing? Becky shows how!

[Tracey McGovern]

Lisa---Keep-Fit.jpg (98.9 KiB) Viewed 9946 times

[pammie]

Sport of Kings

[Stu B]

Luke Donald... World no1 golfer for 2011. Which is my sport.. First Englishman to top both the US and European tour money lists in the same year. Which not only makes him better than me, but very very rich indeed...

[Janice Freeman]

Having a Ball

[STEEWOOD]

High Tackle

grapple tackle.jpg (244.45 KiB) Viewed 9899 times

Rugby tough sport no way past for this lad

[Paul Jones]

[paulinefisher]

Final Turn.jpg (221.67 KiB) Viewed 9831 times

[angie.eldon]

Like my hubby I dont do exercise as you can probably tell I leave it to the kids, so here is my offering I like to call it see emily play lol!!!

044.jpg (82.06 KiB) Viewed 9814 times

[PhilipHowe]

Hi, firstly, thank you all for entering the competition.

Mike

I really like this. The perspective is good and the poses fit as well. It did take me a little while to work out that the left and middle weren't clones of each other as the head has moved slightly. This will sound daft, but I think there is a bit too much blue in the photo, although, looking at your avatar, I understand.

Yachtsman1

I've tried photographing a few motor sports and there are a few rules that help to make phtotos a little better than others. One is that wheels should look to be in motion. I know that this bike is only going a couple of miles an hour, but I can clearly see from the back wheel that it is in motion. Even on the front wheel, there is a slight movement, so you must have used a smaller aperture. Obviously, the other side of this is that the background then becomes more in focus and noticeable.

A judge once said of my BMX photo that the background was distracting, but at an event, you can't ask the rider to move round a bit.

John

I like your idea of sport and exercise John. I assume that being upside down on a pole, you are never exactly going to look fully comfortable (but I will be studying this over the coming weeks!). Eye contact is good, background a bit distracting, but it would be too much effort to move the pole!

Tracey

You appear to have photographed Kate Bush in her younger years, and I approve. I don't know about the pose, whether it's yoga, circus, or simply just a pose. I think her heair blends with the background a little bit too much. I'm slightly distracted by the fact i don't know what shes doing.

Pammie

I'm not a big fan of colour popping, because I think it's slightly overused and usually, I can't see the reason it was used. Not so here. I can see that it was used to seperate from the background. The background is blurred, so you have a good panning technique. I wonder what it looks like without the colour pop. I'm not bothered that there are only two horses and someone will think there should be three, or that one horse is covering the other. This is a good action shot. I also like the space for the horses to run into on the right.

Stu

Well, I'll start off by saying this is a lovely portrait. Add to that he is the worlds number one golfer and he is at the end of his swing and it's a great portrait. I have a small issue with his hair, in that it looks like you may have blurred the background afterwards and the hair is not perfect. I like the space to the left and the fact it's cut off at his wrist is not a problem for me, I know he's got a club in his hand, I don't need to know which one.

Personally, I think I might have cropped the top of his hair off.

Janice

I love this, look at the concentration on his face and he really has kicked that ball hard. I think you've used a colour spot to create a kind of vignette and I don't know if I like it.

Steewood

Another good action shot, good bright colours, but I think you've used a spot blur. For instance, there is blur on the back of the player involved on the right, but the badge on the player behind is in focus, unfortunately, this then catches the eye more than the action itself. Without the blur, I would have liked it a lot more.

Paul Jones

A bit cheeky and another lovely portrait. There is something on the left that keeps drawing my eye, distracting me somewhat. I just noticed, the crop on the right leaves a bit of her arm in. Joking aside, the lighting on the guy is really good and the composite of the two is good.

Pauline

Another good action shot. Again, I like the colours, but the blurring distracts me a little bit. On the focus plane, the horse on the right would be in focus along with the two or three that are. I really like the vignette, it definately adds something.


Angie

This is lovely, all the concentration is on the ball, a well lit studio portrait, very cute.

So the awards:

3rd - Janice - I love this photo, it's definately one for a family album, he's hit that like Beckham against Greece, love it.

2nd - Pammie - I think this is great through all the photo and I love the aspect. This is a really good example of a photo made for the web, nice and wide. The colour pop really works and you can see a little bit of charachter in the crowd behind.

1st - Stu B - Well, the two things I like to photograph most are portraits and sport. This is a great portrait. I like the framing, but it would lose nothing without it. This would sit nicely in any golf magazine, you have a clear headshot, you can tell he's on the course and you also managed to get all his sponsors in as well. Excellant shot, even Mrs Howe picked it as her winner.

[Stu B]

"OMG" I'm speechless... Which is rare for me.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to enter.
I never ever thought I'd be a winner. Which should encourage some of the other members to try.
Phil, you are my most favourite club member...lol Thankyou.
With a keen eye, only second to Mrs Howe it seems..

This has now thrown me a little, As to the next subject, So i'; go away and have a think about it and post one later.

[Paul Jones]

Good judging Philip.

Well done Stu. That's a cracking shot. Over to you to now post a theme for the next competition with the usual two week deadline.