Practical Photography - UK (2019-09)

I was lookingfora newprojectand

thoughtI’dtryrugby.It wasKendal’s

lastseasonat theiroldsiteandthey

wanteda visualrecord.Thisimage

wastakenon a verycoldSaturday

afternoonjustafterKendal

scoreda try.It wasa spontaneous

shot.Editsweremadein Lightroom

usingNik’sColorEfexplug-in,

withgrainaddedin SilverEfex.

tinyurl.com/y6tjngk8

Bensays:Youcan almost

fe elthewindandraindripping

offPaul’sshot!Thisis exactly

the kindof grittysportsimage

thatadornedthebackpagesof

everylo calnewspaperbackin the

20 thcentury.It’swellcomposedand

capturesa palpablesenseof teamspirit

and grimdetermination.Theblack&white

tr eatmentsuitsthesubjectmatterperfectly,

cuttingto thechaseto tellitsstoryin a fineart

fa shion.On a purelyaestheticlevel,Paul’simage

isa try-scoringsuccess.

Ona technicallevel,thereareoneor two

in terestingquirks.TheD700’shighestnative

ISOis 6400,whichmeansthatPaulusedthe

High1 setting,resultingin a super-fastshutter

speed.Noiselevelsmusthave

beenoffthescale,whichmight

explainwhythere’sevidenceof

a selectionmadearoundtheplayers

and new‘grain’addedviaa plug-in.

Thisis a soundapproach,althoughthe

noticeablehalosuggeststhatan automated

selectiontoolsuchas MagicWandwasused

ratherthana moreaccuratemanualtechnique.

Editingquibblesaside,thefactthatPaul’s

shotsof Kendal’slastseasonattheiroldground

nowhangproudlyin theteam’snewclubhouse

te llsusthathisrugbyprojectreallyhit thespot.

Proofthatsteppingoutof yourcomfortzonecan

beincrediblyrewarding.Greatstuff,Paul!

80 PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY

This is well

composed

and captures

a palpable

sense of team

spirit and grim

determination

Feedback

Teamspirit

byPaulWant

TIP

LIMITTHEISO

Althoughsomecameras

claimISOsettingsas high

as3,280,200,to ensure

maximumimagequality,

we’d recommendyou

se t ISO 800 as a

li mit.

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