My nieces playing soccer

Last weekend, I traveled to the Poconos to take some pictures of my nieces playing soccer. So here are a few of the better images. I encountered a few problems while shooting, and as always, I learned some valuable lessons.

I wish I could have had the games postponed, because they started just before midday – the worst of possible shooting conditions that don't involve rain, sleet, snow or hail. Anyway, I came away with some decent snaps, but the high sun was fertile ground for plenty of unflattering light and shadows on faces. I was able to fix some of the images in Photoshop, but a few couldn't be saved. I made the mistake of shooting in shutter priority to freeze the action, but I should have shot in full manual and bracketed for better depth of field. Next time.

All images were taken with a Canon EOS 5D and a Canon 70-200mm f2.8 image stabilized lens at ISO 100, 1/500 sec., aperture unrecorded (but it was varying between f4-5.6 most of the time; hence, the poor depth of field).

My eight-year old niece Megan (above) was the first game. I had so much fun shooting these kids because of all of the expressions on their faces. They seem to be excited to just be playing the game. Sometimes it was a bit difficult to get shots because the kids bunched around the ball quite a bit (my brother called it the "bumble bee effect" – the kids just swarm the ball).

As you can see, Megan is quite a ham for the camera. As soon as she saw me on the sidelines, she was smiling and waving. The one above is my favorite – she was busy waving to me, posing and smiling, while the action was coming toward her. I didn't know whether to capture the funny moment in the role of photographer, or to play the uncle by telling her to turn around. Luckily, she did turn around and no harm was done.

I like the one above, too – it looks like the boy is just a bit intimidated by Megan's aggressive play. She is a fireball, that's for sure – her parents sometimes have trouble containing her off the soccer field.

I know this one isn't the most flattering, but I love her look of determination.

Megs was a step behind in this one, but no harm done - no goal. Most of the kids at this age don't have powerful (or accurate) shots, but they make up for that in hustle. I got tired just watching them.

In this one, Megan's dad (and my brother, Todd) was telling her to tie her shoes. I love the expression of exasperation, which just screams, "What?!?" She could be looking at a referee after a bad call in this photo.

Another shot that captured the joy of playing the game. The expressions are priceless. The only downer about Megan's game is that they play 20-minute halves, so there's not a whole lot of time to capture the action. Just another excuse to go back to another game.

If there's one shot that personifies Megan, this one is it. I should point out that I wasn't calling her name or trying to get her attention, but once she saw me, she kept looking over at me and I couldn't resist getting as many as I could.

Shooting my niece Hayley's game was a lot different. The 12-year old teams actually (mostly) played their positions, and the game was pretty competitive. I quickly learned that sitting at one end of the field and waiting for the action is the wrong strategy, or at least it was for this soccer game. We arrived during the first half, and the game was pretty competitive, so I figured I'd see a lot of end-to-end action in the second half.

But, the second half proved to be all one-sided, and thankfully it was Hayley's team who was doing the dominating. Unfortunately, Hayley plays defense, so all of the action was at the other end. Right now, I only own a lens that goes out to 200mm, so I couldn't reach the other end. So, I got mobile and started walking up and down the sidelines, where I had much better luck. (I was having problems with my monopod, so I had to handhold my very large 70-200mm f2.8 Canon lens. Thank God for image stabilization.)

Above, Hayley (center) successfully defends an attacker.

I love this one, and I'm not really sure why. Probably because Hayley's hair is flying in the air.

Hayley makes another successful defensive stop. I had fun watching her - she's a very good player, and I'm sure her parents are looking forward to what she will do with soccer at the high school level.

As I mentioned, Hayley plays defense, and she wasn't seeing too much action in the second half, so I turned my attention to her teammates for action shots.

I like the action here, but I wish the depth of field was deeper. I swear, the next time I go to the girls' games, I will tie a string around my finger if I have to so I remember to bracket, bracket, bracket!

Hayley's teammate, #54, sure had a lot of hustle. She was flying around the field and I was doing my best to get a few pictures of her - this is one of the better ones.