A few from recent matches.

[Lensmeister]

C & C welcomed :

#1 - Croydon FC vs Thamesmead Town (not a particually good angle)
[img width=750 height=557]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c346/LensMan_/Croydon_09_09_06/image14.jpg[/img]

#2 - Vicious tackle.
[img width=750 height=561]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c346/LensMan_/Croydon_28_08_06/image10.jpg[/img]

#3 - Battleing to keep the ball in play.
[img width=750 height=818]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c346/LensMan_/Croydon_28_08_06/image11.jpg[/img]

[cyclohexane]

Good shots. One and two could be cropped tighter; the ref doesn't add anything in the second one, and could be removed while keeping the 3:2 aspect ratio. The third one's nice and tight, but I wish we could see the faces better; I'd try adding 1/3 to 2/3 stop extra exposure to bring out the faces.

All three seem to be exhibiting a certain degree of softness, but your high shutter speeds eliminate motion blur and probably camera shake as well. Also, given the fact that you're getting 1/3200 second, f/2.8, ISO 100, I doubt this is due to focusing errors, so my guess is either (1) how you're sharpening the files and (2) how you're compressing for the web.

[Lensmeister]

Thanks for the comments .... The ref is perfectly placed to the out come of the incident ... a booking for dangerous play, hence his inclusion.

I tend to use PS and unsharp mask and reduce the size down to approx 12 inches to fit on my site pages better.

Shooting with a Sigma 70-210mm f/2.8 APO is rather tiring so it might be a little of the dreaded shake as these were shot not using a monopod which I usually use.

[cyclohexane]

Heh, didn't think of that with the second pic. Good point. I originally had "the player in the back" before I looked again and realized he was a ref, so I just replaced "player", LOL. =)

[Lensmeister]

Tis ok ...... Refs ... gotta love themmmm this should have been a straight red .. he was perfectly placed ...... but the Beckenham player (in Yellow) got away with a yellow !

.......

[cyclohexane]

Only yellow?* Wow.

My favorite ref moment is probably when we switched fields for a day, and everyone was confused about the new markings (hard to see blue on green too), so a bunch of us ended up on the field.* The ref stopped the game, yelled at me for holding up the game, and then proceeded to chew me for much longer than it would have taken to simply tell everyone to get off the field and let us move.* Guess he wanted to make the impression last, LOL. Also, after the game, some of our players told me they didn't know about the blue lines either.

This is the same ref that got in a fight with a coach and stopped the game to card the coach, among other things.* Eventually, the ref and the coach were in an argument on the ethics of soccer and play tactics...

[Lensmeister]

WOrst Ref moment ... the season the introduced the back pass rule .... this defender skied it over his head and the wind caught it and took it back to the keeper ... the defencer was facing the oppositions goal .... the ball lofted over his head and behind him ... the keeper correctly caught it and the ref gave a freekick for a backpass ! ... go figure .......

Funniest Ref moment ....

This bloke was really slating a midfielder and the ref stopped play ... walked over and sir please can you tone it down ... the bloke siad up yours mate ... you can tell that no good usless Moron that if he doesn't sort himself out he can stay out of his house and when I tell his mother how bad he is she'll stop him coming home too .... the ref shrugged and smiled and walked away !

[KABeach]

Good timing and framing. I agree, the images do look soft - could be a lens, could be camera shake (even at that speed). Image three is underexposed by .7 - 1 stop. When shooting backlight like that, let the highlights blow, the goal is to get the correct exposure for the faces.

I thing the first issue is to figure out where the softness is coming from.

Cheers!
Ken