angel city vs emerald city junior jammers at the Big O 2017: compelling frame: lesson 1: frame 6.

Back to derby.



7 May 2017. Lane Community Event Center. Eugene, OR.  Emerald City (black) vs Angel City (white) juniors.

f3.4. 1/180th.  ISO 800. Leica M-240 with a 60mm Konica Minolta Hexanon-- cropped-- shot from center track, turn 1-2 with a little on-camera flash and off-camera flash to the left.

The questions:

1. As with most derby-action phtoos, the intent is to show some sort of sportsy intense roller derby action moment-- this jammer shot has two jammers -- one chasing -- being chased by the other.
2. I always find it easier to shoot horizontal and while gently cropped -- I did keep the same 3x2 aspect ratio.  these sorts of shots-- I almost always leave a bit of room in the frame for the skaters to skate into.
3. lines & shapes:  There's the line of the track boundary -- the line of the sport court and the repeated shape of the 2 jammers-- the dominant "line" is the line if you could connect the head of the white jammer to the tail of the black jammer-- that's what commands the eye's attention.
4. the light-- is a mix of ambient and the strobe-- the background is blurred by the two light sources as well as the faster hands and feet of the near skater.  The off-camera flash to the left make the leading face/shoulders/face mask glow-- which is really quite nice.
5. I'm shooting from center track standing up-- so I'm a little higher than the skaters-- I imagine it might be a stronger image if I was crouching a bit-- but it's hard to do that shooting center track-- I have to keep 1/2 an eye on the inside referees after all.
6. The moment is two jammers chasing. I wonder if the moment was a bit latter-- the black jammer about 2 heads closer to the white jammer with her dark helmet framed by the other jammer's white jersey-- would that image be stronger-- a bit more dramatic if the two jammers were closer together?  yes-- but it's sports photography-- you get the moment that you get-- the moment that is presented to you.
7.  I do like the repeated elements of the two jammers in very similar poses- one black-- one white.
8. The background elements are not so important to the image.  I think the image would work better if the background was of an out-of-focus audience instead of vendor tables.
9. It's a color photograph-- it's red and black and white.  Nothing too clashy -- or noteworthy-- but the red stars work nicely-- the common element of the two jammers.
10. I think the image is balanced.

also the printed glossy version does look nice.