Sometimes you an assignment that reminds you of how good you have it!

Last night I covered a game for a friend of mine - regional football league final, which really made me realise how good many professional photographers have it in regards to the conditions (read : lighting) they have it. And despite all of that, many of us still like to complain a little about it, either in silence or to fellow photographers.

Football is something I tend to stay away from covering in England, but this week I covered two games. One at St Andrew's (home of Birmingham City FC) and another at Boldmere. Game at St Andrew's I managed to cover using ISO3200-5000 at 1/1000 and f3.2-f4.0, game Boldmere, well - ISO was upped to 12800 and 1/800 and f2.8-f3.5 and even that was only in few spots of the ground.

These two experiences just made me think how things actually get a whole lot easier for photographers as they move up to cover more professional leagues. Looking at a Premier League game on TV and seeing 8 photographers sitting next to one another, pointing their lenses the same way, with identical focal length lenses.. in a well light stadium. Now where is the challenge in that :-) (apart from the game being extremely boring!)

Sitting in a misty, partially light non-league ground, with possibly not the most expensive camera body and no f2.8 lens at hand - now that is where you challenge to get some good images.

So - respect to the photographers who go to these poorly light venues with a Canon 400D and a Sigma 18-200mm lens (camera and lens mentioned just as example - and it was also what I started with myself!)  and come away with good photos. And note to self - do not complain next time the light is just a little bit off 'perfect'!!

Due to images from both games being sent for clients - unfortunately I am not able to post samples of images, but here is an image of the Boldmere ground in five images, taken in little over a second at f4, 1/640 and ISO128000, to show not only that the light isn't the brightest - but that it also comes in waves.

As for the game covered last night, definitely more entertaining than the professional level of the game in this country....

Now you see it, Now you don't.Now you see it, Now you don't.