Photography News Issue 30

Photography News Issue 30 absolutephoto.com

Preview

Left and above These two images show the quality on tap from the EOS-1D X Mark II. The full frame is on the left and while the one on the right is heavily cropped, it’s still perfectly suitable for publishing. Below The EOS-1D X Mark II improves the chances of getting a good shot by 50%, according to Eddie Keogh’s calculations.

Eddie Keogh Sports photographer

I’m working at a level where even the slightest thing makes a difference. Tonight [at West Ham v Liverpool], I’ll be sitting literally shoulder to shoulder with other agency photographers and my images need to stand out. We have this thing called ‘Dangle by the Angle’, which essentially means you can be beaten by another photographer sitting three metres to your left because in his picture of the action the referee’s arse wasn’t in the way or he could see the action better. In football and rugby there are a lot of people on the pitch and very often your view can be obscured by someone. West Ham is one of the worst places to shoot because you’re positioned where the substitutes warm up, so you can have a third of the game when you have people stretching in front of you – they don’t care that you’re trying to take pictures -– so sometimes you can get a goal picture and other times there will be someone standing in front of you. If I’m shooting more images more quickly, though, I’m more likely to get the shot and the 1D X Mark II gives me that advantage with its frame rate. EK: If someone is diving through the air going for a ball, instead of getting four frames with the 1DX, I might get six with the Mark II – it’s improving my chances of getting a good shot by maybe 50%. You’d be crazy not to use the 14fps because there’s no disadvantage – you’re giving yourself many more options. EK: The camera certainly tracks action better. At the Six Nations, I was shooting sequences of players running or being tackled and they were all sharp. Most of my shots are taken using the central focusing point, but I can confidently move the focusing point left and right depending on where the player PN: What else does the frame rate mean in practical terms? PN: What about the focusing system improvements?

Eddie has been shooting sport for the past 30 years, covering a wide range of disciplines including rugby, tennis, athletics and – his first love – football as well as shooting for corporate clients such as Rolex, Rolls-Royce andO2.Whenwe spoke to him recently about the EOS-1D X Mark II he’d only had limited time with the camera using it to capture indoor cycling and the opening weekend of the Six Nations rugby championships. He was also about to use it again, to shoot the FA Cup replay betweenWest Ham and Liverpool for the Reuters agency, which turned out to be quite eventful. Photography News: You haven’t had the camera long, what are your first thoughts? Eddie Keogh: I’ve really only used it for a couple of days, but I had a good chance to use it at the opening games of the Six Nations. I went to Scotland v England and then Ireland v Wales. In Murrayfield, the floodlights are very average at best, but the camera coped extremely well. The original 1D X is a great camera – it was a step up at the time and your expectations in terms of what’s possible are met. It’s only when you get given a new camera and it’s explained what it can do that you realise how much it’s going to help your picture-taking. EK: Two things are really helping me. The extra frames-per-second is crucial, although that’s no good if I’m shooting 14 out of focus frames-per-second. But the focusing is faster and the tracking seems much better. These are the biggest things that will affect my day-to-day work because I’m getting more pictures and that means more choice when it comes to editing. PN: What do you think are the key gains for sports photographers?

PN: What other features does the EOS-1D X Mark II have that will help you to work better in the future? EK: I like the fact that the camera feels the same; it’s like working with the 1D X. However, the buttons feel different and the card door feels much better now. I’m also a fan of the Crop and Send function. It’s rare that a sports picture is put out without being cropped by the agency. With the 1D X the whole frame would go, arrive at Reuters and someone on the picture desk would crop it, lighten it, sharpen it and whatever else it needed to get it sent out and be used. Now, I can crop it myself in camera, then resave the JPEG on the card and send that new file, which also has my copyright information embedded in the metadata. This is a great help if I want to crop a picture in a certain way.

is in the frame and still get sharp images. If I’m shooting someone on the left wing, for example, I’ll move the spot to the left and leave space to his right because I know someone is going to come in and challenge him. PN: Speed is of the essence with your business, so how do the FTP and wireless options help? EK: I didn’t use the new wireless transmitter at the Six Nations, but Canon tells me it’s three times faster than the current one that I have used. The extra flexibility with the FTP connections is also welcome. I’m heading to West Ham today, then I’ll be at Arsenal next week, then Chelsea and, as I work for Reuters, I also have to send to lots of different FTP addresses depending on the subjects I’m shooting. Before we only had five settings and it was a bit of a pain – I had to copy a setting, keep it on my laptop and then when I finished the job I’d re-install the old one. But now, 20 should be enough.

eddiekeogh.com