The cutting room floor

At Prescot Cables' home game against Radcliffe Borough at the weekend, one of our supporters, Steve Nolan, brought along some old programmes for Webmaster Geoff to scan in for the match programmes section on the website. An advertisement caught my eye in one for a local "Turf Accountant" - it is years since I saw a bookmaker advertising as that.

Those were the days of photography on film. I tried taking photos on film at a game once, although I quickly realised this was likely to be expensive - each frame cost about 35p in film and processing - and not particularly productive. There was the question of where to show them, short of wandering round with envelopes full of prints, like those dreaded evenings when you went to your neighbours' to view their holiday snaps.

I am a bit cautious when using a zoom lens about getting the action in shot, so I tend to use a shorter focal length than may be necessary. With modern sensors, it is also easy to take pictures from one end of the pitch to the other with a 200 - 300mm lens. In both cases, there will be a lot of space in the frame around the action: the same will be true with many shots taken on a compact camera.

In some cases, the background will be an interesting part of the photo, and these will come up in later posts, but in most cases it is of no particular interest, and takes the eye away from the action. Take this fairly standard shot of Cables' Fraser Ablett.

The background does not add much, so let us get rid of it. I do this in Photoshop Elements, but there are plenty of free utilities, like the Picasa uploader, that offer a crop function as well.

Sometimes, cropping makes the image. Take this example of Cables' Tony Sayer going for a header.

The background here is quite cluttered, and the header is almost lost in the rest of the picture. However, if we take out most of the background, we get a much better image.

This is a topic that will come up again in future posts, but in the meantime, the pictures from the weekend's game can be found here.

Floodlights and camera kit

On a bright, sunny day, it is possible to take a decent picture at a game with most types of camera. It helps considerably to have control over the shutter speed, through a shutter priority mode - many cameras also have a sports mode, basically shutter priority with settings optimised to capture fast moving action. I was looking through some pictures from the first game to which I took a camera, in 2004, and some are quite blurred, as there was no option to select a shutter speed. The images were also 640 x 480 pixels, but there were still some acceptable results after suitable cropping.

When it starts to get dark, more demands are made on the equipment. That first compact worked between August and October, then I could put it away (for sports at least) until the Spring, unless there was a particularly bright day.

With advances in technology, there are cameras that can probably capture crisp, clear images, even under 120 lux standard floodlights. The Nikon D3S offers up to ISO 12800, extendible to 102400 equivalent, and there is a 70-200mm lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8. That package will set you back about £4500, and weigh about 6lbs, so definitely one for the professionals.

My first SLR was a Nikon D50, their entry level model at the time. Nikon and Canon keenly market their entry level models: they are well established manufacturers, with all the kit you are likely to need, allowing you to add and update cameras and lenses as skills and interests suggest, and finances allow. Once you have started with one, you are likely to stay with them, as new lenses will fit existing cameras and vice versa.

The D50 allowed ISO settings up to 1600. Normally, zoom lenses for the consumer have a maximum aperture of about f/3.5 or f/4, which drops to about f/5.6 when the lens is fully extended. This combination gave a very grainy appearance - here is a picture from a game at Guiseley in 2007, even after I had enhanced the lighting in Photoshop Elements.

I also used a 50mm f/1.8 lens under floodlights - this gave good lighting, but only a large enough image to crop a decent sized area in about a quarter of the pitch. Here is an example from a game at FC United of Manchester (under Football League standard floodlights at Gigg Lane) in 2009.

Since I traded up to a Nikon D5000, which offers ISO 3200 extendible to 6400 equivalent, I am able to use the zoom lenses, although there is work to be done to enhance the lighting, which I shall look at in another post.

Pictures from Prescot Cables' 4-3 win against Skelmersdale United in the Liverpool Senior Cup are available here.

County Cup competitions are not always attractive to clubs at our level, adding extra games to the fixture list, and often not attracting sufficient crowds to cover costs. The Liverpool Senior Cup is better than most: because of the small number of affiliated clubs, there are only 4 rounds, and Everton and Tranmere come in to the second round, so there is chance of sharing a decent gate even if we do not progress.

Unfortunately, that chance is reduced by a third this year, as Liverpool have not entered a side. I am not sure why, but it is a shame: as well as reducing the chance of a good gate, it denies the supporters of the grass roots game the chance to see close up some established Liverpool reserves and up and coming youth team players.

World Cup winners and a record crowd

Sadly, no World Cup winners, nor a record crowd, were present in person when Prescot Cables visited Curzon Ashton at the weekend. Indeed, there was such a downpour about an hour before the game that I thought of calling the ground to see if the pitch was likely to be playable, or whether I was better off staying in the warm, dry Stalybridge Station Buffet.

Curzon Ashton play on the western edge of Ashton-under-Lyne, at the modern Tameside Stadium, part of what is becoming an impressive multi sports complex. In addition to facilities for athletics, cricket and football, a tarmac cycle track has been built since my last visit. The cyclists looked as though they had been riding for some time when I walked to the ground, and, as I left at the end, one of them called to his fellow competitors that they had 29 minutes to go.

The Tameside Stadium has also acquired a new statue outside the main entrance.

These are the three holders of World Cup winners' medals born in Tameside: Jimmy Armfield CBE (England 1966), from Denton, Simone Perrotta (Italy 2006) and Sir Geoff Hurst (England 1966), both from Ashton-under-Lyne.

And the record crowd? That is a more oblique connection, like those six steps to someone famous exercises. Before they moved in to the Tameside Stadium in 2005, Curzon Ashton played at National Park, about half a mile away. Before the Second World War, this was the home of Ashton National, a team linked with, and taking their name from, the National Gas and Oil Engine Company based in the town. In a similar way, Prescot Cables take their name from sponsorship by British Insulated Cables, at the time the largest employer in the town, in 1928.

Prescot's record attendance of 8122 came in a FA Cup preliminary round tie  - against Ashton National in 1932, with many of the Ashton supporters arriving on 4 special trains. A crowd like this was not altogether surprising. Prescot had been runners up in the Lancashire Combination the previous season, and had unsuccessfully applied for election to the Football League. Ashton National had just signed Alec Jackson, a Scottish international, from Chelsea - because Ashton could nearly double his wages, to £15 per week, instead of the Football League maximum wage of £8 per week.

105 people attended the game at the weekend, and pictures can be seen here.

Introduction to floodlights

"Is this the League game?", I asked as I got to the gate with my wallet ready to retrieve season ticket or cash. Prescot Cables have already played Warrington Town in the FA Cup, and depending on results could play them in the next round of the Doodson Sport Cup.

We will have quite a few games under floodlights over the next few weeks, so I shall start with an introduction, then look in future posts at some techniques and tricks to get a picture in the reduced light, and some limitations on camera kit that will work at a night game.

Firstly, I do not use flash. There used to be a prohibition on flash photography in the Laws of Association Football (or in the International Board Guidance). That seems to have disappeared, but I take the view that a flash that is bright enough to be effective will also be bright enough to distract the players and match officials.

Not all floodlights are the same. Last season, I was chatting to a photography student who had done a placement at Anfield, who was a little surprised how little light there was at a night game at our level. Illuminance is measured in lux: the article I have linked gives some examples of the lux values of various lighting situations. The minimum requirement for step 4 (EvoStik League Division 1 and equivalent) and 5 is an average value of 120 lux for an existing installation, and 180 lux for a new or upgraded installation. The requirements rise as you go through the leagues, for example, the FA require 250 lux for Blue Square Conference North and South, the Premier League require 900 lux, and UEFA require 1400 lux for international games and the later stages of the Champions League.

The value is an average of 88 readings, on a grid with 11 rows along the pitch and 8 across. The lowest reading cannot be less than one quarter of the highest reading. Because most pylons in grounds at this level are close to the pitch and only have two or three heads, the highest reading is usually in the centre of the pitch with the lowest in the corners. I did a back of an envelope calculation for the 120 lux standard: it is theoretically possible to comply with these requirements with readings of about 40 lux in the corners - somewhat darker than the average living room. In grounds lit to the older standard, it can be an art finding the best vantage point.

Prescot's floodlights failed their 2 yearly inspection (to check they are still giving the required level of light) in the Spring, so they needed to be replaced, to the new standard, which makes a big difference in what it is possible to capture. This is an example of what can be achieved in the middle of the pitch, with my 70-300mm lens set to 95 mm, with a speed of 1/200s at f/4.5, ISO 6400 equivalent. I have just cropped, but not made any adjustments to the lighting.

I made a few small adjustments to the lighting for the version in the slide show.

In the corners the result is somewhat darker - again, this is just cropped with the lens at 200mm, 1/200s at f/5.3, ISO 6400 equivalent.

The lighting can be improved in Photoshop Elements, and we will look at some of the options available in future posts. Here is the enhanced version still a bit on the dark side, and with reduced colour, but Prescot's Steven Tames is much clearer against the background.

With the old floodlights, this was the sort of lighting in the centre of the pitch, with photography next to impossible in the corners, so the newer standard is a welcome improvement, although, as it is only required in a new or upgraded installation, the old standard will be around for some time to come, and remains the standard at County League level.

The slide show from the game can be seen here.

Old fashioned newspaper-style photographs

Remember when the newspaper had photos in black and white, the ink came off on your hands, and, on the sports pages at least, it always seemed to be raining?

A few months ago, I saw an exhibition of London Street Photography at the Museum of London. The exhibition has recently finished, but the book is available from the museum shop. As I was looking at some of the pictures, from the 1890s onwards, I wondered about creating some of the effects of these photographs today. Our friend Photoshop can do much, but some of the effect must depend on the actual equipment on the ground, with digital sensors capturing a level of detail, and sometimes clutter (of which I suspect there is more today too), not possible on film.

Whatever else may have changed, the essence of most sports has remained the same: the ball may be synthetic materials instead of leather, but there are only so many ways to kick it. The rain too continues to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous. So I thought I would have fun with some of the pictures from Prescot Cables' trip to Lancaster City, and try to create the atmosphere of the papers of days gone by.

I adjusted the lighting on some of the colour pictures for the slide show, using the levels, as discussed in the last post, to get rid of the mist, then lightening the shadows to emphasise how hard it was raining in the second half.

Then, I went a step further, using the "Convert to black and white" menu in Photoshop Elements, starting with the "Newspaper" option, tweaking the colour intensity and lighting shadows to give that old fashioned press look.

If it was not for the advertising and the white ball, you could probably be anywhere between 1930 and 1980.

There is one aspect of the golden age of the newspaper photograph I cannot recapture - the mud. Lancaster's pitch looked to be in excellent condition, and it is only September, but even the heaviest pitches at our level are positively verdant compared to even First Division pitches in the seventies and before.

The rest of the photos from the game, including more pleasant weather in the first half, can be seen here.

A day in the rain

This weekend saw Non-League Day, designed to take advantage of the international break in the Premiership and Championship and encourage people to visit their local non League club. Prescot Cables were drawn in the FA Cup at home to Warrington Town.

The game kicked off a full 5 minutes early, with me and about 15 others still queueing outside the ground. I did not notice if anyone still outside was new, but if they were, it will not have made a good impression. We encourage people to come, charge them to get in, and start without those who have come on time - the queue was moving quickly, everyone behind me when I got in was in the ground by 3pm. People who are unaware of this occupational hazard with some referees will think worse of the club, although it is completely outside the club's control. I hope it is mentioned in their assessment of the referee, whose performance otherwise gave no cause for complaint.

I had forgotten the hood for my lens - the main reason for the hood is to keep unwelcome light away from the lens, but it is as useful for unwanted water. However, the end of my 70-300mm lens is 72mm in diameter, so a few raindrops do not really affect the picture, which would not be the case with a lens on a compact camera. A 1/500s shutter speed will also catch the rain falling - all very well for the photo, but less pleasant for playing in.

This was the sort of weather where the sports mode on the Nikon D5000 shows its quality. On my previous SLR, a D50, I would have been constantly adjusting ISO settings, and moving from sports mode to shutter priority. The camera looked after itself, keeping the shutter speed mostly at 1/500s, and adjusted the ISO setting between 800 and 1600. It will not take the setting above 1600 though, but we will look at that on a darker day.

Finer rain makes shots look misty, like this one of Cables Kevin Townson competing with Warrington's no 4. I have cropped, but nothing else.

However, we can get rid of most of the mist. I use Photoshop Elements 8, where I use the Levels menu - just move the left and right input sliders to the edges of mound of data in the histogram.

After lightening the shadows, here is the finished photo.

As for the game, the less said the better, after dominating play for most of the game, Prescot never really tested Warrington's rather reluctant stand in goalkeeper, and Warrington scored from both of their chances.

The rest of the photos from the game can be seen here.

A day in the sun

A busy bank holiday weekend saw Prescot Cables' first trip of the season over the Pennines, to newly promoted Farsley AFC, last season's champions of the Northern Counties East League. Farsley AFC was founded following Farsley Celtic's going into administration.

I always enjoy a trip to this area, as it includes travelling through Calderdale, great scenery from the train, and always a good place to stop on the way for walking and pubs.

There was bright sunshine for most of the match (unlike back home, where Prescot's tenants, AFC Liverpool, had to postpone their game due to heavy rain). The most obvious effect of this is plenty of light for fast shutter speeds, with all my exposures being between 1/1000 and 1/2000s, apertures of f/5.6, f/6.3, and even a couple at f/7.1, at ISO 400.

Bright sunlight does, however, give problems with shadows. Farsley's pitch is oriented south-west / north-east, so for an afternoon game, the sun sits behind one goal. If, like me, you like to watch the game from the end your team are attacking, the best direction of play will be the opposite of that for the team - the players are more likely to be dazzled attacking into the sun, whereas taking pictures of the players with the sun behind them means more work to eliminate shadows.

Take this example, with Cables' Liam Pearson. Here is how the picture, cropped, but otherwise as it came off the camera. By this time, I had moved from behind the goal: even with a hood, the sun was too strong.

Here is the same picture after lightening shadows in Photoshop Elements.

Of course, the shadows can make a good effect in themselves, such as in this shot of Cables' Fraser Ablett, in front of the dark of the dugout.

In the second half, it became much easier for me, with everything front lit, I hardly needed to touch the lighting, just crop and publish, as in this shot of Cables' Kevin Townson.

Unfortunately, whilst Prescot had held level with Farsley with the sun and the breeze behind them in the first half, Farsley dominated the second half, with the final score 4-2 to Farsley. The slide show from the game can be seen here.