The neighbours' floodlights, part 2

I posted a few weeks ago about Marine's new floodlights. Having a free Tuesday with no Prescot fixture, I thought another visit was in order now the nights are starting to draw in. It is also a good chance to watch some of the players who have stepped up a division from playing for Prescot.

Ryan McMahon - previously of Prescot Cables

As an aside, is it my imagination, or have the League fixtures this year been a bit floored by the earlier start to the FA Trophy? Prescot's game last week against Mossley was only arranged when someone noticed both clubs had byes in the Trophy; and most clubs in our division had fixtures last Tuesday, but we did not, even though our bye meant we would not be involved in a replay. Dulwich Hamlet were given a fixture on the weekend of the First Qualifying Round against opponents who had a bye in the Preliminary Round, and were therefore in no doubt they would be unable to play us.

I was not alone in the desire for midweek football, as I spotted a few Prescot supporters around the ground. James and Phil had taken up position under the cover at the side of the ground (James is a Marine supporter, but since he has been working with Phil, he has been to more Prescot games than Marine), so I joined them and took some pictures from this side.

I have posted on the best vantage point for different floodlight arrangements, and I found the pitch to be well lit in the areas I expected. I had not expected how deep a shadow would be cast by the lights near the corners - a problem with players running away from the lights. Here is an example, before I tried to adjust the lighting.

We can try to lighten the shadows, in the same way we do on a bright sunny day.

However, I was still not happy with the results, as the player's face is almost completely obscured, so I did not include this in the final collection.

The results when the players are partly facing the lights can be quite striking.

I then tried shooting from the end of the pitch, about half way between the goal and the corner. My suspicion that this would prove to be a better vantage point proved correct, making use of the lighter spots, and I was more likely to capture players running towards the lights.

Paul Lundon - previously of Prescot Cables

Marine's floodlights are designed for a luminance of 350 lux (and are new, so are giving a bit better than that), as opposed to 180 lux at Prescot. This made a big difference - using the f4.5-5.6 70-300mm lens under the 180 lux lights, I am slightly underexposing, even at a shutter speed of 1/200s and ISO 6400 equivalent, whereas I did not need to do this under these lights. Indeed, I was even keeping my thumb on the shutter speed wheel to alternate between 1/200s and 1/250s as players moved in and out of the lightest areas.

Marine very considerately score their first goal from the well lit edge of the penalty area

Marine's club shop has an impressive stock of programmes, and as James pointed out some from Dulwich Hamlet, a couple overheard, and introduced themselves as Merstham supporters, in the area on holiday. They pronounced the name as written - the local pronunciation, never extending much beyond the North Downs, adding an extra r (Merstrum), seems to be dying out. I worked with a friend in Manchester who had played for Merstham's Youth team (like me, he came north to University and stayed). He climbed the footballing ladder to appear on to Match of the Day last season - as the camera captured him on duty with Lancashire Constabulary. As he works in Blackburn, his potential appearances this season will be on the Football League Show.

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

Into the spiders' web

You often see pictures from places like India of trains that seem to have as many people outside as there must be inside. One of the most alarming I have seen was of people sitting on the roof ... of an electric train.

We do not see such scenes in England, but when I travel across the Pennines at the weekend, I am convinced that is only because there is nothing outside on which to cling. Trains are at half their weekday length, for what feels like nine tenths of the demand. Still, starting a journey in Liverpool makes it more likely I will get a seat, and a sunny day in the Hope Valley, on the way to Goole AFC, gave views of dry stone walls, farm animals in the fields, and a village football pitch, the best way to describe its slope being that it is not as vertiginous as the hill behind it.

Prescot Captain James McCulloch keeps the ball from Goole's Captain

There seemed to be an exceptional number of spiders active in the ground. Not big daddy long legs, but the small ones that quietly wrap you in silk before you know they are there. I spent much of the game in between frames removing threads from my face, clothing and lenses, often with an attendant spider furiously climbing up. There were one or two insects that may have made too much of a meal for the spiders - this little chap seemed to quite like my jacket.

A forest bug (I think)

I removed it quite gingerly, although looking it up later, I think it eats dead wood, and was somewhat out of its normal territory, this end of the traditional West Riding (now put in with the East Riding for local government purposes) not being particularly forested. Indeed, the most prominent structures for some miles around were the water towers for the docks, behind the main stand.

The ground itself had a running track, only 4 lanes, apart from in the home straight, where there were 6. Unfortunately, given the direction of the sun, the home straight was the best vantage point.

 

When I take pictures from the side of the pitch, I take more frames than from behind the goal. Not that I have any more difficulty choosing those to process, I find getting a good shot is a bit more hit and miss.

A lot of the pictures have the players with their back to me, which does not necessarily preclude them coming out as a good image.

Luke Edwards

We also see a lot more of the opposition goalkeeper facing the camera ...

The Goole keeper kicks the ball away from Jonathon Bathurst

... and it is a good position to get a few decent shots of our own goalkeeper.

Xavier Parisi

It is also nearer to the throw ins.

Joe Fielding

I still have not, however, figured out the best position to be sure of getting some decent pictures of central defence, short of going behind our goal, which just does not seem right somehow.

 

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

Lights, camera, er ...

A sports photo blog has a fairly straightforward modus operandi - take pictures of sports events, and write about them.

I arrived at Prescot Cables' game at home to Mossley at the weekend, set myself up in my usual position, got the camera out, turned it on, and nothing happened. I did not recall the battery being low when I last used it, but that is the fun of lithium ion batteries, three bars to no bars in 50 frames. A quick rummage in the bag ensued, only to find the spare missing

So, it was to be a match without pictures. At least we could answer the question posed a couple of weeks ago - the event did exist, and we lost 2-1, against a Mossley side who went top of the table as a result.

I usually refrain from general comment on the day's play, as I do not see everything when looking through a small window. Whilst that serves to cover the fact I am fairly clueless about describing play most of the time, there may be some truth in my assessment. Most (not all) of the best photos are to be found tracking the ball, so concentrating solely on that, it is easy to miss players moving off the ball to provide a destination for passes, or blocking the opposition's options in defence.

I was asked, before our current press officer came forward, whether I would consider writing some of the reports that the club sends in to the Non League Paper. I was a bit dubious, given my admitted shortcomings in the tactical department, but with only 200 words, they only cover the main points of the game. I saw a report of similar length in a local paper recently that, on closer inspection, was created entirely from putting the result and scorers from the League website into sentences.

However, I tried taking notes, and found it did not interfere with taking pictures, although the resultant report would have been somewhat disjointed, along the lines of "X had a shot saved on 10 minutes. Their no 4 was booked after 20." I think it is easier to do both reports and photos if your main concern is the report, and getting pictures to illustrate it: combining putting together a slide show, trying to get everyone in, and writing a report is less likely to be a success.

Despite not having the camera, I still spotted what would have made a good photo - I was particularly frustrated when Glyn Barker scored Prescot's goal just after half time, it was a good example of getting round the goalkeeper, and took place quite slowly, so I should have got a shot.

The good news is that the spare battery has been found and restored to its place in the bag, so normal service should be resumed next week.

Oh my Sugg and my Sharp long ago!

I do not watch cricket as much as some other sports, and have never tried photographing it. For a couple of seasons I was following my local amateur rugby league club, Liverpool Buccaneers, during the summer, and although they decided not to field a team this year, I did not take up another sport or attach myself to a club between the end of the rugby union County Championships in May, and the pre season fixtures for football in July.

However, with my home county, Surrey, playing at Liverpool last week, and people I know from London coming up for a day's play it seemed a good time to renew my acquaintance with the game.

Liverpool Cricket Club (not at the current ground) hosted the city's first First Class game, Lancashire v Surrey in 1866. There has been a hiatus in Surrey's visits to the city since then, with one of our party reporting that the fixture had last been played at Aigburth in 1905

When I came to Liverpool as a student in the 1980s, I heard tales of crowds at Aigburth being quite lively. A fellow student reported he had watched his home county of Gloucestershire in a one day game, sitting in front of a boisterous group with an extensive repertoire of combine harvester songs. He was not put off by the experience, as he worked as a GP in the City for some years, and served for a term on the City Council. With little riding on the game, results the previous week having seen Lancashire relegated and Surrey avoid the drop, the crowd was much more subdued. My friend and I attracted a few looks that would not have been out of place in a library when we applauded a particularly well hit six.

I did not take a proper camera, as I think the ground regulations do not permit it, although I took a couple of pictures of the ground with my mobile. I noticed a couple of official looking photographers (possibly press, as they were only at the morning session) next to the sight screen. I have never been keen on this vantage point, preferring to be square on to the wicket. I imagine it is easier to take pictures end on, as there is little sideways movement.

As for the title of this post, the sentence is of course taken from Francis Thompson's poem At Lord's, replacing the Lancashire and England batsmen A.N. Hornby and R.G. Barlow, with two great all rounders from Liverpool from a slightly later era. Frank Sugg and Jack Sharp both represented Lancashire at cricket and Everton at football, and England in both sports, at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries: Sugg was Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1890, and Sharp was a County Championship winner with Lancashire in 1904 and FA Cup winner with Everton in 1906. As if that were not enough, both ran successful sports outfitters' shops in Liverpool until they died in the 1930s, Sharp in Whitechapel, and Sugg barely the distance of a boundary away away in Lord Street.

New balls please

With the summer we have had this year, I am in danger of forgetting what to do when the sun comes out. On Saturday, as I gave a cheery greeting to Dave from Football Editorial, he remarked that it was almost too bright. He had a point, at Prescot the sun shines across the pitch, so players running directly towards goal will be half in shadow. To reflect even more light, our visitors for this FA Cup fixture, Ashton United, were playing in their traditional red and white halves.

Jack Webb with Ashton's Danny Coldecott, and someone whose number, and therefore name, escapes me

We are familiar with using the levels and lighten shadows to adjust for the effects of sunlight, although the adjustments required were larger than I expected, and sometimes to the detriment of lighter parts of the picture.

James McCulloch, before adjusting the lighting ...

... and after

There now seems to be one ball to be used for the FA Cup, even in these early stages.

I noticed AFC Liverpool in the previous round were using this Umbro ball instead of the Chryso ball we normally use, but this was no surprise, as it was their home game: it was only when the same balls appeared in this game that I noticed the change. Previously, if I remember correctly, ties would be played using the ball approved by the home team's league. The Southern League has a colourful little number, seen here on Dulwich Hamlet's visit to VT (now Sholing) for a FA Cup tie in 2009.

I can see the point of having the same ball for use throughout a competition, within the specifications in the Laws of Association Football, different balls will have different aerodynamic characteristics. I remember the controversy about the ball at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and thinking that a lot of the problem would have been avoided if the teams had played with it in the qualifying competitions.

Having said that, with a number of team changes forced on Dave Powell by injuries in the first few games of the season, getting used to a different ball is quite low down the list of priorities. In any event, unless it is to be used for the FA Trophy as well, it will be going back in the cupboard until next year, following our exit from the competition.

Gary Williams returns from injury

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

If a tree falls in the forest ...

An occupational hazard for the match day photographer is attending an eventful game, like Prescot Cables at home to Bamber Bridge, and coming away with a collection of photos that suggests nothing much happened. Five goals? Two for the opposition at the other end of the pitch; one a superb ball over the keeper's head from James McCulloch, of which the picture was too blurred to use even on the "goal is a goal" principle; a penalty from Jake Ellis where I at least got the goalkeeper going the wrong way; and a scramble for the opposition to get the points. A disputed sending off? For foul and abusive language, which is not exactly photogenic.

My favourite picture of the night was probably this one of Jake Ellis and an unnamed Bamber Bridge player (numbers on the front of shirts, you know it makes sense) ready to compete for an airborne ball.

One could see this as an existential question: in today's society with its emphasis on image, if the event has not been captured electronically, did it happen at all? However, this is a blog about taking sports photos and mildly diverting things that happen when doing so, so we can leave that one to the philosophers.

A lack of pictures on which to comment gives us space to look at some technical points. As this was the first game of the season to be played fully under floodlights (the sun disappeared behind clouds from about 7pm, necessitating the lights being turned on at kick off), it seemed a good time to look again at our old friends. I have mentioned before how different arrangements of pylons affect the distribution of light on the pitch. I have had a look at a couple of diagrams with lux values, and created rough and ready graphics based on them.

The first has 4 pylons along the side. The yellow and cream areas are those with the most light on the pitch, the orange areas are those with the least.

We can see a line of light spots along the wings, with darker spots around the goal mouth and corners, with most of the penalty area being lighter than the goal area. The outer pylons are at the corner, a little different from Prescot Cables and many other grounds that have the outer pylons nearer the middle of the pitch, which I suspect makes the dark spot in the middle of the pitch smaller, and extends that at the corners.

The second arrangement has 4 corner pylons.

Again, the goal area is one of the darker parts of the pitch, as is the centre circle, but the lighter areas are much closer to the corners.

The distribution of the light affects the best vantage point. For pylons along the side of the pitch, I usually stand below one of the middle pylons, close to one of the lightest parts of the pitch, and where I am likely to have some action taking place right in front of me, a help when using a fixed shutter speed and a lens where the maximum aperture increases as the focal length decreases.

For the corner arrangement, the decision is a trickier one. The lightest part of the pitch is in the corner, but that is further away from most of the play, demanding a longer focal length. It is an arrangement that is less common at our level of football, but when I have encountered it (e.g. Worthing, Durham City, Marine), I have found the best compromise to be found behind the goal about half way between the goal and the corner flag.

The rest of the pictures from the Bamber Bridge game can be seen here.

Yorkshirepersons - not all giants

I find it a useful rule of thumb when visiting Yorkshire to work on the basis the weather will be the opposite to that at home. It works almost as well as the same assumption comparing the display on the Android Weather Widget with what is going on outside the window. Having got up to overcast skies, I was not disappointed when I arrived at Huddersfield on my way to Prescot Cables' game away to Ossett Town.

I remember being told in history lessons that in the Industrial Revolution, cotton mills were built in Lancashire because it was damp, so the thread did not snap, and woolen mills were built in Yorkshire because the air was dry, so the thread did not rot. I am not convinced: this was my 7th or 8th visit to Ossett, a town with a fleece on its coat of arms, and was the first time there has been little enough mist on the way to notice the Emley Moor television transmitter 5 miles away across the valley.

I had a senior moment when the match kicked off (having only had a couple in the West Riding Licensed Refreshment Rooms on the way to the game), heading to a position level with the edge of the goal area, as the sun was shining directly down the pitch. Things looked unfamiliar: Gary Williams and Joe Fielding seemed at closer quarters than usual;

Gary Williams (facing) and Joe Fielding

I could not fathom what James Thomas was doing at the other end of the pitch; and their goalkeeper looked just like Stephen Longrigg.

Stephen Longrigg

As I realised my error, I slipped along the touchline to take up my more usual position. The sun was now behind me, and I could make use of the seats behind the goal to get the lower camera angle that we have looked at before.

Jake Ellis

Looking at last week's results, I spotted a familiar name on Ossett Town's score sheet - David Brown. It is not an uncommon name, but it was indeed the player who has featured a couple of times before in these pages, against Harrogate Railway Athletic and Garforth Town. I do not generally have favourite opposition players, but there are a few I enjoy watching, even when they it is my team they are running rings around.

David Brown

Having suffered individual confusion in the first half, I participated in a collective one in the second. Without the benefit of video replays, it is more common than you may think to be unsure who scored a goal. Prescot equalised 15 minutes into the half with a close range shot that Ossett's goalkeeper was able to ground, but the assistant referee correctly spotted that the ball was over the line. I was unsure who made the shot, and there was a consensus of opinion towards Ged Murphy.

Before sending my pictures to the Liverpool Echo, I checked who had been credited with the goal on the League website, and found it to have been awarded to Jonathon Bathurst. So, this picture, which shows Ged Murphy, did not seem to be of much use, as it appeared not to show the scorer.

Ged Murphy equalises for Prescot

However, there was quite a good reason this was so, as Jon had been substituted at half time. Half time substitutions often miss out on being announced, as I do not think there is the requirement to hold up the number boards as there is with substitions in a break in normal play.

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