An absolute humdinger from 25 yards out

Listeners to the excellent Forward the Hamlet podcast will be familiar with the opening sequence, in which my friend Richard, who posts on Dulwich Hamlet forums as Pink Panther, describes, in his distinctively deep and clear voice, a goal as "an absolute humdinger from 25 yards out". At Prescot Cables' game against Trafford, we had one too, of which more later.

I had agreed that before the game I would photograph Phil Bannister's presentation for 100 appearances. I got a bus to get there in plenty of time, but an accident on the M56 was causing congestion for 20 miles around, so it was a bit late. This would not have been a problem, had the driver not slowed down once past the congestion as though he was early. The presentation therefore had a rushed air, and certainly no time for speeches. At least I got a picture for Phil and his family.

Doug Lace (Club Secretary), Phil Bannister, Andy Paxton

We played at Trafford earlier in the season, losing 8-0, watched by Andy Paxton, who was to be appointed as manager the following morning. Things did not bode well for this return fixture, with an early goal from the visitors, and a first half performance that left something to be desired. We were, however, able to level the scores towards half time with a goal from Rob Doran.

Rob Doran

My photographic experiments continued: where the ball or part of the action is set against the night sky, I try to keep the background as dark as possible. Using the raw file editor, we can use the levels and noise reduction to remove grain and enhance this effect.

Joe Herbert

The second half immediately looked as though it would be much better, with a penalty converted by Rob Doran in the first few minutes. I had found the first half frustrating photographically, with most play in front of the stand, when I was on the gasworks side. The second half was more promising.

Danny Flood

Phil Bannister celebrated his award with the goal of the match, and a contender for goal of the season. This was our "absolute humdinger from 25 yards out", leaving the defence and goalkeeper standing. I was standing in front of Jonah O'Reilly's father, who often gets our goals on video, and neither of us were surprised not to have captured it. Get in!

The scoring was completed with our fourth goal from Lloyd Dean shortly before the end.

This result illustrates the turnaround since Andy Paxton became manager, particularly at home. In turn, attendances are about 30 or so up on the same period last season, and more people using the bar after the game. This has been achieved with relatively small changes in personnel. Of the starting XI, nine players were with us at the beginning of the season, with only Marcus Burgess and Lloyd Dean (who have admittedly been highly significant additions) having joined under the new management.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 4 (Doran 2, Bannister, Dean) Trafford 1.

They read a lot of newspapers

Some Premier League supporters wax lyrical about the times when games started at 3pm on Saturday. Leaving aside that some of us remember non league kickoffs as a moveable feast during the winter, if they want football at 3pm on Saturday, we can help them find some. When their games are at the traditional time, they often impact upon our travel. Prescot Cables' game at Droylsden coincided with Manchester City, on the same tram line, playing Bournemouth. I wondered whether I should catch a tram at Deansgate-Castlefield to beat the crowds, but there was efficient flow management at Piccadilly, so I had no difficulty getting the first tram.

The weather was quite light, with sunny intervals, which was new, as it has been gloomy on my previous visits. I started next to the stand ...

Phil Bannister

... and worked around behind the goal we were attacking.

James Edgar

Our old friend and former Assistant Manager Ged Murphy was playing: a slight surprise, as I thought he was concentrating on coaching. Whilst he coaches well from the technical area, it sounded as though his team mates did not always find his on field instructions helpful.

Ged Murphy

We were quickly ahead with a goal from James McCulloch.

James McCulloch

The sun started to come out as I was working my way round the ground. By the time I was opposite the stand, it was behind our players. The home goalkeeper did not look as though he expected it.

This was a chance to see whether shooting in raw made any difference with back lighting. We can use the lighten shadows function in Photoshop Elements, which can make the player look faded. Using the exposure functions on the raw image gave a better result.

Lloyd Dean

The hosts scored towards the end of the first half, and we restored our lead courtesy of Rob Doran early in the second.

Rob Doran

Two quick goals from Droylsden ten minutes later handed the lead to them, and they added a fourth at 80 minutes. However, we continued to play to the end, and snatched a goal from a rebound falling to Lloyd Dean. This was too close to full time for another, so we were disappointed to lose despite scoring three away from home.

Joining us from the bench was Joe Evans, recently signed from Cammell Laird. We already have a Joe Evans: it would be simpler if players were like actors, and could not have the same name as an existing performer. We seem to have adopted this solution on a small scale, with the new Joe Evans being Joseph for these purposes.

Joe Evans

Joseph Evans

This blog likes to keep an eye out for quirky items, and I spotted something for the Facebook page Non League Bins. Not many grounds get through enough newspapers to need two bins reserved for recycling them.

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

Final score: Droylsden 4 Prescot Cables 3 (McCulloch, Doran, Dean)

Shooting raw part 2 - night

You know you have arrived when one of your pictures is on a pump clip! The latest product badged for us by the Melwood Beer Company featured two of our longer standing supporters.

In my previous post, I looked at saving pictures in raw format and processing lighting and exposure on the computer. Whilst I will use this for non sports pictures, I was not yet sure whether the benefit was worth the extra work for sports during the day. However, being used to stretching the best the camera has to offer in low light, I was keen to see the effect at night. With a lack of success in the FA competitions, we have not had many midweek games, so I was fortunate to have a quick opportunity to test with our game at home to Kendal Town.

As in the weekend's game, we started well with an early goal from Lloyd Dean as I was making my way round to the gasworks side.

Lloyd Dean

When I got the pictures home, the first thing I looked at was the white balance. In the shutter priority mode on the camera, I use the auto setting, which under floodlights imparts a slight yellow cast. There is a fluorescent setting, but whilst floodlights are gas discharge lamps, and like a domestic fluorescent light contain mercury, they also contain sodium, which explains the yellow cast. As with the daylight photos, it took a few attempts to get the setting right, but the advantage of a floodlit game is that the lighting is constant throughout.

Danny Flood

The real revelation came with the exposure. Because I use a consumer lens with a small maximum aperture, I have to slightly under expose the image to retain an acceptable shutter speed - 1/200s is the slowest we can get away with, with some movement blur in the players' hands and feet and in the ball.

The lighten shadows function in Photoshop Elements has a tendency to increase noise, particularly light grain on a dark background. Using the exposure function on the raw image allows lightening with much less increase in noise - and for that which remains, the noise reduction function is much more powerful than that on the camera (which should not be a surprise, the computer has more processing power).

Marcus Burgess

Amidst this technical detail, there was a game going on. Kendal equalised after about 20 minutes with a shot that hit the bar and bounced downwards. Observers nearer than me were confident it went in, but Jordan Connerton avoided a Russian linesman moment by putting the rebound in the net.

Rob Doran restored our lead a few minutes later.

Jordan Connerton restored parity for the visitors 20 minutes into the second half, and for the remaining time the spectators were treated to a game with a realistic chance of going either way up to the end, with a draw being a fair result.

We saw the first appearance this season by Antony Shinks, returning a break from playing and some time in the United States.

Antony Shinks

The game was also the 100th appearance by Phil Bannister, who made a welcome return to the club in pre season.

Phil Bannister

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 2 (Dean, Doran) Kendal Town 2.

Shooting raw

I do not often make significant changes to the way I work at a game: I have had the same kit for some time, and know most of the features I need. However, I have always saved my pictures on the camera as jpeg files, and have been generally satisfied with the results. Think of a jpeg file as like a print, but one you can edit. The camera adjusts things like white (or colour) balance, brightness and noise, then compresses the file. The alternative is to save as a raw file, a bit like a film negative. You get all the information from the sensor, which gives much more control over exposure and lighting, and changes are saved to a separate file, so you always keep the original without having to make multiple backups.

Last week, I was feeling curious, and wondered how much extra work was involved processing from raw, and realised the answer is - not much. Photoshop Elements can open files from most cameras, so it is just a couple of extra steps. I then went to take some pictures of general subjects for test files, and quickly decided the extra control for non sports work is well worth it.

For sports the equation is more balanced: as I process about 100 - 120 images from a game, even a minute or so per image can add an hour or two to the job. I decided it was worth a try at Prescot Cables' game at home to Ossett Albion.

My SD card was a bit old and slow, and I was only going to get a new one if the test was successful. When shooting frames in raw in quick succession, a fast card avoids having to stop for the buffer to empty. I was doing just that, and missed the first goal, from Lloyd Dean.

Lloyd Dean

Once I got the images on the computer, adjusting the white balance required some practice to avoid making the players look puce, or, failing that, green. After a short while, I started to get usable images, and as there was even cloud cover throughout the game, once I had got it right, I could stick to the same settings.

James McCulloch

I continued my experiment from the previous week, and spent some time behind the goal, before going to the gasworks side, ending up at the half way line.

George Mannion

In a couple of pictures, the players seemed particularly sharp - you can judge for yourselves whether this survives the conversion on the computer and upload to Google+.

Joe Evans

We went a second goal ahead just before half time through the good offices of Rob Doran.

In the second half I went to the half way line again, which was probably a good position, as the half was quite evenly matched until the balance fell decisively in our favour 10 minutes from the end with a second goal from Rob Doran. There were some good saves from Marcus Burgess, never easy to capture, even standing closer to our goal than I am accustomed.

Marcus Burgess

With only moments to go, Rob Doran completed his hat trick, and I got a decent sequence. It is all very well knowing the technology, but you still have to capture the action.

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

Final score Prescot Cables 4 (Dean, Doran 3) Ossett Albion 0

Double pie, double peas

In London pie and mash shops, the ordering convention is "double pie" if you want two, and "double mash" for two portions of potato. On arrival at Farsley Celtic for our FA Trophy game, I headed to the tea bar, which was serving fresh local Growler's pies. I only had toast for breakfast, so, having had the steak before the match, I have to admit to also having the pork at half time. This being Yorkshire, the traditional accompaniment is peas rather than mash. The food and drink offering was completed by Wadworth's Dirty Rucker, advertising an event in a different sport, on hand pump in the bar. The name will have had people in these parts wondering what a ruck is.

The hosts made four changes from the league game the previous week. We made one, replacing Sam Staunton-Turner, who has returned to Skelmersdale.

I travelled on the team coach, so, unusually for me, arrived well before kick off. Whilst books talk about taking time to find a suitable position, in football the location of the goals and and stand, and where the sun is shining are the main considerations. I have been to Farsley enough times too know the ground well, and I was mindful of my observations last week about moving around, so I decided to experiment. I started in front of the tea bar.

Rob Doran

This was not the best place, as it was one of the more populated parts of the ground. I prefer less crowded areas, as you avoid somebody leaning in front of you for a better view at the crucial moment.

After some time in the conventional position behind the goal, I moved to the far side and worked my way along.

Phil Bannister

I went beyond the dugout and alongside our own half and was happy with the results. Farsley's performance was stronger than the previous week, so I was rewarded with some closer pictures than normal of our defence.

Marcus Burgess

I captured some movement forward from the queue for the second part of lunch. We went in at half time a goal behind.

Lloyd Dean

I decided to move around around again for the second half. This was complicated by the sun's being out. The first half had been cloudy, with the mist from the morning only fully lifting just before the start. We were playing with the sun behind us. I started on the stand side where I was mainly shooting across the sunlight.

James McCulloch

I then worked round behind the goal we were attacking, ending up between the dugouts.

George Lomax

The sun appeared to bring some moisture out of the ground, so, looking into it, the mist had returned. It is possible to remove this almost completely on the computer, but I tried to keep the effect.

Jonah O'Reilly

Unfortunately, the result was not as good as the pictures: Farsley came out stronger after half time, and their second goal probably sealed the result, with our looking unlikely to come back, and in the event being unable to prevent two more goals.

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

Final score: Farsley Celtic 4 Prescot Cables 0

Naming names part 3

When a club folds a new club founded in their place has to adopt some variation of their name. Farsley AFC, formed in 2010, had until recently been in such a position. I am not sure of the rules regarding how long a club has wait to revert to the old name, or whether the FA consult the traditional entrails, but the club obtained permission to revert to Farsley Celtic this season.

The visitors have had a poor start to the season, only recording their first win in midweek. However, they have been a strong side in the past and I suspect they will not finish the season in their current position.

Joe Herbert added himself to our happily growing list of scorers for the season. One problem with your number 4 going round scoring, especially if you photograph from behind the goal, is that if you do not get the goal, you do not always have a decent picture of the player to substitute. Whilst I do not have a hard and fast rule for whether a picture of a goal works, as a rough rule of thumb, if the ball is more than the player's height away from him, it is unlikely to be of use as a single photograph. This one did not quite make it: the distance between ball and player is enough that even Joe might not remember it as his goal.

I was pondering this whilst listening to the excellent Forward the Hamlet podcast, which had an interview with one of the official Dulwich Hamlet photographers, Duncan Palmer, in which he discussed moving around the pitch, and getting better shots of the defence and goalkeeper, which I think I should do more.

A second goal came from Lloyd Dean, a more familiar presence at my end of the pitch.

Lloyd Dean

I could have done with following the approach of looking at the defence for the second half, as the visitors came out more strongly.

Marcus Burgess

Not that we were without action in the half we were attacking.

Rob Doran gets away from Farsley's Harley Wigley

Our new kit has shirts numbered up to 22, which came in handy, as our physio Nicola was kept busy with two blood injuries in quick succession, with Joe Herbert suffering a nosebleed, and, as soon as he was back on the pitch, Sam Staunton-Turner sustaining a cut to the face.

We had a couple of new faces coming on from the bench.

George Lomax

Aiden Kirkbride

Our third substitute, Jamie Hayes, had joined us under Neil Prince, and then been injured, which gave us a spot of bother identifying him on the team photo - when you see a player again it is a relief to know you got his name right the first time. Once he was back in action, he quickly established a claim for a place.

Jamie Hayes

The result left us scratching our heads - none of us could remember the last time we won three games in a row!

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 2 (Herbert, Dean) Farsley Celtic 0.