Pictures from the Soccer Game

I spent a lot of time tonight on post-processing. Never let it be said that shooting indoor sports is easy! Even with that loverly 2.8 lens, I had to lock in at ISO 800, f/2.8 and deal with a lot of noise. Most shots I managed to get at 1/125th to 1/200th shutter at least, so that action was mostly frozen.

So, after 6 hours or so of cropping, fixing white balances, brightening, noise reduction and red-eye removal, I present my best shots from the epic battle between the Maples Monarchs under-15 girls team and my office co-workers!



The Maples Monarchs are city champions both indoor and outdoor, so you know they play tough defense. Here, one of their defenders throws out the armbar in the corner.



Aha! Office workers can play defense too! This fellow plays in a league as well, so you know he has some chops.



Conditioning played a big factor, these girls are fit and they were able to move the ball well all day, even in the face of defenders twice their size and age.



The office workers are no slouches though, three or four of them were ringers who play regularly, so you say a fair handful of nifty passes and dangerous rushes, like this one.



The Monarchs took some hard shots early and often, and took the early lead, going up three to nothing in the first half. The irony here is the office workers' keeper was not just an office worker, he is also the Monarchs' coach! For shame!



Probably my favourite shot of the day, this girl deked the defender completely out of the frame of the shot!



Despite their youth and conditioning, the Monarchs fell apart a bit in the second half, and the game ended in a tie. Fun was had by all, there were no serious injuries, and I got an excuse to rent an expensive lens. Yay!