POTW side lighting

I'm getting back up on the horse. I've felt lately that I haven't had anything fresh to contribute to photo challenges, nor did I have time to take any new photos for these challenges. This weeks POTW challenge is about side lighting... getting into the technical (which, as previously stated, I enjoy more).

I immediately was drawn to scavenge this summers mountain vacation photos. I knew there were several of JJ in the river, with great side lighting. I selected one, not previously shown. I did a little editing, uploaded it to the site and sighed that I got one in on time!

However, this weekend at JJ's soccer game, I captured a shot that I knew was better for side lighting. I love it more because not only does it capture the theme of the challenge, but it captures the type of photography I love to do. Its not easy to capture action with side lighting. But, JJ was placed just so, as was I, and as they say.... Magic happened. Of course, I'm tooting my own horn here, this photo could be total garbage, but I love it.

Without further ado... here is the photo...




I love that the focus fell on JJ and the ball is out of plane and out of focus. I love that you can see his coach behind him, watching him. I love JJ's expression as he's going for the ball, his thumbs tucked in (apparently his little quirk that he does while playing because he's like that in every photo). Can you tell that I love this photo (toot toot)!


And because I want to toot my horn a little more... here is the original... SOOC



Can you tell I cloned Gene out from behind JJ? Ok, so maybe you experts can, but I think I did a pretty decent job for the mediocre software I have. I think Gene was distracting, once I cropped in, he didn't fit in into the photo. (Sorry Gene)

Oh. and just in case you were wondering... here was my original side lighting photo....