Rugby (also known as Rugby Union, or Rugby League) is a sport imported from Britain in the late 1800s and later developed here in the States to American college and professional football. It is not widely played or followed here but there is the occasional amateur league established. This match was played on the athletic field of a local school ??“ this was right before covid started ??“ and I haven't seen a game, at this venue, since. Rugby is a rough contact sport with very minimal padding, so there is ample opportunity for portraying these games and exposing lots of facial expressions and dynamic body movement. Here, I cropped in on some of the more violent aspects of the match, then converted to monochrome. I selected out the players from the background an blurred the back areas in order to emphasize the up close contact. The initial edits were done in Camera Raw but I opened the image into Photoshop and then into On1 FX 8 and used the dynamic contrast tool. I find that having a feel for the way that plays are going to unfold helps in getting the right shot at the right time.
5 comments posted
Al Swanson
Aaaaaaah, a friendly game of rugby. Excellent job on muting the background and cropping the action. Too bad you had to lop off the heads of some players, but that was unavoidable.
Good action shot. In wonder if the subjects couldn't be enhanced by making the image square and cropping out the last player on the right? Posted: 02/10/2025 20:04:26
Peggy Reeder
Great action shot. I think that your post processing brought out the best of the image and successfully focuses our eye on the subject. The 2 "headless" players could probably be removed in Photoshop or other software with AI capabilities. But I don't think that is necessary. You could, optionally, blur them slightly and they wouldn't be as noticeable. But this is very well done as is.
Posted: 02/11/2025 17:02:24
Kaylyn Franks
The expressions you captured truly tell how volatile the sport is. The texture used really emphasizes the brute force. It does bother me the two players are running headless. I wonder if a square crop would work better?
I need to go find a rugby game to photograph! Posted: 02/12/2025 16:55:39
Marti Buckely
Excellent conversion. The black and white really sets this image off. The two headless players could probably be removed somehow but I haven't gotten that far in PS. :) I agree with Kaylyn about the expressions. They really make the image. Posted: 02/13/2025 03:08:04
Joseph J Zaia
Wow!!! Talk about action, story telling, human interest and technique, you have it! I feel that even if you include the full two headless players, the image would be more complete and as effective. Posted: 02/23/2025 00:46:08
