Ronald Davis  


Boys Keep Your Eyes on the Ball by Ronald Davis

August 2022 - Boys Keep Your Eyes on the Ball

About the Image(s)

Title: Boys Keep Your Eyes on the Ball

Inspired by Bruce's last month's photo Obafemy Martins, it triggered a response within me, “Gee, I’ve got one like that.” This is a photo from a Melbourne suburban rugby match taken in 2017. Here we see the ball being delivered by the half back (blue & white jumper with head gear) to someone out of the shot. What I found after processing this photo was that about 7 players are all “eyes for the ball.” I remember these words shouted and said to me in all ball sports I played. Photo to me does look perhaps too long and narrow like a panorama.

Processing: Lightroom Auto, with a crop from the top removing as much of a small girl on bank.
Camera: Canon 550D
Lens: Sigma 150-500mm, taken at 225mm.
Settings: 1/1250, F 6.3, ISO 320


This round’s discussion is now closed!
9 comments posted




Bruce Benson   Bruce Benson
Ronald, I am glad that my image inspired you to post this image. Indeed there are a lot of eyes on the ball It makes for a very interesting scene. It is to bad that cloning is not allowed for this division, it would be great to take out the person climbing the hill and the yellow stick coming out the back end of the guy on the left. I had a similar problem with a nature image of a stick coming out of the rear of an elk. I do like the long narrow crop since it keeps you focused on the action. Bruce   Posted: 08/02/2022 10:46:57
Ronald Davis   Ronald Davis
Thanks Bruce. The girl is easy to clone out if entering in Open comps. The yellow stick is the marker for the try line, part of the ground, can't "move the goal posts", it wouldn't be rugby, cricket, football or life in general etc.   Posted: 08/02/2022 17:52:51



Hans-Werner Griepentrog   Hans-Werner Griepentrog
Hi Ronald, an interesting photo of you. All eyes of the players are looking at the ball, that is the statement of this photo. Bruce has already mentioned the disturbing elements, unfortunately you are not allowed to remove them in the PJ section.   Posted: 08/03/2022 02:51:09



Dr Isaac Vaisman   Dr Isaac Vaisman
Ronald, the ball got loose and all the eyes are on it. Obviously it is happening in an informal set up, since there is people climbing in the background, and there is nothing we can do about it in PJ. I have never watched a rugby match and it looks like it is interesting. I personally do not care much about the American football. I grew up with soccer. I had to read as why only a couple of players are wearing a head piece that is not a helmet. If is is to avoid damage to the ears from rubbing, why not all the players wear it ?   Posted: 08/04/2022 20:03:06
Ronald Davis   Ronald Davis
Hi Isaac. In rugby the only players that will sustain ear damage this is the cauliflower ears are forwards who form the scrums, the hooker is the most vulnerable as he/she are in the middle of the scrum, head down and supported by the 2 strongest players in the game prop forwards. How would you like to go through life with ears like these:
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Frugbylad.ie%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F04%2Fcear.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Frugbylad.ie%2Firish-mammy-invents-way-to-prevent-dreaded-cauliflower-ear%2F&tbnid=VEUvMdMAXNf1oM&vet=12ahUKEwi2-93Llq_5AhXToNgFHevgD6QQMygGegQIARBJ..i&docid=VWLfEIGdJoksZM&w=768&h=400&q=photos%20in%20rugby%20what%20player%20sustains%20cauliflower%20ears%20the%20most%3F&ved=2ahUKEwi2-93Llq_5AhXToNgFHevgD6QQMygGegQIARBJ   Posted: 08/05/2022 02:33:51
Dr Isaac Vaisman   Dr Isaac Vaisman
WOW, Ronald not fun at all   Posted: 08/07/2022 18:52:07



Kerry McFarlane
Ronald, nice image of country rugby where always seems to be someone in the background who is not the least bit interested in the game. My only comment (and being picky) relates to the horizon line where the ground meets the hill, I feel it might be better if it was level not running up to the right side of the image.   Posted: 08/08/2022 22:18:00



Gerald Emmerich Jr   Gerald Emmerich Jr
I noted Bruce's comment on the yellow marker and Kerry's comment on the tilted field, and I made a few adjustments. I cropped a couple players off the left side, rotated the image slightly to even the field, cropped the right and bottom, darkened the hand of the person on the hill, and sharpened the image. I think it helps.   Posted: 08/26/2022 22:34:56
Comment Image
Ronald Davis   Ronald Davis
Thanks all for comments, the titled horizon line was an oversite something I should have noticed, in the last year after cropping I hit Auto align in Lightroom and these problems are not issues. Will next month post another like this even more striking than eyes on the ball.   Posted: 08/27/2022 15:54:38