A day in the sun

A busy bank holiday weekend saw Prescot Cables' first trip of the season over the Pennines, to newly promoted Farsley AFC, last season's champions of the Northern Counties East League. Farsley AFC was founded following Farsley Celtic's going into administration.

I always enjoy a trip to this area, as it includes travelling through Calderdale, great scenery from the train, and always a good place to stop on the way for walking and pubs.

There was bright sunshine for most of the match (unlike back home, where Prescot's tenants, AFC Liverpool, had to postpone their game due to heavy rain). The most obvious effect of this is plenty of light for fast shutter speeds, with all my exposures being between 1/1000 and 1/2000s, apertures of f/5.6, f/6.3, and even a couple at f/7.1, at ISO 400.

Bright sunlight does, however, give problems with shadows. Farsley's pitch is oriented south-west / north-east, so for an afternoon game, the sun sits behind one goal. If, like me, you like to watch the game from the end your team are attacking, the best direction of play will be the opposite of that for the team - the players are more likely to be dazzled attacking into the sun, whereas taking pictures of the players with the sun behind them means more work to eliminate shadows.

Take this example, with Cables' Liam Pearson. Here is how the picture, cropped, but otherwise as it came off the camera. By this time, I had moved from behind the goal: even with a hood, the sun was too strong.

Here is the same picture after lightening shadows in Photoshop Elements.

Of course, the shadows can make a good effect in themselves, such as in this shot of Cables' Fraser Ablett, in front of the dark of the dugout.

In the second half, it became much easier for me, with everything front lit, I hardly needed to touch the lighting, just crop and publish, as in this shot of Cables' Kevin Townson.

Unfortunately, whilst Prescot had held level with Farsley with the sun and the breeze behind them in the first half, Farsley dominated the second half, with the final score 4-2 to Farsley. The slide show from the game can be seen here.