As many of my readers know, photography is one of my favorite hobbies, and this year I bought a Canon 30DS from a friend of mine with the hopes of taking my football photography to a new level. I’m completely self-taught on color/light theory and exposure techniques and in most ways, I’m still a rank amateur. After I got my new camera, I immediately began practicing and after a few frustrating misfires (and the subsequent reading of the manual), I began to see results. Of the hundreds of football photos I’ve taken since August, this one is my favorite:

Our Quarterback, Blake Fronapfel, leading the charge against Eastern Michigan, 10-18-2014.

What I love most about this picture is that I can see real improvement in my ability to capture action shots. I’ve been experimenting with f stops, shutter speeds  and ISO settings as they relate to the amount of light that hits the lens, and though I have a long way to go, I think I’m getting better. This was taken in late afternoon on an overcast day, and even though I had to brighten it a touch when I edited it, most of what you see here is the way the photo was taken. I think the sense of movement is pretty dramatic and captures the tension of a football play rather well.  I’m still playing around with my camera settings and still learning new things, so I’m looking forward to what my camera will reveal to me in the last three weeks of the season.