Week 4. We're just getting into the thick of it. Football season is here. But don't let all of the NFL photographers have all the fun. Show us photos of football season.
The Challenge
Take a photo that celebrates football season. But if you go to a game, all the better.
The Technique
For those of you social enough to brave a football game, you should be able to take some excellent photos. Did you know, there are actually tutorials on photographing high school football? I like this one, too.
The key takeaways, however, are to remember that football is a high speed game. You'll want to crank up (or actually, shorten) your shutter speed—that's how long your camera lets in light—appropriately. This will make for less blur. Then use your dSLR's burst mode like a photographic machine gun.
Smartphone photographers will have a tougher time this week, as these cameras tend to be bad at just about everything you need for sports photography.
The Example
Our lead image is from the Fort George G. Meade Public Affairs Office, of all places. I love how intensely it captures the game of peewee football. Forget the pros, that's tenacity.
The Rules
1. Submissions need to be your own.
2. Photos must be taken this week.
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me.
5. Include 970px wide image (200KB or less) AND a natively sized image in email. I know that your photo may not fall into those exact high rez dimensions, so whatever native resolution you're using is fine.
6. One submission per person.
7. Use the proper SUBJECT line in your email (more info on that below)
8. You agree to the Standard Contest Rules - though we DO accept non-US resident submissions.
9. If the image contains any material or elements that are not owned by you and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, and/or if any persons appear in the image, you are responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the image in the manner set forth in these rules without additional compensation. If any person appearing in any image is under the age of majority in their state/province/territory of residence the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required on each release.
Send your best photo by Monday, October 6 at 10AM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with "Football" in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs, and use a FirstnameLastnameFootball.jpg (970px wide) and FirstnameLastnameFootballWallpaper.jpg (2560px wide) naming conventions.