Keeper won.

I play soccer/football myself and currently I play goalkeeper for 2, soon to be 3 indoor teams. Because of this I am always after that elusive perfect diving save keeper shot. I think I got a step closer today. Maybe since it was off a PK it's cheating a little but still.

I know it would be better if I had caught it at the moment the ball hit his hands and not as it's bouncing off his hands (and btw, he got up and recovered it just as the kicker came in on the follow-up, they collided and the attacker ended up on the ground and our keeper punted the ball away, which was taken up for a goal for our side).

So here's today's humble offering.

[Oldphoto678]

If I was just looking at the picture w/out your description of the event I would think that he tripped over his own feet, and the ball went in for the score.
In this case a slower shutter speed and a little motion blur may have helped tell the true story.
I will say this. The shot you're going for isn't an easy capture. It takes some work. you'll get it, just keep taking those steps. One after another.

[roentarre]

Excellent instant capture in deed!

[Scottnorwo]

Nice capture of a quick moment. So hard to press the button at the right moment. Again great capture. My chance starts in a few weeks so I will see if I can match you.

[daacon]

Nice shot Mel - I think burst mode would work - I have taken a few shots of batters and either burst mode on the K20D (low resoltion but about 20fps but good enough for web or 4x6 prints) or high shooting (2.5 fps ?) would work well.

[mel]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

I always shoot sports in burst mode. In RAW you get 10. I suppose if I had known exactly where the ball was going, in the air or on the ground, which corner and when it would be a bit easier to get the exact moment correct. There is a degree of unpredictability here. Another problem with burst and AFC, is that while bursting the focus locks, then all shots are at that point. This is a moving target. If I lock too soon the focus will be off on the best one. I had to wait to see which way he was going then lock and fire.

If I locked while he was stationary on the goal line waiting for the shot, any movement to one side or the other would render an out of focus shot. The very next one where he was getting up to recover the ball was out of focus. I relocked for the next one where he grabbed it with the attacker's leg in front of him and it was in focus. The next where the attacker was on the ground and keeper was moving forward was out of focus.

Fortunately I had put on the DA*50-135. The focus locks faster. I had to crop more but at least I was able to get it. The DA55-300 doesn't lock as fast and I wouldn't have gotten even this much I'm sure.

edit - actually i take back what i said about focus. this one was the sharpest of the batch. with the others in the sequence, some are better than other, but not really "on" so to speak.

As a goalkeeper I would say that's he's in the classic landing from a dive position. That's how you hit when you lay yourself out horizonally in the air with arms outstretched to stop the ball. This is why keeper clothing has padded hips and elbows. If you do that too many times in one game you feel like you were run over by a truck the next day.

Scott - looking forward to seeing your shots. PM me when you post.