Atletico Madrid vs. FC Barcelona

Atletico Madrid 2-1 FC Barcelona

Atletico de Madrid handed Barcelona their first loss in the league this season in the 22nd match week.  Unfortunately both of their goals was at the opposite end, so I didn't get a good view of the goal celebrations.  On the other hand, I had a very good angle for Simao's freekick goal.  I was a fraction of a second late, however, and managed to get the ball just after it passed the diving Victor Valdes.  

The Vicente Calderon stadium is really not ideal for photography from the stands.  First of all, the seats are elevated somewhat from the field, so that even sitting in the 10th row I was pretty elevated.  The primary problem, however, is the lighting.  It is between 1-1.5 stops darker in the Calderon than in the Santiago Bernabeu across town.  Since pretty much all matches are at night this is really a problem.  I am shooting exlusively at f/2.8, but in the Vicente Calderon I can only manage 1/500s at ISO1600.  I typically like to stay below ISO1600 to avoid excessive noise even with my Canon 5D MarkII.  1/500s is manageable for many situations, but not ideal whenever you have a ball in motion.

I ended with some keepers, but none that I consider to be exceptional.  The match, however, was a good one with Atletico playing a very good 20 minutes taking advantage of some defensive blunders by Barcelona and remaining unusually solid in defense.  The result is an excellent one for Real Madrid, putting them back in control of their destiny in the league.

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Trommer Photography