Sports Photography Tips
When it comes to taking photos, there is no other genre more intense and fast-paced than sports photography. If you have a passion for sports and enjoy the rush of improvisation and capturing action in the heat of the moment, then you may want to look into becoming a sports photographer.
The amount of effort and skill it takes to obtain a perfect shot in sports is quite substantial, so naturally it is very rewarding (and let's not forget profitable) when you can do it consistently. These sports photography tips will help you familiarize yourself with the advanced concepts of this particular niche, as well as the fundamentals. Let's dive right in...
Knowing Sports Photography Means Knowing Sports
Unlike many other genres of photo taking, sports photography requires that you have a keen understanding of your subjects. Of course, all photographers must be familiar with their subjects (to an extent), but sports photographers have to know sports inside and out.
What indicates that a basketball player is about to go in for a layup? What should you be looking for on the 4th down of a football game with only 30 seconds left? When is a pitcher going to throw one right down the middle? Will the batter even take the bait?
This kind of knowledge is extremely important to have for one main reason: your shots must be taken before the action you are trying to capture actually occurs. The time in between your optical nerve acquiring the image and the shutter closing is very short, but it is also very significant. Making adjustments to these delays can sometimes be complicated - we'll be covering this later on, but let's first take a look at some of the equipment you'll be working with.
Sports Photography Equipment
You could do plenty of research on this topic and you would more than likely find out that 35mm cameras not only are the most commonly used cameras in sports photography, but they also produce the best results. This doesn't mean there aren't other options, but this is the recommendation for both indoor sports photography as well as outdoor.
As far as focal length and the best lenses for sports photography go, they can differ depending on the situation. As a general rule of thumb, you will want to go with a longer lens when capturing action that's further away from you.
For example, if you're shooting indoor sports photography at a basketball game on the front court, you could easily fill a quality frame with a lens in the 85mm range, but once the players start moving to the back court you would need a longer lens to compensate for the distance. This can become more complicated when conducting outdoor sports photography - football and soccer games have bigger fields, so the distance between you and the action can quickly go from up close and personal to completely out of your lens range. This is when it's important to have different lenses available to you at any given time. In fact, many sports photographers carry two different cameras with two different lenses.
The APS-C vs full frame camera in sports photography comparison is fairly subjective. APS-C cameras offer a better crop factor, so they are frequently used to shoot sporting events. However, full frame cameras have their own advantages as well, especially since they capture less noise in almost any given situation. It's really up to you, but be aware that full frame cameras are traditionally far more expensive than APS-C cameras.
High Speed Lenses and Shutter Speed
High speed lenses are extremely important for when you are shooting from a distance. If you are using a 300mm lens to capture action happening on the far side of a soccer field (you may even want to use a longer lens), you'll need a faster shutter speed to freeze the action properly.
Not only that, but you will also need to make sure you are using the proper shutter speed relative to the lens you are using. A 250mm lens is traditionally coupled with a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second, a 300mm lens with 1/300th of a second, and so on and so forth. This is a "traditional" rule regardless of what type of lens you are using, whether it be a telephoto zoom lens or super telephoto lenses.
However, when trying to freeze action in high-quality, you will often have to use faster shutter speeds that extend beyond this rule. It's not uncommon at all for a 300mm lens to be coupled with a shutter speed of around 1/1200. Freezing action in sports photography can sometimes be very difficult, which is why continuous shooting and monopods come in handy when you are dealing with fast-paced motion sports such as car racing or running events. The better you get at handling the camera and adjusting to different lens sizes, the more wiggle room you'll be able to allow yourself when it comes to shutter speeds.
Sports Photography Tips - Adjusting to Lighting
No factor in this niche becomes more irritating than lighting, for both indoor sports photography and outdoor sports photography. Different facilities have different lighting situations, so you must be ready to adapt at all times.
Fundamentally speaking, if the sun is going down or an indoor facility isn't lit very well, then you'll need to open up your aperture (lower f stop) and slow down your shutter speed. You will often have to use faster film in order to compensate for a lack of light as well - an ISO of 1600 is most common when conducting indoor sports photography (along with a high speed lens).
But, as always, when one setting is changed, several other settings must be changed as well. A slower shutter speed means it will be harder to freeze action, so you will sometimes have to compensate by switching to a shorter lens (which means you will have to get closer to the action). Just remember the rule about shutter speed and lens size - if you find yourself needing to use a shutter speed of 1/250, don't try whipping out a 300mm lens. It's just not going to work out. Adjusting to lighting can be frustrating, but knowing how to adapt to particular situations requires experience and prior knowledge of the condition of certain facilities.
Using these sports photography tips can help you with moving forward in the genre, but it will ultimately come down to gaining some real experience. Good luck!
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