Sports / Action Photography
refers to the genre of photography that covers all types of sports. In the majority of cases, professional sports photography is a branch of photojournalism, while amateur sports photography, such as photos of children playing association football, is a branch of vernacular photography.
Tips for better Sports/Action Photography:
Tips for better Sports/Action Photography:
- Location, Location, Location!: You can only photograph things you can see. The closer you are to someone, the better you can see them. Sports are no different. You have to get as close to what you are shooting as you can. Typically, for a photographer with a press pass, you can get to the sidelines or other similar locations. You generally will not be permitted on the playing field. Depending on the sport, you most likely will be limited to designated locations.
- The Decisive Moment: Sports and Action photography is all about timing. Its about reacting. Its about being in the right place at the right time and its about execute. These are all qualities of the athlete and those of the photographer as well. Each sport has predictable and unpredictable moments. By knowing these moments you can anticipate the action. This helps in two ways, one it helps you with focus which will be discussed in a later segment, and secondly it helps you snap the shutter at the right time. By knowing these moments you can anticipate the action. This helps in two ways, one it helps you with focus which will be discussed in a later segment, and secondly it helps you snap the shutter at the right time.
- Required Equipment: Most sports are shot on 35mm cameras because of their portability."Its not the equipment but the photographer who makes the picture" is generally a true statement. However with sports and action photography, having the wrong equipment means not getting the shots you want or need. This relates back to the section on location. The further away, the longer the lens is needed to capture the same image in the frame. Different sports require different lens lengths. For instance, basketball is generally shot from the baseline or sideline near the baseline. You generally can get good results with an 85mm lens in this situation. However, by the time the players are at mid court, you need a 135mm to capture them. If they are playing under the far goal, a 200-300mm lens is needed to fill the frame well, yet for shooting a soccer game, a 300-400mm lens is needed for just about anything useful.
- Depth of Field -- Isolating the subject: Most all dramatic sports photos are shot with the lens wide open or one stop from wide open. This is done for two reasons. First you need all the shutter speed you can get, which means shooting wide open, but just as important, it has to do with isolating the subject. As the aperture on a lens opens up, less and less of the photo is in focus. The longer the lens, the more dramatic the change. The larger the distance between the subject and the background the more out of focus the background will come. If you use a long lens and a fast aperture, then your subject will stand out and the background elements will have less impact on your photo.
- Focus: An out of focus shot is pretty useless. There isn't much you can do with them other than throw them away. So achieving crisp focus should be a goal of every one. Today's AF cameras do a very good job of focusing, and focusing quickly.
- Composition:
Faces - "Give me faces" or "I want to see faces" is a common cry from the photo editor because that is the cry he gets from his bosses. The face is the primary source of emotion in a shot and that emotion is what makes or breaks a shot. Shots of the subjects backside just don't cut it.
Vertical/Horizontal - Why would you want to do this? Think about the shape of humans. They are taller than they are wide. To fill the frame with a person playing a sport, they fit the frame better while holding the camera vertically. Even in a tight head shot, it fits better vertically. A lot of sports shots, in particular if it is of an individual is shot vertically. Horizontal shots are used more showing conflict.
Individual vs. Conflict - The vertical vs. horizontal decision needs to be made based on your desired goal in capturing the scene. If you are highlighting an individual, you should shoot vertical. A majority of photo opportunities in basketball and baseball come from individual efforts. However, there are times where you want to show the conflict in the scene, for instance two hockey players fighting for a puck along the dasher boards, or a soccer player being pursued by the defense. To capture these multiple people, you typically will have to shoot horizontal. You should make a conscious decision before you fire the frame as to your goals in capturing the shot.
Rule of Thirds - There is a common photograph rule called "The Rule of Thirds", which says that if you divide the frame into a thirds vertically and horizontally and place the subject where the lines intersect, the resulting photo is more interesting. Camera manufacturers don't believe in this because their AF sensors are centered in the camera. For Sports photography, following the Rule of Thirds in principle is a good idea. That is lead your subject into the frame. If you are shooting a football player running left to right, leave more room on the right side than the left to imply that he is going somewhere. - Know your Sport, Know your Players: Each sport is different in the techniques used to capture the moment. Each sport has a limited number of unique shots. You can only shoot so many basketball games before you start feeling like, "been there, done that". Each sport also has opportunities to get "safeties". A safety is a shot that is easy to get and will give you something to publish if you fail to get good action. For instance, I was shooting a baseball game. In the visitors at bat in the second inning, the skies opened up and it started raining. I had time to shoot the home team in the field and at bat once. Realizing the pending weather, I concentrated on getting some simple usable shots instead of waiting on some excitement at a base, like a steal. Safeties include things like batters batting, pitchers pitching, basketball players shooting free throws, the quarterback under center. Take times when the action is slow to get some good tight shots to use in case no good action materializes. Shoot your safeties first, concentrate on action later. You always want to come back with something.
Sports Photographers: Brad Mangin Ben Liebenberg Joe Murphy
Place where photographers sell their work to designers and publishers: Getty Images
Place where photographers sell their work to designers and publishers: Getty Images