Lens Extender

Sports Photography Tips from a Pro

Here's a good interview of John Todd, a professional sports photographer.  The "one handed grab" technique is especially intriguing to me

Facial Expressions are your Best Friend

Parents may not like facial expressions like this, but as a sports photographer these types of facial expressions are golden.  Remember, you'll only capture action like this if you continue to shoot after the action is complete.

Sports Photos Good Enough for Use by the Press

 

Several years ago I was asked by a local newspaper to provide a few photos for a high school soccer game they didn't have the resources to cover with a photographer.  I submitted about 20 photos from the game including the 3 above.  These were my favorite shots from this game.  Yet none of these were chosen to be included in the published piece.  In fact the photo that was actually chosen was a photo of one of the more well known players participating in the game.  

Remember, if you're shooting photos for the press, don't forget to capture the stars.

Capturing the Amusing Sports Photos

It pays to shoot lots of photos when you're taking sports photos.  After all, it's only digital.  It really doesn't cost you anything to shoot as many photos as you can.  The benefit for holding down that shutter release button is you'll capture some very interesting sports shots that you really can't plan for.

 

Camera Settings for Night Sports Photography

One of the more challenging sports photography environments is capturing shots at night under stadium lights.  Getting the camera settings correct can be difficult.  You have to worry about getting fast shutter speeds, proper exposure, good colors and low noise levels. 

The most critical choice for attaining even decent night sports shots will be your lens choice.  Unfortunately, fast lenses (f/2.8 or faster) are a requirement.  These types of lenses are generally expensive - particularly those lenses that also provide generous reach.  The photo above was captured using a 300mm f/2.8 lens.  Yes, this is an expensive lens. You can also consider using a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens or the Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 lens as well.

The first setting that I adjust for stadium light photography is the white balance setting to make sure that colors are correct in this type of lighting environment.  Stadium lights are notorious for creating inaccurate color reproduction with cameras set to the the auto white balance setting.  I use the ExpoDisc to easily and automatically help me set my white balance for night sports shots.  You can also use a gray or white card to make this adjustment as well.

I usually shoot in complete manual mode as well when shooting night sports photography.  I manually set the aperture to f/2.8 while setting the shutter speed to a setting that insures I'll be able to stop the action.  When experimenting for this setting before the game, I look at sample photos and the histogram to make sure I have the proper exposure.  This photos was manually set at aperture f/2.8 and shutter speed 1/500.

I also set the ISO to a level that allows me to get the proper exposure at the manual settings I require.  For this photo the ISO was set a 4000.  Of course this produces a lot of noise in the pictures.  But I'd rather get a photo with noise, than no photo at all.  The noise in this photo was also cleaned up with Noise Ninja.

Noise Ninja Pro Bundle Version 2.1 Software

The last camera setting that I adjust is to shoot in center weighted metering mode as opposed to matrix metering mode.  I choose center weighted metering to make the camera account for the intended subject more than the often dark background.  I find that matrix metering often over-exposes the intended subject because the camera accounts too much for the nighttime background.

Photographing Athletic Effort

I think this is kind of a dramatic athletic pose.  This player was chasing a ball that was traveling out of bounds.  He didn't get to the ball, but obviously there was a lot of effort in the pursuit.  I think good sports photography should also capture good sports effort

Sit Down Soccer Photography

This shot was taken about 2 years ago.  This player is the son of a friend who's game I just happened to attend one day.  Of course I had my Nikon D200 with me that day with the 70-200mm f/2.8 lens attached to it.   was actually sitting in a lawn chair near the mid-field talking to my friend when I took this photo.

The sitting part is what creates that nice low perspective I like when photographing kids playing sports. However, I wouldn't recommend not focusing getting great shots while sitting.  I just got lucky with this one.

Setting up for the Quick Sports Team Photo

This team photo was taken directly after the game these girls played.  The major challenge with photos like this is not having a lot of time for setup.  Fortunately, the team manager informed me during the game that she wanted to have a team photo shot directly after the game.  Since I acquired the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 AF-S lens, I carry it all of the time now.  This lens really comes in handy for situations just like this.

During the game I decided that the end of the field in front of the net contained a very good fall color background for this shot.  With about 5 minutes remaining in the game I switched lenses from my 300mm f/2.8 used for the soccer action, to the 50mm.  As the girls were lining up I took several photos to check for exposure and and to adjust my D300 accordingly.  By the time the girls were lined up for this shot, I was ready to go.

This photo was shot at f/6.3, 1/200 shutter speed (aperture priority mode), ISO 200.  It was shot using jpeg because I forgot to switch the camera to RAW (Nikon NEF).  However, since I started the day adjusting the white balance using the very convenient Expo Disc, I lucked out on not needing to adjust colors in post-processing.

The Girls Have Great Soccer Expressions Too

I've written many times about getting good facial expressions with your soccer photography.  Usually I highlight the facial expressions of the guys.  The ladies are good of intensity in the face as well.

Indoor Volleyball in Poorly Lit Gyms

Over on Photo.net there's a really good discussion about capturing volleyball action in gyms where the lighting leaves a lot to be desired.  This discussion is probably useful for high school basketball as well.