Taking Sporting Event Photos
Sports Photography tips for beginners
Take Plenty of Photos
The more photos you take, the better the chance several will come out great.
Capture the Emotion of a Great Play
Capture players’ expressions with your digital camera.
A Long Zoom is Essential
Take great sports photos even if you are in the ‘cheap seats’.
Fast Shutter Speed is Crucial
Prevent your sports photography from becoming blurry.
Don’t Forget the Scoreboard
Snap a few scoreboard photos to help tell the story of a sporting event.
Anticipate Shutter Lag
A digital camera’s slow shutter speed can prevent you from taking great photos if you don’t plan for it.
Capture the Anticipation of a Moment
Tell a story with your sports photography on the events leading up to a play.
Look for the Unexpected
Sometimes the most interesting sports photo opportunities are not found on the playing field.
Increase ISO Settings
Reduce your required digital camera shutter speed by increasing your ISO.
Bring Plenty of Batteries
Ensure your digital camera does not run out of power when taking sports photos.
Prepare for the Elements
Don’t let the rain, wind, sleet, or snow keep you from taking great sports photos.
Capture the Interactions Between Teammates
Photograph how a team responds to a key moment in a sporting event.
Burst (Continuous Drive) Mode can be Useful
How burst (rapid shot, or continuous drive) mode can aid your sports photography.
You may have already noticed that when you’re outside on a sunny day using the Sports/Action mode to take pictures of your child playing soccer or your pet catching a Frisbee, that you get these great action images that are worthy of submission to Sports Illustrated Magazine.
But when you go inside and take photos of a basketball game with the same camera in the same “sports mode”, you get images that are only worthy of being erased before anyone else sees them.
The main ingredient that’s missing in the indoor photos is “light”. The light inside a gym during a basketball game is minimal just as it is during a football game or soccer game after the sun goes down. Most of your sports/action photographs will be taken in available light.
Flash isn’t always allowed and there’s also an effective range of your built-in flash (10 to 15 feet) that isn’t conducive to taking action shots from the stands. Taking a photograph of a moving subject without a flash under low light conditions can result in blurry pictures.
The problem lies in the way that exposure works; the lower the light, the slower the shutter speed that the camera needs to make a correct exposure. The slower the shudder speed, the more chance that the picture will be “blurry” because of camera movement or subject movement.