Sports Photography Blog » Basics

Guide to sports photography

Kay in t Veen — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:57:33 +0000

Everything a sports photographer needs to know. from basics about photographing, to getting access, using essential equipment, sports specific tips and of course a lot more. Free for all subscribers!

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Shooting in low light situations

Kay in t Veen — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:01:52 +0000

This is one of the hardest things for a sports photographer, shooting in low light situations. For example, ice-hockey, basketball or any other indoor sport for that matter. If you are in a NHL Rink for example you have less problems, this is because of the TV lights available at such locations But the normal gyms or rinks don’t have very good lightning, trough our eyes it seems verry bright and nice, but for a camera which only captures a very small fraction of light it gets hard.

Shutter
The minimum shutter speed you have to get is 1/250th. But personally i never us 250th for a sport. 1/320 is the real minimum for me. it depends on the sport i am shooting, Fieldhockey is a fast sport you defenitly need something like 320 400-> for this. and still you wont be able to freeze the action. This gives you some creative possibilities. try play with it.

Aperture
Go as wide as possible. i suggest 2.8 is the minimum here. Past week i shot a ice hockey game at ISO 3200 aperture 2.8 shutter 1/320. I really wanted to go up to 1/400th but this was a real no-go!

ISO
When i am shooting indoor my ISO is always somewhere between 1600 and 3200. i usually start somewhere at 1600 and bump it up untill i reached the right exposure around 1/320th.

Other tips
1. Shoot raw! – Since the reflection of the courts, walls and ceiling is different then just a bare sky, and the light sources are of a different color temperature your white balance will often be pretty screwed. you have 2 options, use a custom white balance with a Grey card. Or just go auto on this and do it in post-production.
2. Keep your histograms in sight. check once in a while if your shoots are good exposed, since you are already in a high iso, boosting up your exposure/brightness with affect your image noise, and give you a hell lot more then just a good exposure.
3. Be sure your shots a really sharp. with apertures 2.8, 2.0, 1.8 your often get of-focus shots since its focussing on the stick, or ball. This gives you a bad exposure. and photos just a bit of-focus can be good in good light situations (a bit of sharpening in post producton) but with these high iso’s you images will suck pretty much.

Good luck! and if there are any questions, feel free to comment on the article.

ISO: 1600
Shutter: 1/250
Aperture: f/2.8

ISO: 3200
Shutter: 1/320
Aperture: f/2.8

Getting access at sport events

Kay in t Veen — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:36:43 +0000

Getting access at sport events is one of the most important things for a beginning sports photographer. Without a portfolio, your nowhere. shooting your kid on the sidelines of the soccer or hockey field are not going to do it. You need pro shots of pro athletes. although that’s my believe. Since the power, passion and emotion of high skilled athletes is so bigger than students or normal kids that this can give you that little bit extra to a stunning photo.
1. Start close
What i did is just shoot some sports in the neighborhood where you can visit the field for free, and where you can get access to the sidelines or other good spots. For me that is a big hockey stadium just next to my home, since field hockey isn’t that big in our country i can easily get even on the field and shoot great sport shots. With players from the Olympic finalists on the field i am sure there is enough skill on the field. A great way to start out!

2. Get your photos out there
Start a Flickr stream, picasa web album or any other social way to publish your photos. Be social help others, comment on your favorite photos and get interactive with other shooters in your favorite sport. This way you get a small name and views to your pictures. Often you receive awesome comments which help you a lot with you next shoot. Don’t be afraid people stealing your photos, they are almost worthless for now anyway. and the people using your photos probably will display your name (if they are kind enough). What i allays do is try to locate the athletes or clubs of the sport i shot. This gave me some great links towards my site, and provided me with some extra exposure i needed.

3. Just send tons of kind e-mails
Next thing to do is send e-mails to people who can give you access. Don’t start with your city best football club, or other big clubs to just climb up that ladder in baby steps. Just go to the sports where you can get in almost free, these are sports not in the to 5 popular in your country. They have more visitors, and more exposure. Show the people your portfolio by dropping some links in your email. don’t push just ask kindly and polite. If not ask why or just keep it in mind for a next time. But for now people where impressed by my work and if they where allowed to use my shots for their own fans and websites they let me in almost 9 times out of 10.

To be continued…

Camera basics

Kay in t Veen — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:33:47 +0000

Since in these we only shoot digital, and you don’t have to dial in everything yourself you still need to know whats it about to be a good sports photographer. This is why we like to point you out to some must reads on this one. Because we really try to focus on sports photographer we expect our viewers to know something about Aperture, Shutters and other basic elements of a camera. Here are some links if you dont.

Great article on Aperture – http://www.diyphotography.net/aperture

Article about the 3 basic elements to exposure, iso – shutter and aperture – http://www.digital-cameras-help.com/basic-photography-tips.html

Another must read on basic exposure – http://photo.net/learn/basic-photo-tips/aperture-shutterspeed-iso/