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Apr 1, 2024 · Jan 31, 2019. Getting the Best Image Quality in Sports Photography. Author: Jeff Swinger. Even though we usually are reacting quickly to rapid movement when we shoot sports or action pictures, image quality can be as important as it is in genres like landscape or portrait shooting.
- What Is Sports Photography?
- Here’s How to Shoot Sports
- Sports Photography Tips
- Sports Photography Tips: Camera Settings
- 4 Great Sports Photography Techniques
- Find The Perfect Position For Shooting Sports
- Sports Photography Gear
- How to Handle Lighting
- Tripods and Monopods For Sports Photography
- Protect Your Photography Equipment While Photographing Sports
Sports photography is simply the act of photographing a sports competition as it is happening. With that said, I wouldn’t consider team portraits or individual portraits as part of sports photography.
Learning to photograph sports is a process. It takes time to learn the best way to approach a sport and to get great technical skills. As I mentioned earlier, each sport is different. What works well for one sport will not work for the others. Focus on learning how to photograph one sport, and once you’ve got that down, you can move to another. Fol...
#1: Learn the Sport
If you are not a sports fan and don’t understand the sport, it will be very difficult for you to be successful. A large part of sports photography is being in the right place and knowing what to look for.
#2: Understand and Anticipate the Subject’s Movement
Once you’ve learned the basics of the sports, you’ll know what is about to happen and where you should be looking. This will give you an edge because you will react faster.
#3: Be Ready to Adapt for Each Competitor and Team
The tricky thing about sports is that each team and competitor does things a little differently. This means you have to change with each situation. One football team might run the ball all the time while another throws the ball more. Maybe in one basketball game the best player is in the post, and at another game the point guard is the great. In all those situations, you would be photographing things a bit differently. If you have a chance, it might be a good idea to scout out each team befor...
#1: Use Fast Shutter Speeds
Most sports involve fast movementlike throwing a ball, running, or jumping. You want these photos to be sharp, not blurry. To do that, you’ll want to utilize fast shutter speeds. The shutter speed can be determined by a few things: 1. How long is the lens?The longer and heavier the lens, the faster you will want your shutter. It’s easier to get sharp photos at a lower shutter speed with a lightweight, wide-angle lens, than with a long, heavy lens. The general rule is to double the length of t...
#2: Open Your Aperture
When you open your aperture, this means you are going to a lower f-stop and making the aperture hole bigger. A professional zoom lens will likely open up to f/2.8. The good thing about opening your aperture is that you’ll let in more light, which can enable you to increase your shutter speed. A wide aperture also create a shallow depth of field. This blurs the background and puts the focus on the main subject. Selecting your aperture is critical. You want to have it as open as possible, but y...
#3: Increase Your ISO
Getting the perfect exposure in sports photography can be really tough. You want to have a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the action, but you also want a high enough aperture to keep things in focus. ISO is a good way to balance all of it out. Today’s cameras are beasts when it comes to ISO. Back in the day, I couldn’t take my Nikon D70 above ISO 1000. Now, people are using ISO 4000 or higher.This is great, because when you increase the ISO, you are increasing the amount of light. Now yo...
#1: Tight Compositions
People really connect with sports images that are up-close and personal. It’s like they’re right there in the action! Try to shoot as tightly as possible, or else the images won’t be that much different than what the fans can see from the stands.
#2: Keep Your Eyes on the Action
I don’t know how many times this has happened to me. I stop and look at the back of my camera to check a photo, then when I look up, I realize I missed something. Don’t do this! Try to stay focused on the action as much as you can.
#3: Look for the In-Between Moments
Some of the greatest moments happen between plays—not on the field. It could be a coach getting fired up, an emotional player, or something interesting happening in the stands. Even if the game is on a break, be ready. Keep looking around and scanning for opportunities.
#1: See Their Faces
When you are taking photos of people, you typically want their faces in the shot. This applies even when the athletes are wearing helmets. Always position yourself so that you can see the faces of the athletes. For example, if I were photographing basketball, I would choose a few key positions. If I want to get photos of the team on offense, I’ll stand near the goal so I can see the players’ faces as they move toward the hoop. To get photos of the defense, I’ll choose a spot to the side so I...
#2: Don’t Forget About the Location of the Sun
With outdoor sporting events, you have to think about the location of the sun. For portraits, I tend to put the sun behind my subjects so they won’t be squinting. Sports can be a little different, however. The athletes aren’t really looking at you or the sun, so squinting isn’t really an issue. The bigger problem I’ve run into when shooting into the sun is getting a lot of lens flare. If you have the choice, put the sun behind you so everything is lit evenly and you won’t have lens flare.
#3: Look for Interesting Backgrounds
For sports like marathons or biking, you can really move around and seek out an interesting background. Take time before the game or event to scout the location. You might find some cool graffiti, a famous building, or a beautiful landscape. The background isn’t the most important element in sports photography, but it can make your photos stand out from your competition.
Just like with all types of photography, you need certain gear when you photograph athletic events. Exactly what you need will vary depending on the sport, but here are some general guidelines.
Lighting can be very difficult in sports photography. The fields of play are quite large, which makes them challenging to light evenly. If you want to be able to photograph from any spot at any time, you might need four or more flashes. In most cases, this isn’t practical and not what really happens. If you plan to mount a flash on a light stand or...
When you start using bigger lenses, you may need a tripod or monopod to help hold it steady amidst the action. I suggest a monopod for most situations, because it’s easier and quicker to move and adjust than a tripod. There are tons of monopods and tripods out there. Make sure to look at how much weight each can support—remember to consider the wei...
A lot can happen to your gear when you’re photographing sports. It can be smashed, dropped, rained on, or exposed to extreme temperatures.
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Dec 2, 2016 · Are you looking to shoot better sports photos, and make an impact? Sports photography presents you with many opportunities to capture dramatic and vivid imagery that will last a lifetime. No other medium presents you with heart-pounding action, vivid color patterns and unique shooting opportunities.
- Dak Dillon
- Use a Fast Shutter Speed. Shutter speed is the single most important thing to get right in action photography. If yours isn't set fast enough then you'll be left with blurry, disappointing shots that no amount of Photoshop post-processing will be able to salvage.
- Open Your Aperture. To help you reach the high shutter speeds required, you'll need to open your aperture up nice and wide. If you have a very fast lens (such as the f/2.8 and f/4 lenses that professional sports photographers invest in), then you may be able to get away with coming down from the maximum aperture by a stop or so.
- Increase Your ISO. Because you're using such a fast shutter speed, your camera might struggle to properly expose the scene even with the aperture fully open.
- Use Burst Mode. By definition, action and sports move quickly, and it can be difficult to keep up. Use your camera's continuous shooting mode (often called burst mode) to take 4 or 6 shots at a time, giving you a much better chance of capturing a good image.
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Apr 22, 2023 · This article includes several sports photography tips to improve the quality of your photos and help you take better action pictures at games and events. Table of Contents. Learn the rules of the game. Learn to use your camera. Use a fast shutter speed. Plan your shooting positions.
5+ tips for shooting sports photography. By Kim Fogle. Whether it's kindergarten soccer or intercollegiate athletics, sports are a popular subject for photography. With all that fast movement and tricky lighting situations, though, it can be difficult to freeze an athlete in action.
