Sports Photos - Tips

stats · Post time 31-3-2009 10:24 PM

PHOTO TIPS

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough".

Truerwords have never been spoken than Robert Capa's famous quote regardingphotography, and it holds true today when shooting your favorite Lions,Tigers, Bears or even the Blue Jays.

Although there's a limit to how close you can get to mostsports events, the next best option is to bring the event close to you.A telephoto or zoom lens brings in the action while you're safely onthe sidelines or in the stands.

Whether shooting a running back for the Buffalo Bills oryour sons tyke football game there are a couple things you can do tomake great action photos.

Let the auto focus do the work. Today's auto focus camerasare generally much faster than most professional photographers and mostpro sport shooters are leaving their cameras on AF much of the time.Shooting on AF allows you to concentrate more on the image contentwhile the camera does the focus work.

Use the sun to your advantage. If you're at an outdoor eventand can stand on either side of the field why not walk to the sidewhere the sun is behind you and shining on the players. It gives thephoto more contrast, helps the auto focus work faster, allows slowerISO settings for finer grain or digital detail and cuts down on anyflare you might get from shooting into the sun.

Bring you own sun. If you're shooting hockey or basketballindoors use an extra flash instead of the available light in the rinkor gym. When I shoot the NHL or NBA I use the strobes in the arena. Forpro games they're mounted in the ceiling and you fire them with aremote. You can see them go off when watching NBA or NHL on TV.

Forhouse league and minor sports pop a flash on camera and try to shootover the glass. You could set the ISO of your camera to a higher numbersuch as ISO 800 but you're giving up a lot of colour quality so using aflash is better.

For most house league or kids' sports no oneseems to mind the flash going off but don't use it at a gymnasticsevent or dance competition.

Use a longer lens. If you want tobring the action in close you need a long telephoto like the type yousee on the sidelines of a NFL or pro baseball game. I regularly use a300mm lens (6 times closer), a 400mm lens (8 times ), and a 600mm lens(12 times). These same lenses are great at house league football gamesand other youth sports. You could crop the picture later instead, butit doesn't provide the same quality and look as a telephoto lens.

Use the proper ISO (film speed) for the conditions. Thelower the film speed, the greater the detail and the better thecolours. So use a low speed when you can. Some events however are justtoo dark for the lower speed films and you're forced to use a higherspeed. When shooting outdoors I try to use ISO 200 first. If the sun isout and behind me this will give me a shooting speed of 1/1600th of asecond at F4. As the light level lowers I switch to a higher speeduntil I get to ISO 800. I rarely go above 800 because the detail isn'tthere. Even when shooting pro hockey I use ISO 100 but remember I'mrenting the strobes from the arena and they're supplying the extralight. If it wasn't for the lights I would have to use an ISO 800 filmin the arena.

Use the right shutter speed. In most cases you want to stopthe action as best you can. For outdoor shots of football, baseball orfield hockey try to use a shutter speed of 1/800th second or faster.For faster sports like skiing, cycling or auto racing I use 1/2000 if Ican. On some cameras you can use speeds as high as 1/8000 second butit's overkill. There's no practical reason to go higher than 1/2000thand in most cases I try to use a shutter speed around 1/1200 or 1/1600.If it's bright enough to go higher then I'll choose a lower ISOsetting.

Forget about depth of field because it wouldn't work insports. You need to get the subject in focus and not worry about depthof field, it isn't going to save a soft picture anyway.

Will these tips make you a great sports photographerovernight? Probably not, but with enough practice you should be able toget a nice photo of your child's touchdown or game winning goal.

http://www.thepicturedesk.ca/

sedikit tips..terjumpa tadi..so sapa ade tips pasal sports photos ni bleh arr continue..

loona · Post time 31-3-2009 11:10 PM

bagus tips ni, tapi bukankah kebanyakan sport shoot kebanyakannya play with smaller DOF?
esp. kalau nak focus pada specific players...
dan kebanyakan photo kat sport section almost semuanya pakai small DOF..

chayuk · Post time 1-4-2009 07:12 AM

Originally posted by stats at 31-3-2009 22:24
PHOTO TIPS

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough".

aku rasa kata2 Robert Capa nh dah tak baper bole pakai

..
mamat nh jurufoto masa zama perang dunia 1 lg...dia byk cover scene
perang dulu2...mmg dasat la sebab kn pegi dekat2.
Si Capa nh pun mati kena tembak dlm medan perang...

zaman skang ada super power rangger zoom lense
sumer besor2 belalai gajah....dari jauh pun picture can be good enough..
rega pun tak hingat donia...

Err...sorry eak, aku bukan bagi tips...
Cuma tertarik nak ulas sket pasal si Capa nh.

cheers...

stormyrain · Post time 1-4-2009 08:05 AM

sapa nak fast action photos tepek la sini ...

mo-mo · Post time 1-4-2009 08:13 AM

...kena ada fast-lense, Monopod...

stats · Post time 1-4-2009 08:34 AM

Originally posted by loona at 31-3-2009 23:10
bagus tips ni, tapi bukankah kebanyakan sport shoot kebanyakannya play with smaller DOF?
esp. kalau nak focus pada specific players...
dan kebanyakan photo kat sport section almost semuanya pak ...

slalunya ada laa..contoh kalo game bola tuh..kalo pakai tele mmng mmng senang jek nak wat DOF..
cuma jgn kesah sgt kot..itu maksud diaa..

stormyrain · Post time 1-4-2009 08:39 AM

nak ambik ganbar sports ni camera tu perlu tak ada banyak AF focus point ?

mo-mo please take note

mo-mo · Post time 1-4-2009 09:09 AM

"If your pictures aren't good enough, your lens is not big enough".

loona · Post time 1-4-2009 10:59 AM

Originally posted by mo-mo at 1-4-2009 09:09 AM
"If your pictures aren't good enough, your lens is not big enough".

betul kata2 ko tuh momo..
aku perasan bila aku jenguk2 flickr yg pakai lens yg cecah RM15K atau lebih...mostly semuanya cantik2 dan yg teramat sharp.
adakah faktor harga lens mahal yg menolong menghasilkan photo yg cantik2???

aku rasa ada satu aja lens murah dan cantik...50mm f1.8

alongarts · Post time 1-4-2009 12:49 PM

honeysweet · Post time 1-4-2009 01:11 PM

"tengah gigih amik nota sambil menterjemah ke bahasa malaysia"

prince_imrahil · Post time 9-4-2009 02:34 PM

Telephoto lens & zoom lens tu sama ker?? Cara dia describe cam two different lens je..

adiegani · Post time 9-4-2009 03:19 PM

tu ko ke long?
nk kene tmbh lg 1 kot..meriam RM25k pny plak..hehehe..

de_ikea · Post time 15-6-2009 11:43 AM

wow..
nie cubaa dr sy

bimmer_man · Post time 15-6-2009 01:54 PM

Originally posted by stormyrain at 1-4-2009 08:05
sapa nak fast action photos tepek la sini ...

gambar lama.. tahun 2007 punya..

alongarts · Post time 15-6-2009 02:42 PM

woi felda akan jv ngan comp tempat aku keja nie

bimmer_man · Post time 15-6-2009 05:07 PM

Originally posted by alongarts at 15-6-2009 14:42
woi felda akan jv ngan comp tempat aku keja nie

huh.. ok la tu.. leh test felda rally team nyer keta.. muahahah..

anyway.. pemanas untuk weekend nih.. gambar lama gak ni..

bulat · Post time 15-6-2009 05:26 PM

sharp2 nyer gambor korang

manfrotto · Post time 23-7-2009 09:00 AM

gimme the ball ... di dalam gambar ini winger MU Tosic sedang membawa bola menghampiri pintu gol lalu dijerit oleh Nani meminta bola siap dengan aksi tangannya sekali

tak chun kan gambar ni ? masalah aku ialah aku cuma guna lense 200 mm saja. payah lah kan kalau nak zoom kaw kaw dgn 200 mm saja. aku beli tiket rm68 saja dan kena duduk di teres tiga ... tinggi ke atas, so agak jauh dengan aksi di padang ...

masa gambar ni aku snap, cuaca dah nak gelap dan stadium tak buka lampu pun. so aku letak iso 800 dan speed 500 dengan app 5.6 kalau tak silap ...