Sports is all about action and emotion, and photographing sports is all about relaying this energy to a viewer. Depending on the sport or game, sports photography can take on many different forms, ranging from close-up super-telephoto shots of fast-paced action to more environmental shots showing the mood and atmosphere of a particular event. Successful sports photography gauges what’s happening and translates this energy to the viewer, and successful sports photographers should be prepared to capture the moment in the most appropriate and meaningful way.
Know the Game
It might sound obvious, but knowing the sport you are photographing can help immensely in knowing when and where to capture the best moments and angles. If you’re not already familiar with the sport, take some time beforehand to read up on the basics of the game and study other photographs of the same sport to see the types of action you should be on the lookout for. American football? Follow the quarterback and look toward the endzone for action. Hockey? Stay focused on the net and be ready for fast action. Golf? Most of the drama happens on the greens.
Technique
You might think that sports photography technique is all about freezing the action, but there’s a bit more to conveying a sense of movement and intensity. Sometimes you might want to have a blurred background or subject to highlight movement or to isolate the finer details of the athlete’s form. Recognizing these details and how the action needs to be depicted is key to deciding how a certain moment in sport needs to be photographed.
ISO
Higher ISO settings yield faster shutter speeds but can cost you in image quality and noise. Keep your ISO as low as possible while still maintaining a fast-enough shutter speed to capture the action.
Shutter Priority
Especially for fast-moving sports, keeping a specific shutter speed can be crucial in how motion is depicted, whether you’re looking to freeze a moment or have the action blurred to show the speed of the game. Shutter priority lets you pick the shutter speed you need and will adjust the aperture accordingly.
Burst
Continuous shooting and burst modes allow you to shoot rapidly and give you a higher chance of capturing the critical moment of a fast-paced play. Depending on your camera, faster burst modes give you shooting rates of 10, 20, 30, or even more frames per second, meaning you get numerous frames of a split-second event.
Continuous Tracking
Even the best photographers struggle to keep sharp focus with fast subjects, but newer subject tracking and detection modes can help by automatically recognizing a subject, following them as they move within the frame, and adjusting focus and exposure to make sure the selected subject is accurately depicted. It’s a useful feature to have when photographing sports that involve unpredictable movements.
Equipment
When photographing the fast action of sports, a camera with a fast shooting rate and good low-light performance is the key, because indoor arenas are often dimly lit. Other helpful features are a vertical grip, fast in-camera image buffering, and ruggedness.
In sports photography, getting close to the action is essential to creating compelling action photographs. To do that, you’ll need a long focal length telephoto lens. Additionally, lenses with wide maximum apertures allow for photos in low light.
Camera shake is one enemy of sharp photos when using big telephoto lenses. The monopod gives you additional stability for your camera and lens but allows you to follow the action and get the shot.
Closer, closer, closer. Even with big telephotos, some sports photographers want to get even closer to the action on the field. One way to do this is through the use of teleconverters that multiply the focal length of the lens.
- Get in close. And if you can’t physically be close to the action, using a longer lens will help you get tighter shots of the action. Most of the drama and intensity of sports is a result of the emotions or intensity an athlete displays while in the heat of the moment; this is often what tells the story of the game in a photographic sense. Wider, establishing shots will often lack the necessary detail to understand what is happening—closer shots of key moments will show the intensity of the participants.
- Mind your shutter speed. Faster is usually better, because it results in frozen moments and sharp details, but don’t be afraid to drop the shutter speed if you want to show the speed of a passing subject.
- Stability is key. Monopods, tripods, fast shutter speeds, high ISOs—use whatever you can to eliminate camera shake.
- Continuous shooting modes give you a better chance of capturing the key moment in a fast-moving scene, but don’t be overly reliant on firing off hundreds of frames every time something happens. It’s good to practice and learn how to recognize the decisive moment and challenge yourself to only shoot a few frames at a time.
- Keep shooting. Even if you think you have the shot, keep working and stay focused over the course of the game, race, or round in case there is a last-minute surprise. Stay ready because there’s nothing worse than missing a critical moment for which you weren’t prepared.
- Auto ISO is a great mode to use in conjunction with shutter speed priority because it will adjust the sensitivity as needed to let you keep your chosen shutter speed.
- Panning while photographing laterally moving subjects is a unique way to get a sharp subject and a blurred background. It takes practice, but it’s a great technique to have when photographing motorsports, cycling, and even running.
- Know your focus and image stabilization modes. Depending on your camera and lens, you might have some specific tracking modes or IS modes that are better optimized for sports shooting.
- Unique lens choice. A telephoto lens is a reliable tool for sports shooting, but sometimes it’s great to mix it up with a more creative choice, like a fisheye or super-telephoto, that will bring a different perspective to the game. Additionally, mixing your aperture choice and changing depth of field will also be a unique way to add some visual variety to your shots.
- Be practical. Have multiple batteries, memory cards, back up your shots, and even consider having a second backup body if shooting an important event. Another benefit to working with two cameras is that you can make lens switches much faster by just changing to a different body that’s ready to shoot.
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