Sports Photography Training
Okay so I recently started a sports photography mini series on my YouTube channel and I thought maybe a blog post would help as well, for those of you who like reading and can't stand looking at my face ;). Okay so a little background on me and sports photography, I shoot all types of sports all around the world. I have shot everything from tee ball to Olympic sports. I currently shoot for UTC, a D1 University in Chattanooga TN. I also shoot for a sports photography company out of Pennsylvania, which sends me all over to do contract work for different organizations such as US Figure skating and USA Hockey. You can find a portfolio of my work to the left on the Sports/Automotive tab or at Facebook.com/NewtographySports
Action Sports photography can be an incredibly fun yet difficult thing to shoot. So you want to take out as many variables as possible and focus on capturing the moment. I am all about being efficient when it comes to sports photography so I am going to go over things that help you become more efficient and allow yourself to focus solely on the action and let your camera do its job without you having to worry about anything. Okay so we are going to go over a lot here so get out a pen and paper and get ready to take notes. If you aren't familiar with photography and how the exposure triangle works that is a prerequisite to learning sports photography. So if you need to know the basics go ahead and click on the video below and learn about the exposure triangle before you jump ahead to learning sports photography.
Aperture, ISO, Shutter Speed AKA the aperture triangle, is covered in the first installation of NewtographyTVs new photography classes.
Crank up that Shutter Speed
Alright shutter speed is going to be the single most important thing to consider when shooting sports. You need a high shutter speed to freeze the action in sports. If you use a shutter speed that is too low you are going to end up with blurry images, and there is no way to fix blurry images in post processing.
"Shutter speed is everything" Image by Andrew Newlun | Newtography Sports
I suggest using Manual Mode in sports but if you want you can put your camera into Shutter Priority mode. Start out around 1/400 of a second and adjust your settings from there. 1/400 shutter speed is about as low as you will want to go in most sports. Shoot some test shots and try and adjust your settings to allow for faster shutter speeds. I cannot stress enough how crucial shutter speed is when shooting sports. SHUTTER SPEED IS EVERYTHING!
Use a Wide Aperture
The next thing on the list of importance is aperture. Now sometimes having a wide aperture isn't a priority, specifically when shooting outdoors in the day time. True, aperture does give you a better quality, more professional looking image. But it isn't something that is completely necessary for shooting sports if you already have good lighting.
Use a wide aperture when shooting at night or indoors. Image by Andrew Newlun | Newtography Sports
Now if you are forced to shoot at night or indoors, then you will probably need a wide aperture. The aperture controls the amount of light let into your camera through the lens. So having an extremely wide aperture does allow you to use higher shutter speeds, therefore, making the aperture a key component in shooting sports in less than perfect lighting scenarios.
Wide apertures come from higher quality lenses. This means spending top dollar for your glass (lenses). Among the most popular lenses for sports photography is the 70-200mm 2.8 which is made by several manufacturers for all camera brands such as Nikon , Canon , Sigma , and Tamron. (click links to see lenses)
The more you progress in photography the more you will need to spend and upgrade your lenses. The 70-200 is popular but it will only get you so far. If you are progressing and want to take the next step into the full professional lenses you will need a bigger bank account, because the big boys cost big bucks. These lenses include the 200mm f2 Lenses for closer sports like basketball, hockey, volleyball etc. Then for the field sports like football, soccer, or lacrosse, a 300mm F2.8 Lens would suit you well. And for the extreme situations where you cannot get very close to your subject, a 400 or 500mm lens would be your best friend. This is often used when shooting Baseball.
The professional zoom lenses are also popular because they have whats known as a constant or "fixed aperture". This means that whether you are at 70mm or 200mm your aperture remains at f2.8. In the cheaper lenses the aperture changes, often from f4 to f5.6 as you go through your zoom range. This obviously causes a problem since that is not letting much light in. So when you are using a cheaper lens and you are zooming in keep that in mind and adjust your settings accordingly.
Bump up your ISO
Sports photographers cannot be scared to shoot that ISO up to the heavens
Image by Andrew Newlun | Newtography Sports
Now this is what separates sports photographers from every other photographer. Sports photographers cannot be scared to shoot that ISO up to the heavens. In every other type of photography a low ISO is paramount to creating high quality images. But in sports photography high ISO's allow us to have another way of boosting our shutter speed. And if you were reading, you know that shutter speed is KING.
So obviously we don't want our ISO so high that our images are unusable. So ISO is another trade-off. When we find the shutter speed that we like then we keep it there and use the lowest ISO we can to keep a good image quality.
As a sports photographer, your ISO becomes a way to make up for the quality of your glass. If you have cheap lenses, at least try and get a camera with great high ISO performance. The higher end DSLR's will have better high ISO performance. This is also another way of increasing your overall quality of images. If you combine high quality glass with a professional camera that has amazing high ISO performance that lets you boost your shutter speeds that much more while maintaining exquisite quality images.
Focusing
"You can have your settings perfect, and tens of thousands of dollars of equipment, but if your subject isn't in focus then none of it matters. "
Image by Andrew Newlun | Newtography Sports
Alright, now we are going to start getting into the tricky stuff. The first of which, and by far the most challenging, is focusing technique. You can have your settings perfect, and tens of thousands of dollars of equipment, but if your subject isn't in focus then none of it matters.
Some sports are easier than others when it comes to focusing. In a baseball game the focusing skill required ranges from extremely easy (at bat) to very difficult (shooting a line drive diving save by the short stop). You have to be prepared for your sport and every sport is different, but I will go over some things that will keep you ahead of the game as long as you can "stay focused" ha.
Okay let's start off by getting into single point focus mode. In most sports you are usually always composing your subject in the middle of the frame. Therefore it makes sense to consolidate your focusing to the center focus point and keep it there. This allows the camera to not waste any time guessing where to focus, it knows exactly what you want to focus on. You can move the focal point around if you need to based on what you are shooting, but I rarely move it more than one or two points away from the middle.
"In most sports you are usually always composing your subject in the middle of the frame...use single point focus mode"
Image by Andrew Newlun | Newtography Sports
"using back button focusing allows you to track your subject much easier"
Image by Andrew Newlun | Newtography Sports
Next thing you should do is learn to use the back button for focusing. Most DSLR come equipped with a back button focus. The manufacturers spend millions in R&D before they make the decision to put something like this on the camera. Which means if its there, it's probably there for a good reason. If you take a minute to learn how to use it, it will probably help you be more efficient.
Now back button focusing allows you to allocate the task of focusing to your thumb and picture taking to your finger. This is another thing that eliminates confusion in your camera and makes you more efficient. I'm sure if you have spent any time shooting you have run into the problem of trying to focus by pressing the shutter half way down and you end up taking a picture because you have a heavy finger. Or the opposite also happens, when you are gently hovering the shutter button to focus and you see the moment and go to snap it and don't push down hard enough and miss the shot. Well back button focus eliminates these problems and also, like using one focal point, lets the camera know exactly what your intentions are. There are several other reasons why back button focusing will help you but that, in my opinion, is the most important when it comes to sports photography.
You will also want to make sure you put your camera into AF-C or continuous focus mode. When you couple continuous focus mode with back button focusing this will dramatically increase your accuracy when focusing on fast moving objects. If you already use AF-C mode you have probably already noticed that trying to track an object while focusing with the shutter release isn't all that easy for the camera. It is having to make dozens of micro decisions every second and using back button focusing eliminates this and allows you to track your subject much easier and hit that shutter at the exact moment you need to with no hesitation.
The next thing we want to do is utilize the focal range switches on the lens we are using (if it has that feature).
"utilize the focal range switches"
This seems like a minute thing that may not make much of a difference. However, in order to become efficient, we must take numerous small steps that will add up to maximum efficiency.
Adjust this switch to the appropriate distances you will be shooting at. This keeps the lens from hunting throughout its full range and makes focus time much smaller.
Also, don't be afraid to just switch it into full manual focus if you need to. This sounds crazy, since you pay thousands of dollars for the pro glass with the fastest focus motors in the world. But, in some situations it is necessary. For example, there are times in volleyball that you may want to shoot a player straight on through the net. Since our lenses are so precise, they will always find that tiny string of the net to focus on, thus putting the player out of focus. So throw it in manual focus and you will see that it isn't all that difficult to do.
"we must take numerous small steps that will add up to maximum efficiency" Image by Andrew Newlun | Newtography Sports
"Since our lenses are so precise, they will always find that tiny string of the net to focus on" so switch it into manual, don't be scared :)
"You may want to shoot a player straight through the net...switch into manual"
Image by Andrew Newlun | Newtography Sports
"maximize your focusing efficiency"
Image by Andrew Newlun | Newtography Sports
There are several other minute settings that can be adjusted in camera. The menu systems vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. So search through the focus menu in your camera and adjust the various settings to maximize your focusing efficiency.
One particular setting that I find useful to adjust in my camera is "Focus tracking with lock-on".
"One particular setting that I find useful is "Focus tracking with lock-on"
Adjusting this setting to "long" tells the camera to wait for a second or two before adjusting to focus on a new subject that has come into my focus point.
This means that if I happen to shift my focus off of my subject and to the background accidentally, or someone runs in between my subject and my camera, the lens will stay on my original subject. Action sports move very fast so this happens often but adjusting this setting keeps my focus on my subject if I happen to slip of for a second.
You may be thinking that this sounds like it will also keep your lens from changing from one subject to another, but it does not. Simply remove your thumb from the back button focus and find your new subject, then press the button again and you are set.
This function just keeps the lens from refocusing while you are continuously tracking a subject.
ANTICIPATION
The single most difficult aspect of action and sports photography is anticipation. Things are happening so fasts that you cannot simply snap a photo when you see something happen. Your reaction time is too slow, and you will always miss the key moment. This is why anticipation is key in sports photography.
The single biggest contributor to missing moments in sports photography is whats known as "chimping". This is where you snap a photo and you think it is an amazing shot, so you take your eye away from the play and to your screen. While missing what is going on in the game, you are ooooing at the back of your screen like a monkey and missing the action.
Don't let this happen to you. I am a firm believer in editing whole shooting (deleting bad pictures in the camera). But I must make it clear that you should ONLY LOOK AT YOUR PHOTOS BETWEEN PLAYS. Do not take your eye out of that viewfinder while the action is going on. Sports photography is all about capturing the moment, and you will miss every moment if your eyes are glued to the preview screen.
"you cannot simply snap a photo when you see something happen...anticipation is key"
Image by Andrew Newlun | Newtography Sports
Each sport differs in the speed and pace of the games. So your anticipation will also vary depending on what sport you are shooting. Having a good understanding of the sport you are shooting goes a long way in helping you anticipate what happens next. So do your homework and learn as much as you can about sports you are unfamiliar with before shooting them.
There isn't a lot I can tell you about anticipation other than practice practice practice. Learn how to see the play before it happens. Understand what each players role is, and take note of the playing styles of each team.
"Move around the subject and find different vantage points."
Image by Andrew Newlun | Newtography Sports
You will get better at photographing a sport the more you shoot it. So get out there and shoot away. Do everything you can to cut down major and minor things that prevent you from capturing the moment. Move around the field, court, or subject and find different vantage points. Most of all keep your eye on the subject and don't be a chimp.