Tag: sports photography

Football Photography Series: Capturing the Atmosphere

Posted on May 8, 2017 by Jennifer Berube

Often, when you’re attending a football game, the action on the field takes a backseat once you get into the entire live sports environment. With the loud music provided by the marching band, the enthusiastic chanting generated by the cheerleaders, and the delicious stadium food, there is plenty to photograph beyond just the game.

While sports photography is generally confined to what’s happening on the field, you can get some really interesting and unique shots by turning your lens away from the football players. Instead, start looking around you and see what compositions you can create to capture the atmosphere of a football game.

Many viewers likely haven’t had the opportunity to attend a major football game, so take advantage of the chance to show them what the experience is like, through your eyes. Take your eyes off the game, especially during half-time, and keep these football photography tips in mind to recreate the exciting environment for your viewers.

1. Get There Early

Not only will this help ensure you can find some prime vantage points to shoot both the field and the crowd, you’ll be able to capture the excitement of the fans as they spill into the stadium. Keep your camera focused on the gate as people start coming in, and you can get some great shots that reflect the mood of the crowd.

Also, you can give yourself a bit of time to familiarize yourself with the setting. That way, you can have a better idea of where things will be happening before the game starts. Locate the area where the marching band will be playing, where the cheerleaders will be performing, and where the food vendors are.

2. Don’t Stay in One Place

Get familiar with the stadium, so you can comfortably move around a bit. This will let you capture scenes from a variety of perspectives and locations, and give you the chance to offer viewers a more thorough experience through your images. No one goes to a football game and just watches the field from one spot, so don’t make your viewers see the game that way, either.

Try shooting from the sidelines to capture the coaches interacting with the players and referees, or the cheerleaders energizing the crowd. Then head over by the marching band to shoot musicians with their shiny instruments and vibrant costumes. Don’t forget about hanging out in the stands with some of the hardcore fans. Find the ones with the face paint and the noise-makers to let your viewers see what your team’s fans look like.

Look around for things outside of the norm. Someone eating a hot dog or some nachos, or a kid interacting with the team mascot can provide great opportunities for football photography. But, it’s easy to overlook these scenes when you’re focused on the game. Especially during downtime, scan the crowd for these potential atmospheric captures.

3. Look for Strong Compositions

Even though shooting sports is different than traditional kinds of photography like landscapes or still-lifes, the rules of composition in football photography are still important. These rules can provide you with some essential guidance when you’re trying to focus on the atmosphere of the game, helping you create the feeling of depth and dimension that you need to pull viewers into your images.

Things like leading lines, patterns and repetitions, and the rule of thirds can offer some solid structure for your shots. There are tons of colors at football games, as fans are dressed in team colors for solidarity, so take advantage of that to make some vibrant images.

If you can keep these basic rules in mind while you’re looking for interesting atmospheric images, you’ll be able to make the most of each opportunity and end up with some fantastic shots.

4. Consider the Time of Day

Depending on when the game is happening, the atmosphere will offer different opportunities for storytelling. Shooting at night means you’ll need to think more about making sure you’re getting enough light. But, you’ll also be able to shoot things like fireworks going off or bright light shows.

For stability in low-light settings, you might want to bring a tripod or monopod with you to shoot night games. You can also bump up your ISO as high as your camera can handle it, to ensure your shutter speed is quick enough to capture motion even with less light coming in.

Remember these football photography tips the next time you’re shooting a game to create a captivating photo story that will let your viewers be a part of the action. The atmosphere of the stadium is almost as exciting as the gameplay itself, so make sure you don’t overlook the dynamic shots you can capture by turning your camera away from the field.

Football Photography Series: Capturing the Emotion

Posted on May 2, 2017 by Jennifer Berube

Shooting football means finding plenty of opportunities to capture dynamic, action-packed images. But, some of the greatest sports photos aren’t even about the game. The excitement of scoring a touchdown or the disappointment of a hard loss can generate deeply touching photographs. The key is knowing where to look and being prepared to capture these fleeting moments.

Rather than heading out and just shooting blindly, these tips will help give you a solid idea of what to look for as you try capturing the emotion of a football game. You’ll feel more confident shooting at your next game. And, you’ll know what to look for to let viewers see what goes on behind the action.

1. Think Like a Portraitist

Think about the more emotional sports images you’ve seen and you’ll notice that instead of following the basic rules of sports photography, they are generally shot more like portraits. You’ll still need to use a long lens in order to see all the way into the stands or onto the field. But, now you should use a shallower depth of field to isolate your subject from the surrounding chaos of the game.

This will require a wider aperture, so if you’re shooting an afternoon game in the harsh sunlight, you may want to consider using a neutral density filter to avoid overexposure. Keep your shutter speed fast so you can freeze the action on the field, or capture the expressions of the cheering fans.

2. Know Where to Look

You can more accurately predict the emotional reactions of the players and the fans if you have a basic knowledge of football. Get familiar with the rules of the game and even some of the key players, so that you will always be one step ahead of each play.

Also, when those plays happen, point your camera away from the field. Watch the faces of the people on the sidelines – coaches, training staff, cheerleaders, and whoever else you can find. They’ll likely show some emotion as the play goes down, so if you’ve already got them in your viewfinder, you’ll be ready to capture it.

3. Focus on the People

A lot of the things that might frustrate you when you’re shooting the action on the field can make for some great emotional shots. Look for the hardcore fans who are likely to be loud and boisterous during the game, kids who seem enthralled by the action, or even family members of some of the athletes. These people will probably be more expressive than the average spectator, so you can create some stunning images with them as your subjects.

Whether you’re shooting a professional game or high school athletes, if you want to capture emotion, you’ll need to focus on the people.

4. Eliminate Distractions

Keep your compositions tight

and clean to allow your viewer to connect with the subject of your emotional shot. If you can create a shallower depth of field to isolate a particular player from the rest of the lineup, or one fan from the excited crowd, you’ll be able to draw the viewer into your image and identify with your subject.

Some of this can be done in post-production, but it’s always better to be aware of your compositions as you’re shooting to ensure the best possible results. Try to get in the habit of doing your cropping in-camera instead of relying on editing software to clean up your images after the fact.

5. Be Patient

As with most sports photography, you won’t be in control of the situation. You have to wait for the perfect shots to come to you. Football photography gives you tons of fantastic situations and unique emotional images to capture, but to get the best ones, you need a bit of patience.

Bring a big memory card and shoot constantly. The more images you take, the better your chances are of capturing a great moment. Keep in mind, though, that these emotional reactions will come and go quickly, so it’s important to be ready at all times.

Try not to be discouraged if a reaction happens and you miss it. The best thing about shooting football is that there will always be another opportunity to capture the emotion. Just stay focused on your subject and keep shooting.

With these suggestions in mind, head out to the field and capture a different side of your favorite sport. Football images don’t have to be full of dramatic action to be dynamic and interesting. Try focusing on some of the players, cheerleaders, and even spectators to showcase the range of emotions you’ll find at the game.

3 Sports Photography Tips to Capture Iconic Moments

Posted on October 18, 2016 by Jennifer Berube

If you’ve got a kid on the school sports team or want to make some extra cash with your photos, learning how to take a great photo at a sporting event is key. Capturing the moments on the field can help you re-live your child’s memories and news and sports magazines will pay for great shots of big games.

The influx of digital photography and advanced lenses have opened the world of sports photography from just the professionals to anyone who wants to capture amazing moments in sports history. No matter if you’re at your kid’s t-ball game or are in the stands at the Super Bowl, these tips will help you snap the best image of the game.

1. Research First

Before photographing any sport, it’s important to know what the sport is about. You can’t expect to get great shots if you don’t know what to look for. You need to know when to expect a score (is it at one end of the field like soccer or football, or when somebody crosses a line like in track and field events?). Knowing the sport ahead of time will allow you to anticipate when an exciting moment in the game is going to happen, and can help you plan out the perfect sports photography shot.

If you’re going to a game for a major sporting event, it’s important also to research the players. You don’t need to know who every person on the team is and what they play, but it can help to know the most important figures. The more popular a player is, the more a magazine or website will pay you for their picture.

2. Set Up the Shot Beforehand

When you get to the game you need to have your camera set up perfectly to get the best shots. Something you should keep in mind is the point of view your picture is from. Everyone has seen side pictures of quarterbacks throwing a ball, but how many pictures are out there of a forward or back facing view. Having a picture that’s taken from a unique angle will help you catch the eye of the photo manager at many sports sites.

One of the best pieces of equipment you can have for sports photography is a decent zoom or telephoto lens. Not only will a longer lens help you get closer to the action, but it will also help you frame and focus your shot on where you want to shoot. It’s also important to set your aperture to a wide opening. This will cause a blurred effect on the background of your shot and will allow the action to be in full, sharp focus. Basically, a long lens and wide aperture help focus the shot on the action.

3. Know What to Look for in the Perfect Shot

We’ve already talked about angle and camera settings, but there’s more to taking the perfect shot than simply have the technical settings. When at a sporting event, you want to take pictures of the exciting and unique – touchdowns at a football game, sliding catches at a baseball game, nearly tied horse races. This is another reason it’s important to do your research. You can’t know what to shoot if you don’t know what you’re looking for. If you don’t know the game, try and pick up on the feeling of the audience around you. What are they getting excited about? When do the cheer, boo, or stand up? Use the people around you to figure out what moments you should be taking photos of.

Another thing that will help you catch the moment is cropping. When you’re focusing on the winning field goal, you don’t necessarily need the entire line of men waiting for the goal. Your shot should be tight to focus on the kick of the ball, meaning that the kicker and ball should fill out your whole picture. If you’re taking a picture of a race with someone like Usain Bolt, it would be much more impressive to get an angle that shows not only Bolt winning, but the distance between him and the other runners.

Each scenario is different and will take a lot of on-the-spot decision making, especially for split second moments in sports. In these cases, just use your best judgement. Think about what you want to show the world – the single player making an excellent move, or the excellent teamwork of a double play.

These tips work great for both professional and junior games. With sports photography, it’s important to always be original. You don’t want 17 pictures of your kid on the field that all look the same hanging up on your wall.

Photo editors sift through hundreds of photos daily and don’t want to see the same shot they just saw. Getting a different point of view and framing your work well will help your images stand out. Using your background knowledge of the game and players can help you snag the most iconic moments in sports and have a fascinating image to show for it.