Many of us want to shoot sports for one reason or another. We either have kids who play or we want to shoot sports to earn money. I am going to discuss what I've learned about shooting sports. This is not a technical discussion about fast glass, high ISO, etc. but a practical discussion of what you want to think of while shooting sports.
Honestly, shooting sports is one of the most challenging types of photography I can think of. The lighting (usually) sucks (too dark indoors and lots of shadows outside). You don't always have access to the prime shooting spots. People are walking in front of you constantly if you're not in one of those prime spots. Add to that the fact that the gear needed to get GREAT shots is quite expensive and you'll understand it's just plain HARD to shoot indoor sports well.
Let's look at the things you need to keep in mind when shooting sports...
Composition - Shoot for the Crop
Yes, as with any other photo you take, composition is important. However, you need to keep in mind there is a lot of action in most sports (obviously, this goes for indoor and outdoor sports). This means you need to shoot a lot wider than you might normally. I say shoot for the crop. Of course, this means you need equipment which is capable of handling heavy cropping since (at times) you will do heavy cropping. So much is happening so quickly you need to make sure you get as much of the action as possible. If you're zoomed in tight, a little movement on the subject(s') part may move an important body part out of the frame. Shoot wider to avoid this. Here's an example of, what could be a much better photo that I shot a little too tight.
I love it, has everything I like in a fight photo--the fighter who's just been knocked out and the referee over him ensuring he's ok. You even see the winning fighter walking off, happy he won but maybe not so happy he may have injured his opponent--you decide. Unfortunately, the referee's head is cut off!!!
Here's (almost) the same shot but without anything cut off.
An excellent image for sure but it lacks the other fighter walking away. I think that would have made this an awesome shot.
Don't be afraid of the center!
Ok, one of the first things about composition we're all taught is the rule of thirds. Don't shoot with your subject in the center, etc. Well, just forget about that when shooting sports (indoors or outdoors). With sports it's not just about your subject, it's about what's happening to your subject or what he/she is doing at the time.
Besides, you don't have the time to worry about your rule of thirds but, even if you did have the time, you'll notice the rule of thirds can ruin an otherwise good sports photo. You want ALL of the focus to be on your subject(s). You don't want distractions and, when shooting sports, you rarely get a good, clean background. It's almost always distracting.
As you can see here, my subjects are in the center. Because they are the center of attention this doesn't cause a problem like it might other types of photos.
Focus young grasshopper!
Focus is probably the hardest thing to learn about sports photography. Things are moving so quickly, you need better equipment which is capable of focusing accurately and quickly. Unfortunately, this usually means more expensive gear (but not always!). You want to use whatever focus mode on your camera which locks onto moving subjects. This is called AI Servo on Canon cameras. It's called AF-C on Nikons. I don't know what it is on other brands but you can look it up if you don't use Canon or Nikon. This mode will help you focus so much better once you get some practice with it.
Basically, you want to keep your focus point in the center (just makes it a lot easier). You then focus on your subject by pressing the shutter button down halfway until it locks on. Keep it pressed and follow the action pressing the shutter all the way down to snap shots. Because the camera is keeping the focus locked on what's moving, you're much more likely to get in-focus shots.
Here's an example where my subjects were moving quite a bit (considering I was shooting at f2.8). Notice the photo is properly focused.
I don't have to tell you how an out of focus photo cannot be salvaged. It's quite frustrating to get the shot you want only to find it's out of focus. Took me a lot of practice to get focus correct--even with AI Servo on my Canon. You just have to practice. But it's worth the effort.
Anticipation
Ok, you've probably heard sports photogs telling you to make sure you know the game when shooting a sport, etc. What they're really telling you is be able to anticipate when interesting action is likely to happen because that's when you will usually get the best shots.
You'll find your best shots can come just as the action is about to happen or just after it started. Often, if you wait too long after it starts, it's hard to get a good shot (in fighting sports especially) because you just get a mass of bodies. So you want to get it just as they're doing something (or in the act of doing it). Here's an example.
The fighter on top is just starting to throw a punch (a little motion blur in the hand). You can see his face as he wants to punish his opponent. The other fighter is already reacting to the punch and is covering up. This photo tells a lot about what's happening at that moment in time.
So how do you get the shot? I mean, things happen real fast in some sports--especially professional sports. So how do you capture them. You're probably not gonna press the shutter at exactly the right moment, right? Well...
Shoot in Bursts
Most dslrs have some form of burst mode, meaning, they'll shoot a quick burst of photos for a short amount of time (the speed and the amount of time they'll shoot varies based on many variables). My Canon 50D, for instance, can shoot up to 6.3fps, which means, it can take up to 6.3 photos per second. Seems fast but, keep in mind, a movie is shot at 24fps so I'm still only at about 25% of a movie. Other dslrs can shoot faster but most will be slower than that. The more pro-oriented gear you get, the more likely you are to have a higher shooting rate.
So what does this mean? Well, as I mentioned, you need to anticipate what is going to happen. Have your focus locked on your subject(s) and press and hold the shutter for a short burst to capture the action. Two things happen when you do this, first, your camera will be much more likely to get in focus shots (sometimes the first shot may be out of focus but the rest are usually fine) and second, you'll get a sequence of action and (hopefully) you'll get that great shot.
Of course, the downside is you will burn through a memory card quite fast if you shoot too many bursts. I usually shoot in bursts of 4-6 photos depending on what's happening. I've found this works for me. The more important thing is to anticipate when to shoot. Sometimes you time it correctly, many times you don't.
Don't forget about what's going on around you!
One thing we all tend to do is get fixated on the prize--the great shot of the action. However, there are a lot of interesting things going on around you which you shouldn't forget about. Often times you'll get better expressions on the people around the event than the actual participants. Fans tend to get happier when their person/team wins than the person/team does. Same thing for them losing. Fans tend to take loses harder than the participants.
Coaches also tend to be very animated about their people. You can really catch interesting things if you look around every so often.
Put it all together!
Keep practicing all of these things and you'll soon get some great sports shots. It's not as easy as portrait photography because everything is moving and dynamic. You have to know your gear and how to switch between settings quickly and efficiently. If you can't, you will miss shots.
You have to almost unlearn some things which have been ingrained in our heads such as composition, etc. But, once you break out of that, you'll find yourself getting some great stuff.
Thanks for reading!
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