Sports photography techniques for dynamic shots

One of the most demanding and difficult but at the same time interesting and exciting photographic genres is sports photography. Shooting is quite difficult to shoot because the subjects are most of the time in constant motion, sometimes even at very high speed. Sports photography can cover or extend into other genres as well, in this article we will look at creating dynamic shots together. Without forgetting that the sports photography business is an interesting as well as dynamic career option.

When you're getting started with this type of photography technique, start practicing by photographing your children playing in the park or shooting in children's school competitions. This will help you start slowly, learning those tricks and techniques that you can take with you when you film events and competitions with professional sportsmen.

What is sports photography?

Sports photography is a genre where the photographer captures photographs that can cover all kinds of sporting events, games, exercises, gymnasts, etc. Most sports photographers usually work for magazines, newspapers and other agencies, while some may be freelancers, selling their photos as stock photography or for other media outlets and agencies. Some event photographers even cover sports if the sports are part of a big event.

Professional sports photography can also be considered as a branch of documentary photography or photojournalism and can be used for editorial purposes. It is also sometimes used for advertising purposes because a brand may request the images for magazine and promotional purposes.

Whether you're interested in photographing live action at sporting or gaming events, or if you're looking to photograph sports for editorial purposes, this article has some tips and advice that can help you take your photography technique a step further.

Recommended equipment and accessories for sports photography

1. Camera

Most professional sports photographers use expensive cameras, and sports photography cameras are quite important. A DSLR or mirrorless camera will be a good choice, but there are a few factors you need to consider before upgrading your equipment.

• When you're shooting sporting events, you'll be shooting at a very high shutter speed all the time, so you need a camera that lets you do that.
• Must have a good buffer to shoot some raw files in burst mode. This will allow you to continue shooting without the camera pausing between shots to clear the buffer.
• A good number of autofocus points will help along with the autofocus tracking feature. The camera should also be able to autofocus very quickly because, in sports, the action happens in a fraction of a second.

Whatever your budget, you'll be able to find a camera that fits your needs as a sports photographer. Some photographers even use a GoPro to get as close as possible to the action and shoot. They work well thanks to the burst mode feature.

2. Goal

The lens you need for sports photography varies and depends on the type of sport you will be shooting, whether indoors or outdoors, and the distance between the participants and the camera. Choose a fast autofocus lens because, with sports, you have to be very fast, being able to focus faster to capture the action.

For outdoor sports, you will have natural light, but the distance between the camera and subjects may be greater, while for indoor sports, the lighting conditions are dimmer than for outdoor natural light but the distance between the camera and the subject is sometimes less. As a result, you'll need longer focal lengths for outdoor photography and moderate lenses for indoor sports. Fixed focal length lenses are the best choice for indoor sports, mainly because they're fast and let in more light.

It's good to have a few focal lengths on hand, especially if you're not sure where to position yourself in relation to the point of activity. Also, having wide, moderate, and long focal lengths will help most of the time. You'll also need a zoom lens so you can zoom in and get closer shots of the action going on. A wider focal length can be useful if you're photographing sports in a wide field, where you may need to cover all the players in a frame for documentary purposes.

Some of the lenses used for sports photography are 85mm, 135mm, 300mm, 400mm prime lenses and 70-200mm, 80-200mm, 200-400mm, 200-500mm zoom lenses , 150-600mm. A zoom lens is versatile because it gives you the flexibility to shoot at various focal lengths as your subject moves towards or away from the camera. You won't need to change lenses every time.

3. Tripod

Tripods are not highly recommended for sports photography unless you are always in one place during the entire photo session. They can be awkward to carry around and are easily touched or shaken by nearby observers or other photographers.

4. Monopod

A monopod can be one of the best accessories for sports photographers because it's easier to handle than a tripod if you need to move around while shooting. It's also lightweight, takes up very little space, and gives you some respite from holding a heavy lens throughout your session. Also, when it comes to moving shots, such as panning, a monopod will help you do it easily while avoiding vertical movement.

5. Faster memory cards

We've talked about the buffer capacity in cameras and much like that, when you're continuously photographing high-speed action shots, your memory card should also be able to write as fast as it can. Have spare cards and cards that will enable faster read and write processes.

6. Shoulder straps

If you're someone who uses more than one camera because you have a different lens on each camera for faster shooting of different scenarios, then a neck strap that can accommodate more than one camera is a necessity so you don't waste time packing cameras. in the bag every time. Look for a shoulder strap with a sturdy strap that's comfortable to wear and easier to hang your camera on and grab it whenever you need to.

Also make sure you always have spare batteries on hand!

Compositional guidelines for sports photography

There are many compositional guidelines that can be used for sports photography. Based on the rule of thirds, you can use the rule of probability, the golden spiral, minimalism, lines, curves and patterns to compose sports images. However, as there are constantly unfolding actions and moving subjects, an important compositional guideline that must be considered is the space for movement. Sporting events require you to think carefully in terms of composition, just like in all other genres of photography.

Leave room for subject movement

When photographing moving subjects, always leave room for movement within the frame. Do not position the subject near the end of the frame in the direction in which they are moving or in the center of the frame. Without room for movement, the photo can feel cramped, but leaving enough room can show a sense of movement and add a dynamic feel to the image.

Tips for dynamic sports photography

Here are some tips on how to get started and improve the way you shoot sporting events!

1. Get started

"It starts with the sport you play." If you play any type of sport, it's good to start with that because you know the rules and know what to anticipate. There are many public sporting events and these can be great places to start sports photography as a beginner. You could even shadow a pro to see how they perform in a particular session.

2. Understand sporting events

In this genre of photography, you can't predict what's going to happen, but having a good understanding of the sport you're photographing will help you predict it to some extent and this will help with the composition and settings for the shot. When very fast-moving action occurs, you need to be ready with your camera settings to capture it. If possible, move around the area to get shots from different angles and positions. You can watch videos related to this sport to get more ideas about the sport itself and to get ideas for certain shots while filming the sporting event.

3. Anticipate actions

Knowing Sports will help you keep track of specific people on a team, sports equipment, or action, so you can capture the best and big moments. The subject will consistently have many behaviours, expressions and emotions throughout the event and it is important to be able to capture these as it is part of the storytelling process in sports photography.

Keep an eye out for visual cues from participants as they'll give you an idea of their next move and help you prepare for the shot. In addition to just the game, you should also capture the emotions of good, evil, victory and failure to capture the raw emotion and atmosphere. Also include some shots of the audience.

4. Understand the subject

Knowing the event and its protagonists is important. It's good if you have the opportunity to talk to your subjects before the actual event, so that you get to know them personally and have some insight into their match or race that day. If they have already participated in and if you have the opportunity to watch their previous sports videos, it will be really useful as it will give you a good knowledge of the moves that specific subject will make and how he handles certain situations. This can help you get better pictures and improve as a sports photographer.

If there are a group of participants or a team, observe each individual and how each person behaves and performs actions differently.

5. Plan your shots

Most of this planning comes from learning about the sport, observing the participants, and examining the previous work of other professional photographers to get a sense of what kinds of shots people and magazines love. You don't have to mimic these types of photos, but they can give you creative ideas on what to expect and think about what to do differently. Always keep an eye on the participants so you never lose the flow of the game.

6. Look for the direction of the light

Sports photography can be done indoors or outdoors depending on the activity or sporting event you are shooting. You may need to adjust camera settings on the go, depending on how light falls on your subject. If possible, it is advisable to visit the location in advance and check how the light, natural or artificial, will fall on the location where the sporting event will take place.

Cloudy days can be good for shooting, but since we can't control the weather, you need to move around to keep the light falling just right on your subject: keep the sun behind you, so your subjects are well lit. If you're trying to photograph silhouettes, you can shoot in the sun, but this isn't always advisable.

When shooting indoors, you'll need to raise the ISO to compensate for the low light. Check with officials to see if using a flash indoors is allowed, and if it is allowed, use it in a way that won't distract attendees.

7. Position yourself in the right place

Whatever sport you're photographing, you need to know where to stand or position yourself so you can capture the best images and action possible, especially including the faces of the participants. Location is paramount. There is no common method that can be applied to all sporting activities in terms of where and how to shoot. Also, all sporting events don't allow photographers to get close to attendees and in situations like these, it's important to look for areas you're allowed to be or specific locations if you have a pass and set up your camera.

8. Keep an eye on the background

Backgrounds are another important factor in a photograph and they can make or break a photo. With sports photography, since you can move around, look for the best background that truly tells a story about the sport. For closer shots, try to get a sharp background so that the focus is primarily on the subject and their actions.

Depending on the sport, the backdrop could be the crowd, a natural backdrop, vehicles, etc. Try to avoid banner ads, vans, trucks, fences or anything undesirable as a background. Try to keep it simple with no distractions.

9. Look for the best perspective

You have to constantly be on the lookout for the best and most important moments and actions to capture memorable shots. Next, look for a location, perspective and the right distance from where you will get the best shots from the scene. If you're allowed to move, lean down or stand up and view the sport from a different point of view. Keep in mind the lens or lenses you will be using.

Try both wide shots and close-ups. Each one tells a different story and shows a different perspective. If you're shooting outdoors in the sun, try to have the sun behind you or at a slight angle to your subject. This will help gather more light and capture well exposed images.

10. Keep safety in mind

Besides being adventurous and exciting, sports photography can also be one of the most dangerous, especially if you're shooting high-stakes sports. It's good to talk to the authorities and find a safe place to shoot. Also, getting in the way of a participant can be risky for them as well. So, by all means, safeguard yourself and the participants.

11. Get your camera ready to shoot

Timing is very important and pressing the shutter button at the right moment is crucial. Instead of releasing the shutter button when the action happens, you can release it just before the action happens, so the most important action is captured during the sequence of shots taken. To do it right, you have to observe every move the participant makes.

12. Use Flash or not?

Many sports don't allow the use of flash. So if you think you would benefit from using a flash for an indoor sport, check with your local authorities. In most sports, flash can be distracting or blinding to participants, so be sensible and not use flash at all. For outdoor sports where the subject is far away, flash won't help.

13. Be ready for action

You could photograph any type of sport when it comes to sports photography and the best shots come when you least expect it. As stated earlier, you should be ready to get that shot and that is only possible if you know the game and have a good understanding of the subject.

Some sports such as motorsports make use of high speed motor vehicles which require completely different settings. You need to use a very fast shutter speed and sometimes even techniques like panning to get great shots.

With motorsports and other similar sports, you may not be able to focus quickly when your subject appears at high speed across the frame. Instead, you can focus on an area where you think your subject will arrive and get the shot quickly as it zips past that area.

14. Shoot as much as possible and shoot everything

Sports photographers most of the time get lost in the action packed area and forget to look around to see what is happening. During a sporting event, many other things happen with the coach, the referee, the crowd, etc. Include them in your session so you get lots of good stories to complete the event. Try to take as many pictures as possible because you may end up with some good ones.

15. Stop chimping all the time

Many photographers have a habit of chimping (rewatching shots) and this can be detrimental when it comes to sports photography because by chimping you are likely to miss out on a lot of the action and images. It's fine to look at a photo or two to make sure your settings and focus are correct, but other than that, you shouldn't be looking at your shots all the time and losing focus on the game and consequently missing important shots.

16. Capture Stories

In sports, participants consistently display many emotions or expressions through their actions. They can react to situations very quickly, so watch each participant and photograph their emotions to create timeless shots that tell a story.

Some techniques that can be used for dynamic shots and impact

High-speed sports photography techniques

For most sporting events, the photographer needs to frame their images very quickly and adjust the camera settings to match the speed at which the action unfolds. In this way, the sports photographer can avoid blurry and underexposed photos. The closer the subject is to the camera, the greater the chances of motion blur.

High-speed sports can be creatively photographed using other techniques where motion blur is used creatively to photograph sports. Motion blur can be on the background or on the subject. The following sections tell how this can be done.

1. Panning

Panning is a technique in which you move the camera along the direction of movement of your subject as you release the shutter button. This way, the subject is sharp and the background is blurred, giving it a sense of movement and speed. It's best to use a monopod to stabilize the camera when panning, to avoid vertical movement and focus on lateral movements. Shutter speed really depends on the speed of your subject's movement. This is a technique that every sports photographer should master.

2. Motion blur in sports photography

While we don't want blurry photos in sports photography, sometimes adding a touch of blur to show action or movement can actually add something to the story and can help create artistic photos. This technique can be used for sports that involve fast action, so the blurring actually gives a dynamic feel to the image. You'll need to play with the shutter speed to get creative shots – a slightly slower shutter speed will help capture the blur rather than freeze the action.

You can also combine panning and motion blur to get surreal shots. This is a great trick that you as a sports photographer should learn!

Accurate focus for sports photography

Since sports photography is all about split-second action, quickly focusing correctly on the subject is of prime importance for sports photographers. Since your subjects are constantly moving, there are high chances that you can lose focus and end up with a blurry image. To avoid this, I advise you to use the continuous auto focus mode which will allow you to track the subject and keep it in focus continuously (focus tracking) even when it is moving.

Switching to focus with the back button is one of the most efficient ways that continuous autofocus can be used. With this feature, you don't have to constantly refocus every time. Using a continuous focus function with rear button focus will help ensure that your subject is sharply in focus even when it is moving. By holding down the focus button, you can track your subject and release the shutter when necessary.

Using single-point autofocus to focus on a particular subject will help when focusing on a single subject. This way the camera will not accidentally focus on another subject.

Camera settings for sports photography

Sports photography can be quite difficult and sometimes stressful because you have to be very fast, photographing among a group of other photographers sometimes requires a lot of skill. As a sports photographer you have to be very alert, observe your subjects, anticipate their movements and be ready to capture their moves.

To achieve this, you need to have a good understanding of the sport you are photographing and be camera ready, prepared to shoot that sport. Camera settings differ when photographing different types of sports, and here are some general settings you need to take care of.

1. General settings

If you'll be using a tripod or monopod, it's a good idea to turn off image stabilization on both the lens and the camera. Some photographers shoot jpegs if they can get their images properly exposed in camera because it helps save space on memory cards and also doesn't load the buffer thus allowing you to do a lot of continuous shooting, but it's advisable to shoot raw if possible so you can work with your images seamlessly after during post-production. Have some spare formatted memory cards handy.

2. Opening

Aperture really depends on the sport you're shooting and what you want to include in the background for a particular shot. If you want to focus on a player and capture a good picture of them, shoot with a wider aperture which will help blur the background and draw all attention to the subject and their action. Shooting with wider aperture values results in very shallow depth of field, making focusing a bit fiddly and difficult. Avoid shooting at f/1.8, f/2.8, etc., for action shots and start at around f/4 or f/5.6.

If you want to have more depth of field and include more of the scene/background in the frame, you'll need to shoot with smaller apertures like f/8 and higher. This is very important for action shots because shooting with wider apertures can make focusing tricky when the subject is moving and sometimes even important out-of-focus areas in the image.

3. Shutter speed

Shutter speed is one of the most important settings when it comes to sports photography because you need to freeze motion and capture action without any blur. The shutter speed should not be slower than (1/focal length) taking into account the crop factor. Don't go below 1/250 or even better 1/500 for action shots and even faster for fast action shots. For fast action like tennis, baseball, volleyball, basketball, soccer, motorsports, etc., you'll need to go up to 1/2000.

4.ISO

ISO settings are usually slightly higher for sports photography to be able to work with fast shutter speeds. It may be necessary to have an ISO higher than 400 depending on the light in the scene. If you shoot at noon, you will be able to shoot with lower iso values.

5. Shutter priority

In sports photography, since most of the scene is filled with action, shutter speed is the main deciding factor in getting images free from motion blur. The best modes for sports photography are manual mode and shutter priority mode.

Manual is always recommended as you can have perfect control over all camera settings but when focusing on the optimal shutter speed for capturing the action it is best to use the shutter priority mode where you set the slowest speed shutter speed and the camera then sets the ISO and aperture values for you. This will allow you to freeze action without having to worry about getting a blurry shot by accident.

6. Shooting modes

When there is a lot of continuous motion, i.e. for fast action shots, you need to set the camera to burst mode or high speed continuous shooting mode and this will allow you to capture a series of images with one press of the shutter and choosing the best of the set later in post-production. With this mode, there's a high chance you'll get amazing action-packed shots most of the time.

Photographing in extreme weather conditions

When shooting sports photography, you can't choose a time of day because you have to be there when the event happens. It could be a harsh sunny afternoon or a cold overcast day. Whatever the weather, you'll need to prepare for the occasion. Here are some tips for sports photographers that might help.

• If you're shooting in harsh, sunny weather, sometimes due to very bright surrounding light, you'll find it hard to see anything on the LCD screen. A sunshade/shield or LCD screen magnifier will help in this situation.
• If you're shooting into the sun, you can use a viewfinder hood to protect your eyes from the harsh sunlight.
• If you're shooting in very cold conditions, wear protective gear and protect your gear from the elements as well. It may be necessary to prevent the lens from fogging up.
• The lens hood is another accessory that will help in different situations and help avoid extreme light, flares and protection to some extent during cold weather conditions.

Artistic sports photography

Artistic sports photography is usually conceptual and requires a totally different approach and perspective: it is more artistic and very creative. Photographing sports in an artistic way requires a lot of imagination and creative thinking on the part of the photographer. Instead of focusing all attention on the athlete or sportsman, you need to include multiple locations, game details, and include surrounding elements for composition in fine art sports photography.

Focus on the small details of everything that is happening around you and photograph everything. You can create interesting graphics with shapes, colors, patterns both on the field and in the audience. Use interesting compositions, perspectives and photographic actions and emotions that most other sports photographers would miss or miss in their shots.

Sequence of actions in sports photography

Action sequence in sports photography can be useful for showing movement in a still image. These depict a series of movements of the athlete during the sporting event and help viewers look through the various sequences a sportsman goes through when an action occurs.

This type of photography is not suitable for multi-player sports, but rather for single-player games such as cycling, skating, skiing, snowboarding, gymnastics, etc. You'll need to shoot from a very interesting perspective for the image to work, and also keep an eye on the background.

To create action shots, sports photographers need to take a series of burst mode images when interesting action occurs. These images are then stacked together during post-production to make a resulting image that shows the series of actions in one take. It's recommended to use a tripod when shooting for an action sequence, this way it's easier to stack the photos perfectly without mistakes.

Post-production in sports photography

Once you've photographed a sports session, you need to do some post-production before using the images for the function you shot them for. In fact, post-production depends on the use and based on this it will be necessary to make the necessary modifications.

Crop the image into the desired composition. It's good to crop tighter to give sports images more impact. Make basic adjustments like white balance, exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, etc.

If you work for magazines and newspapers, your images will need to have little editing and careful cropping because it will look more like photojournalism or documentary photography. Sometimes you may also want to convert images to black and white.

If you're shooting photos for magazine covers, you'll need to make an accurate edit based on what the magazine requires. Fine art sports photography will require a different type of editing where you can put your creativity into it to get the final look.

Conclusion

I hope the tips in this article help you get started in sports photography. Sports photography is a great genre to improve as a photographer and to give your confidence a boost. If you want to get great sports photography, remember you need to know the sport you are photographing. Look for places where you can get the best shots and perspectives. Also, find out what photography equipment is required. As much as possible, capture the emotions of the players for brilliant images. Sports photographers need to focus on emotion just like regular portrait photographers.

Practice and shoot well before taking up sports photography as a profession, so you are familiar with what settings and strategies will work best for each sporting situation. If you are into sports photography or run a sports photography business and have some tips to share with us, share them in the comments section below.