Sporting event photography tips

Sporting event photography holds challenges different from covering other types of event photography.  These challenges can be daunting but with practice, they can be overcome.  Moreover, there is little that can compare with the drama well executed photos of sporting events can capture or evoke.

One of the biggest hurdles to getting into sporting event photography is equipment.  In order to get the photos you want, you will need a fast SLR camera (with autofocus ability) along with fast and long lenses.   If you have a camera or lens that is not fast enough, the photos you will get will more likely be out of focus and blurred. One will also need to invest in appropriate lighting equipment.  Many exciting sporting events happen indoors where the lighting is terrible for photographs.  This equipment is not cheap but it is necessary if one wants to take great sporting photos.

Acquiring the right equipment is not enough.  You will have to learn how to use it and become intimately familiar with how they work too.  There are photography workshops which you can participate in so that one will learn the basics of as well as advanced techniques in photography.  One can also choose to be trained by a professional sports photographer.  Most of all, one should practice and experiment with his or her equipment.

Technical competence and practical knowledge on the principles of photography will only get you so far.  More often than not, great and dramatic sports photos are a result of great timing and being at the right place at the right time.  Knowing the sport helps so that you can anticipate where and when opportunities for dramatic photos will happen.

Finally, keep in mind that opportunities for great photos do not only occur on the playing field.   A coach exhorting his team to greater efforts during a time out, a player grimacing in pain after a flagrant and painful foul, the determined look of players right before an important game, the jubilation of the victors, and the reactions of the spectators during the game are just examples of photo opportunities which occur on the sidelines.