Sports Mode

During my high school years, I was asked to take pictures of various sporting events for both the yearbook and my many photo and video classes. At first, I was shooting on automatic mode and was only getting a couple of photos that actually were even somewhat useable. Eventually, I discovered the magical button that is sport’s mode or action mode. Then all of a sudden my photos started turning out and were able to be used. This mode uses a fast shutter speed. In sports photography, you want to ensure that the shutter speed on your camera is fast enough to capture the quick moving bodies of the athletes. A shutter speed of at least 1/500th of a second is required to freeze movement. Try not to go below 1/500th of a second.

Another great tip that I was given was to know what sport you are shooting and position yourself in the right place. The best thing you can do is to position yourself with the sun behind your back. This ensures that a lot of light is hitting your subject out on the field of play, which reverts back to letting as much light in as possible and freezing the action with those fast shutter speeds. Shooting from a low angle such as your knees helps to ensure a great angle. By shooting from your knees you are capturing much more of a dramatic angle. The lower perspective gives the photo excellent depth.

It is also helpful if you know a lot about the sport you are taking photos of as anticipating where the ball or the action may be is going to help you get the best shots possible. Follow the action with your camera, and have the camera zoomed enough to have the player in full view. Following the ball with your lens is also helpful to capture the players in action. Also, take lots and lots of photos. Whether it be a soccer player kicking the ball or a swimmer diving in, once you have your subject in the frame you can hold down to fire away and capture as many photos per second as you can.

Sports photography can be action packed with many fun times. Just this year I had the opportunity to shoot courtside at a Penn State Men’s basketball game from everywhere but the press station behind the net.

Sites: https://www.digitalrev.com/article/10-sports-photography-tips-for

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