Sports photography - football, er, soccer

[framewerkz]

http://www.pbase.com/framewerkz/football

We've been fairly lucky here in Hong Kong to have had a few decent teams visit in search of obscene amounts of appearance money. That said, they do put on a decent show in stifling humidity...

Personally, I find shooting sports harder than most things photographic. Demanding, sweaty and not very satisfying. Thoughts anyone?

[gillettecraig]

My daughters play and so I've come to dabble in soccer, both trying to shoot some and even playing a little. Having gotten to Hong Kong a couple of times, I can imagine how miserably warm and humid conditions could be.

The periodic debates about whether it's the photographer or the camera? When it comes to sports, and especially sports like soccer, there is little question that gear can make a difference! And like in real estate? Location, location, location! One of my daughters is a keeper and we try, if going to a pro game, to get down inside the 18 if we can, to at least catch one end's action.

[grahamd]

Personally, I find shooting sports harder than most things photographic. Demanding, sweaty and not very satisfying. Thoughts anyone?

Yes, very tricky. I'm a tennis fan, just an amateur photographer with an SLR, and I have to admit, it ain't easy, but I try my best. Check out the 'On Court' photos...

As these aren't digital photos, I get them developed onto CD and then upload them onto my pc, but as I save them as 'medium' size, they lose a lot of their original quality in sharpness.

http://www.pbase.com/grahamd

[framewerkz]

And something from a very camera-unfriendly environment. Salt water spray, bucking boat, insane wakeboarder


http://www.pbase.com/image/18966570

[didwest]

http://www.pbase.com/didwest/james_eye_

[msvassie]

I am really impressed by your action shots. I am a beginner and have tried taking shots of football myself so I know how difficult it is. Please have a look at my gallery I would really appreciate your advise and constructive criticism.

http://www.pbase.com/msvassie

[slurve30]

I'm fairly new to shooting sports myself. I shoot for my school paper. My biggest problem is I have a hard time getting a better percentage of shots in focus. I say probably only about 15-20% of my shots come out in focus enough where they are printable, and only like 5% or so are tick tack sharp. I'm not sure if it's my camera settings (usually Av mode with F<4.0... oh yeah, I use a Canon EOS 10D) or camera shake or what. Maybe using the preset sports mode would help, even if it is amateurish. Anyway, to check out some of my better photos, see http://www.pbase.com/slurve30. Any ideas on how to improve autofocus in a sport like soccer or football? Thanks!

[hipolito]

As there are already lots of good (difficult) sport photos when I go to an event I try to take some photos of the audience as well.

[cbss]

Well I haved tried sports with some luck check out some of them here

http://www.pbase.com/cbss/msh_fb

[uese]

see more Euro action at:

http://www.pbase.com/uese/germanyholland

[justinoff]

[framewerkz]

Got some rugby in this weekend.



More here.

[slurve30]

So ok, I've been getting better and better at this in a hurry (yeah, disregard my autofocus post above). Nice pics. But my advice to you is to crop tight tight tight, and tight. You need to help your viewers focus on only the action. Not all the pretty green grass on the soccer pitch and just random players running around away from the action. This applies to every sport you shoot.

-Jerry

http://www.sportsshooter.com/slurve

http://www.pbase.com/slurve30

[plbh]

I tried my first sporting event recently, the Head of the Charles sculling regatta. Not great results, but I had fun!



http://www.pbase.com/plbh/regatta2004

[slurve30]

OK, I finally updated my page. It's no longer a blank page - you can find all my sports photos there (but basically only as thumbnails only to deter downloads of my copyrighted stuff). Thanks for checking it out. As always, feedback is always welcome.

http://www.pbase.com/slurve30