How to shoot sports?
I am trying to learn some sports photography techniques. I want my images to capture the motion and excitement of sporting events along with the people involved. I have taken a few at the kart track and would like some feedback on what I have so far.
Some examples:
Enough for now. Please unload with suggestions/critique. I wanna learn!
Do the techniques used for motorsports apply to stick and ball games?
Hutch
Some examples:
Enough for now. Please unload with suggestions/critique. I wanna learn!
Do the techniques used for motorsports apply to stick and ball games?
Hutch
0
Comments
While waiting for the experts to jump in, here are some thoughts garnered from watching and listening....
(And these are JMHOs, of course!)
* If you have a moving vehicle, fill your frame with it, unless you're going for a specific effect by shooting wider.
* It's really nice when the shots of moving vehicles capture the speed. The cool shots have really blurred backgrounds as the camera tracks the car, and also blurry moving parts on the car, like the wheels, but the rest of the car is sharp. The keys seem to be not only getting the right tracking, but also the right exposure time so the blurry bits stay blurry.
So for example, your 9th shot is the only one that comes close. Your 1st, 7th and 8th shots are nice, but don't give the sensation of speed.
* Another approach is like your 3rd shot - even most of the car is blurry, except one part that's in focus. Really gives the sensation of speed. I've only tried it once, here was my result.
So for me, #3 is the only one that really captures the excitement and movement of your subject.
* WRT stick-and-ball, if you look at SI and other magazines, it seems to me that they're trying to do the opposite. Instead of giving the sensation of motion, they're trying to freeze motion. They're letting you see an instant in time that passes so quickly that your eye almost misses it in real time. But a powerful sports photograph freezes that event, and lets you see if from a completely different perspective.
At times, it appears as if the laws of nature are being defied, because motion is so entirely absent from the shots. Of course, there are tons of exceptions! Like guys sliding into a base with dirt flying, or the QB's arm in a blur of throwing even as he's hit. But overall, stick-and-ball sports photography seems to be about freezing the moment that your eye might normally miss, whereas motosports photography seems to be about expressing the speed and beauty of the machines.
Again, just my amateur opinions. BTW, I covet either the 1D or the 1DmkII for their ability to fire 8 frames per second... makes all the above a whole lot easier to achieve!
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
Thanks and I agree with your comments. But on the other hand if you only shoot blurred background motion shots, I think you might as well only shoot stop action. I think it takes a combination of differernt techniques for and interesting photo essay of an event. With that being said, I don't these captured what I was looking for.
I also like #s 6 & 8. 6 because the kart is blurred and not the background, and 8 because it tells a story. This kid is coming out of a tight corner with his hand on the shifter and is about to shift up while turning.
I don't think there is an easy answer. I will keep trying and maybe, just maybe, eventually it will come a little easier!
BTW, these are all crops from larger images. My attempt to show motion with position. You are the king of crops - do they work or not?
Enquiring minds want to know!
Hutch
Thanks for remembering that I am, in fact, full of crop. I like your crops, save perhaps for #6 and #9. Very nice on the family in #4 and the blur car in #3. It's fun practicing too, huh?
I'm trying a different kind of challenging shooting: a band in small clubs with low light, and what light there is is either red or blue.
The score so far: Bad Light 2, Wxwax 0. But there's a lot of time left in the game.
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
Click the image for a full size jpeg.
Operating System Design, Drivers, Software
Villa Del Rio II, Talamban, Pit-os, Cebu, Ph
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
Nice stuff. I like the motion. Helps convey the speed.
Your stills are nice too. The family cracks me up. The kid towards the
end is focused. Everyone else seems to be somewhere else.
Ian
I'm an ex-shifter karter myself. I've also photographed a lot of race cars and karts and motorcycles. What I do is shoot (usually) on shutter priority and I try not to go above 1/250 a second. Usually I try for the neighborhood of 1/100th. This will require you track the vehicle, and may result in parts of the car being a little blurry. To me this is ok and can help convey the speed. Getting at least some tire blur is essential. Tracking a moving object takes practice to keep the vehicle itself in the same part of the frame.
Do not use an image stabilized lens if you try to track a moving object.
A car in a turn, coming just past you, can be especially nice because of the depth involved. Other things that can make this turn out nice is when stuff in the background is far enough away to be out of focus, motion blurred as you track the moving car, or both. Also what works great is if you don't try to capture the entire car in the shot. Zoom in and get only part of it. See my racing pics of Porsches on my site, mercphoto.smugmug.com. Look for a black 911 with the number 27 on it. You only see about 2/3rds the car, but the effect is really cool.
Somtimes I will go for a fast shutter if I want to stop all motion or to have a deep depth of field, but this is not often.
A former sports shooter
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Shot this last weekend, liked the blur around the rider. I did shoot it with an image stabilized lens, curious why you don't suggest using one.
Deacon
Cool photo. You asked why I don't recommend using IS lenses when panning. Your photo makes me want to try it again. Seemed to me before that that IS gets in the way when the lens is not stationary. In fact, Canon alludes to this in their instruction manual to my lens.
A former sports shooter
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Was this taken at PIR?
Let me know the next time there are bike races. I'd love to come over and burn some film, I mean memory!
Hutch
I'm guessing it has to be just based on the odd bit of sharpness at the tire's contact patches - extract tool? blurring the background?
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Merc, great advice, thanks. Always wondered what the right shutter speed was. You'll need a dSLR to do this right. I tried shooting planes landing and taking off this week. Impossible to track with a G3 in burst mode because as soon as you hit the trigger, the screen goes blank. And the viewfinder doesn't have a lot to do with what ends up in the frame. Clearly, it takes lots of practice to adjust your panning speed as the machines get closer to you, and then whip by.
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
Thanks,
-Doug
If it were me, I'd bring a bagful. I know I could easily go through at least 1GB a day, and I'm only shooting at 4mp.
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
Second, like in any kind of photography, pay careful attention to what will be in the background of your pictures. An excellent capture of action can easily be spoiled by a busy or distracting background.
Third, be on constant lookout for unique angles and, as waxy said, don't be afraid to use a wide lens to capture a larger scene. The pros with the media passes and monster glass will capture plenty of closely cropped shots. Take the opportunity to produce something different.
Lastly, pay careful attention to the action going on in front of you and try to capture images of the most dynamic moments. For example, when shooting motorcycle racing I like to position myself to capture a rider just as he applies the brakes. Such an image, IMHO, is more compelling than an image of a rider flying down the straight.
I've rambled enough for a novice.
Although the following pictures were captured with my 35mm SLR (Sorry! I’ve only had the dSLR a few days . . . ) I think they illustrate what I’ve tried to explain above.
Clean background and a dynamic moment for rider and machine.
Similar, except with a slower shutter speed, which in this case worked out okay, I think
More dynamism
A wider angle
I just like this one.
For reference, this weekend I will be shooting using a digital SLR with 2 telephoto zooms. One lens I will be using is a 135-400mm, f4.5-5.6 and the other is a 100-300mm, f4.5-6.7.
Thanks,
Doug
If there is some specific science behind the "shutter speed should equal lens focal length" rule, I'm not aware of it. I just know it works.
Keep in mind that most digital SLRs have their own magnification factor, typically in the neighborhood of 1.5. So that 400mm zoom of yours, when attached to a dSLR, is equivalent to a 600mm lens on a 35mm camera.
A 28mm lens has a 75 degree field while a 300mm lens has an 8 degree field. Now lets suppose that your camera movement is causing a .3 degree deflection over 1/10 of a second. An exposure of 1/30 cuts that to 1/3 of that which is .1 . On the 28mm lens that is 1/750 of the field but on the 300mm with its 8 degree field it is a much more noticeable 1/80 of the field. Cut the exposure down to 1/300th and it is 1/800 of the field.
Now it is obvious that learning to be more still is a big help, but less obvious that the size of the enlargement also has an effect. If you are making large prints then you should use 2X or even 3X the focal length because the motion blur has been enlarged along with the image.
Hope all this is understandable.
Operating System Design, Drivers, Software
Villa Del Rio II, Talamban, Pit-os, Cebu, Ph
Doc, I found it hard to believe too, but only photoshop was a minor crop. I did have to send the D2H back to Nikon last week for a memory problem. I was getting partial frames/magenta overlays and blank frames. Maybe this was a one time screw-up prior to failure.
Deacon
http://homepage.mac.com/johnnydanger/
Enjoy!
-Doug
True, but this does not impact the shutter speed rule. The effect you are talking about above isn't true magnification, its just a crop. So 400mm, use no slower a shutter than 1/400, rather than 1/600.
Nice motocycle pics. I'd post some of mine, but I'm at work and don't have access to the originals to do a post on. But check out mercphoto.smugmug.com and search for images 0699, 2020, and 0721.
A former sports shooter
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Cool moto pics too.
I need to correct myself above. Or at least add a cavaet. The advice I gave does depend on the focal length you are shooting at. It was good advice for 100-135mm lenses. If using big lenses (300mm and higher), that shutter speed will be too slow, unless you are VERY good at panning.
In general, slower shutters equals more motion blur, but slightly less focused main subject. Faster shutters equals a crisper main subject, just don't go so fast you stop all motion blur. I would be leary of going faster than 1/500 second even with a big lens. I've found I can do a lot of shots at 1/320 to 1/400 and still get a hint of wheel blur.
Bill
A former sports shooter
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I may take you up on that. We (Mrs. Hutch and I) just returned from a cruise to AK. I shot about 1700 frames! Hope some of them are good.
Anyway, I would really like to come over sometime this summer. It really depends on work. I am taking the last 2 weeks of July for a Cont. Divide ride. This will most likely be my only big bike trip this summer, so I should be able score a weekend in Portland maybe in August. I will check the shedule and PM you with some dates.
Hutch
These are some of the better ones. Comments welcome...