Tips for shooting youth sports
ThatCanonGuy
Registered Users Posts: 1,778 Major grins
I realize this is pretty basic for the average professional and even for some advanced enthusiasts, but I thought I'd give some tips for anyone that could benefit from reading this. Keep in mind that I shoot baseball, but most of these can be applied to any sport 
1. In sun, face should be all sunlight or all shade. Often everything about a shot is right, but they're a shadow across the player's face. Half is exposed properly, but the other half isn't. Or, worse yet, one side is overexposed and one is underexposed. To avoid this, you generally want to shoot from between the sun and the player. This way you usually only have shade or sun. I know this isn't always practical, but it can really help sometimes.
2. Stop the action. I know, in low light the ball has to be a little blurry sometimes. But why shoot at ISO 100 with a blurry ball when you can shoot at ISO 400 with a clear ball. Get as fast a shutter speed as you can by upping the ISO (not too much!) and the aperture (see next point). Generally, the sharper the ball, the better the photo.
3. Isolate the subject. Smooth bokeh is the best for most sports shots, because it isolates the subject from the background and gives the photo "pop." To do this, you want as low an f-stop as possible. Ever wonder why the 300mm f/2.8 costs so much? That f/2.8 really isolates the subject (but that's not the only reason that lens costs so much ;~). So shoot at the maximum aperture of your lens... instead of using f/8, use f/4 (or whatever your lowest number is).
4. Crop in good places. Showing the player's full body is fine, but if you want a closer angle, cut at the right place. I'm talking about framing in the viewfinder, but this can apply to post-processing as well. Usually the waist is a good reference point. Generally you want to show all of the player's legs, or none. Not half. There are some exceptions, though. And don't be afraid to get in close... cropping above the waist often gives an interesting and dramatic viewpoint.
5. Go with the action. Use those outer AF points! Empty space where the action is going is good; empty space where the action just left is not as good. Usually. Take for example, in baseball, the batter. If I'm facing a righty, I want to use one of my left AF points to have the batter in the left of the frame swinging towards the empty space (the ball may be in this space) on the right side. The same applies with pitching and running, and with pretty much any sport.
6. In high contrast scenes, use spot metering. Put the AF point on the player's face or jersey (jersey is much easier, but you may have to adjust the exposure), and let the camera meter from there. Don't meter the entire frame (what's that mode called again?), or the background will be over- or underexposed and the subject will be the opposite.
These techniques will help you get the most out of any equipment. You can check out my site to see some examples of these.
1. In sun, face should be all sunlight or all shade. Often everything about a shot is right, but they're a shadow across the player's face. Half is exposed properly, but the other half isn't. Or, worse yet, one side is overexposed and one is underexposed. To avoid this, you generally want to shoot from between the sun and the player. This way you usually only have shade or sun. I know this isn't always practical, but it can really help sometimes.
2. Stop the action. I know, in low light the ball has to be a little blurry sometimes. But why shoot at ISO 100 with a blurry ball when you can shoot at ISO 400 with a clear ball. Get as fast a shutter speed as you can by upping the ISO (not too much!) and the aperture (see next point). Generally, the sharper the ball, the better the photo.
3. Isolate the subject. Smooth bokeh is the best for most sports shots, because it isolates the subject from the background and gives the photo "pop." To do this, you want as low an f-stop as possible. Ever wonder why the 300mm f/2.8 costs so much? That f/2.8 really isolates the subject (but that's not the only reason that lens costs so much ;~). So shoot at the maximum aperture of your lens... instead of using f/8, use f/4 (or whatever your lowest number is).
4. Crop in good places. Showing the player's full body is fine, but if you want a closer angle, cut at the right place. I'm talking about framing in the viewfinder, but this can apply to post-processing as well. Usually the waist is a good reference point. Generally you want to show all of the player's legs, or none. Not half. There are some exceptions, though. And don't be afraid to get in close... cropping above the waist often gives an interesting and dramatic viewpoint.
5. Go with the action. Use those outer AF points! Empty space where the action is going is good; empty space where the action just left is not as good. Usually. Take for example, in baseball, the batter. If I'm facing a righty, I want to use one of my left AF points to have the batter in the left of the frame swinging towards the empty space (the ball may be in this space) on the right side. The same applies with pitching and running, and with pretty much any sport.
6. In high contrast scenes, use spot metering. Put the AF point on the player's face or jersey (jersey is much easier, but you may have to adjust the exposure), and let the camera meter from there. Don't meter the entire frame (what's that mode called again?), or the background will be over- or underexposed and the subject will be the opposite.
These techniques will help you get the most out of any equipment. You can check out my site to see some examples of these.
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