A few things I have learned about sports photography

I do not pretend to be an expert in this field, but after a year of doing it, I have picked up a few tricks that I would love to share.

Picture No 1

Position: I’m lucky enough to have been given access to the entire arena when shooting karate, thanks to USA Sport Karate in Florida. This allows me to position myself in a way that lets me capture the athletes’ faces while they are performing, rather than taking photos of their backs.

If you are shooting a sport where a ball is involved, it is important not only to capture the athletes’ faces but also to have the ball somewhere in the frame or in the player’s hands. Otherwise, the picture will not tell viewers much, and an image should always convey a message.

If you are a spectator, do not stay in your seat. Try to walk around to find the best possible angle and position. If you can, shoot from a low angle. I am old and cannot achieve this most of the time, but shooting low creates a more appealing perspective than what you see in my photos. Believe me.

Picture No 2. 

Camera Settings:
Mainly, I work with two settings saved into two different custom C slots on my Canon camera.

C2 is configured in Aperture Priority to achieve a narrow depth of field and obtain a blurry background, like the one in Picture No. 2. I switch to this mode when the athlete is not moving too much because, due to the poor illumination at indoor events, the shutter speed tends to be low in this mode. In this setting I shoot in Continues Shooting at a low speed. 

C3 is configured in Shutter Priority at around 1/1200. This is fast enough to freeze the action, and I use this mode to get shots like the one in Picture No. 1. In this setting, I use Continues Shooting at a medium speed of 10 to 12 fps. 

In both configurations, I use Auto ISO. Over the last few years, I have been using DXO PureRaw to clean noise from my images as the first step in my post editing process. This is a step I can afford to take because I do not have to rush sending my pictures to anyone. Sports photographers working for an agency do not usually have this luxury. Most of them send the RAW or original files to the agency, which is responsible for selecting the images and retouching them as needed.

In this scenario, you may set the ISO manually, but you must adjust it if the lighting changes depending on your position.

I'm shooting now with two cameras, one set with a 70-200mm lens and another with a 50mm lens, this last one for wide angle shots.  

At the last event, I ended up with around 2400 pictures. Of those, fewer than 1000 reached the eyes of the end viewers after I edited them.

I am not saying this is the right or best way to shoot sports, but it is the approach that works best for me.

DO NOT USE FLASH. That distract the athletes! This distraction can cause accidents!