Sports Photography

In this unit at Freestyle we were giving a project that was very open ended called the Explorations project. All we were told to do was find a 21 Century Skill we wanted to practice more and get better at. We were assigned to do research on our topics and make an Infograph on what we learned. Anything else we did was extra very recommended to actually go out and practice our skill.

For this project I decided to learn how to do sports photography. I did this because I'm very passionate about sports and I thought that sports photography would be a cool skill to learn. I decided to work on this with a partner, Kai Jarmon. We did research on the basics of sports photography and learned how to get started on it. After Researching we created our Infographic, to do so we used Piktochart. After this was complete we went out and started practicing taking photos at little league games and just of our selves at a local field.

This project has been very fun for me I have learned a lot about how to take take some really great shots. I feel like I learned a really interesting skill that I can use for a while and make it a hobby. I am already really into sports so this project was nice to grow my love for sports to a different way then just watching. I really enjoyed this project.

This year at Freestyle has been my favorite year of school so far. I feel that I have definitely learned the most I ever have in one year. I started the year with not using any of the technology here and I have learned so much where now it is second nature to me to use. Also I feel like I have grown a lot as a writer I feel that every unit in English I have gotten better at writing to where my last piece was my best piece I have ever written. Also I have met a lot of new people I wouldn't have gotten the opportunity to meet and that has been really nice to have a place like this where everyone fits in. All in all this year has been probably my favorite year of school and a lot of it has to do with Freestyle.

Attached to this is a song I made in reason. I started experimenting with reason for this part of the project by using all the different plug-ins you can use until finally I found a beat that I liked and then I started adding to that to finally make what you are hearing. Bellow is a screenshot of my reason document.

To do this project I started off by doing research about sports photography, then I collaborated my research with Kai Jarmon and we began to start creating our infograph. After that was completed we went out and took pictures and started to create this website. Bellow are screen shots and pictures of us in action.

As a part of this project we were assigned to make an Infograph showing our new learned skill. Click bellow to see mine.

In order to get a great shot with poor lighting or to capture high speed action you can raise the ISO on the camera. Most professional sports photographers set their camera to a shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second to capture fast motion. Although this method will work fine during the day, at night you will need an F stop faster than what your lens is built for. To solve this problem you can increase the ISO on the camera which allows the camera to see more light. A good ISO setting for sports photography is 1600 ISO which is a good median between 800 ISO and 1600 ISO and also allows the photographer to shoot at a faster shutter speed. Beginners may want to use the Auto ISO feature which automatically picks the right ISO setting depending on the condition. Here is a picture I took of Kelvin G when experimenting with different ISO settings.

The type of lens you decide to use depends on your skill level of sports photography. As a beginner with minimal gear you will probably want to shoot with a 70-200mm lens. If you really start getting into sports photography and want to master the skill then you would consider investing in a 300 or 400mm lens which is much more expensive. When buying a lens look for one with an f/stop of either f/2.8 or f/4. If possible avoid buying a f/5.6 lens. Also, the better lenses are usually bigger and heavier, have a built in tripod mount, and have been around for many years. Although big lenses may be expensive a good lens usually lasts around 10 years if properly cared for. Here is a picture I took of Kai J when experimenting with different lenses.

Every so often it is cool to have photos with a blurry background adding energy to the photo. This technique originated from professional photographers working for Getty images. Setting the shutter speed to 1/100 of a second or 1/80 of a second sharply captures the focal point of the photo while leaving the background blurry. Here is a picture I took of Kai J experimenting with shutter speed.

Chimping: Chimping is every good sports photographer’s pet peeve. Chimping is when the photographer checks each photo they take on the LCD screen after every shot. As a result of chimping, the photographer loses attention of what’s going on in the game and miss an opportunity for a good shot or increase the chance if the photographer getting hurt. In sports photography, the best way to get the best shot without chimping is to take as many different pictures as possible.

Surroundings: Although the main action is usually on the field or the court the stadium full of fans or the sunset in the background can also capture the spirit of the game. At a game with an intense student section, you can shoot a player with a crazy crowd in the background. Also remember to arrive well before the sporting event is set to start. Capturing team warm-ups or pregame meetings on the sidelines make for cool shots as they give the viewer a chance to see the game from a player’s perspective. With this in mind, plan to stay 10-15 minutes after the game is set to end as games with thriller endings and crowd rushers can also make for some very cool photos.

Strategies: When taking photos at a sporting event try as many different shots as possible. For example, Sports Illustrated photographers created a new type of football photo by laying down behind the end zone to take the photo. This gave the writers a new angle in which they could indulge their readers. While at the sporting event be sure to move around constantly to get different kinds of shots. The exact same angle for every photo will bore the viewer very quickly. Also when watching sporting events on TV, think about different angles and unique shots that could represent a player’s or fan’s perspective.

Bellow is a picture using all of the new information I learned at a local little league baseball game.

Bellow is a gallery of all the photos Kai and I took when working on this project.