articles/Sports/sportsphotography-page12

Sports photography - part 12 of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

by Mike McNamee Published 01/08/2011

One of the most effective things that you can do if you are new to the sport is to read the rules - your homework is very important! Also, if you are tasked with tracking a single player (perhaps because they have been in the news or are a celebrity) then you need to know what they look like, and for things such as soccer, the position that they will be playing. There is no point is sitting on the right wing at the opposition goal if your target is playing left back! For most sports, the referee's/umpire's hand signalling is also useful to know, it gives you a few more moments to get ready, move position, change lens, or whatever, if you have prior knowledge of what is about to happen.

An important part of rule books (and usually the first item) is the shape of the playing area, this is vital intelligence to the newcomer. If the sport is not bound by a pitch then you have to arrive sufficiently early or spend time on a reconnaissance trip. For the upcoming Olympics, many professionals will have already attended warm-up events or visited locations to scout things out. For something like a cross-country running event you need to know, ahead of the start, the course layout - don't forget, the women, colts, youth and juniors are likely to all have different courses - get a map!

With careful planning you might enable a couple of sequences by dashing from one part of a course to another, leaving enough time to get back to the finish line for the winner's arrival.

As a race unfolds you need to maximise your opportunities, the eventual race winner might, for example, be tucked in behind other athletes on some of the passes - in general editors will only be interested in images of the winners or perhaps celebrity losers from the day. By definition, if Paula Radcliffe is having a bad day she will be found down the field, possibly in a pack of other runners. Your homework should include familiarising yourself with the leading contenders, something that gives specialists an advantage over the more casual photographer or newcomer.


A knowledge of the shape and size of the play area, the likely size of the groupings and their distance from you can be gained ahead of time.

If you don't like doing the sums, do it practically. If you need to know how far to stand from the final bend in a cycling road race, have a cyclist ride by and check things out. That way you can set up your zoom, pre-focus and hold your nerve for that one vital shot.

Events such as this are the least forgiving, you only get one go, all day! Don't forget during your reconnaissance that things might look quite different on race day when every man and his dog have appeared out of the woodwork!

Field ball sports are particularly amenable to pre-planning. Let's take a look at soccer. Firstly, you have to recognise that you might not get every incident in a game. If you take Ian Cook's shot, used for the front cover of this issue, had Scott Sinclair turned to celebrate in the other direction the shot could not have been made.

The tactic should be to maximise the number of saleable/usable frames that you collect. This is why the motor drive and focus tracking of today's cameras are so important. Last year we featured Gareth Copley's cricket image which won a number of prestigious awards.

The run-out was captured using a motor drive which meant that slightly different shots were available for syndication, each one 'exclusive' and used by different publications. This is an example of where a fast motor drive will pay for itself.


Please Note:
There is more than one page for this Article.
You are currently on page 12 Contact Mike McNamee

1st Published 01/08/2011
last update 18/07/2022 16:35:44

More Sports Articles



There are 24 days to get ready for The Society of Photographers Convention and Trade Show at The Novotel London West, Hammersmith ...
which starts on Wednesday 15th January 2025



Updated 18/07/2022 16:35:44 Last Modified: Tuesday, 08 November 2022