I see them all the time at night games. Like tiny stars exploding in the night, the flashes of cameras go off from the grandstands like the strobe lights on a dance floor. Maybe you have tried to take pictures outside at night, only to find extremely dark or black photos on your monitor when you upload your pictures. The flash went off, so what happened?

First of all, don't be discouraged. Photographing night sports is difficult even for professional photographers like myself. The big strobe lights and coffee can-sized lenses we use are helpful, but we often struggle with out-of-focus and dark pictures at night.

Digital cameras have made things much easier, being able to see the exposure on the back of the camera. Adjustments are made, and you are good to go. Back in the film days of old, we shot a game with several rolls of film, developed them in the darkroom, and waited to see if we had images.

What makes your pictures dark even when using a flash? It's the lack of power in the flash. All those flashes you see going off in the stands are lighting nothing on the field. The range of the flash on a point-and-shoot is less than 20 feet on most cameras. The sensor inside the camera just can't let enough light in to give a proper exposure. So, what should you try?

Here's a couple tips:

1) Get closer to the field and wait for the action to come your way. Most point-and-shoot cameras will only give you one shot at a time, so try to anticipate the action coming at you.

2) Hold the camera steady, or brace it against something sturdy. This will help on any blur you cause by your movement.

3) Try to shoot at the beginning of the game, before the sun goes down. Then you can skip trying to use a flash all together.

4) If you have an SLR camera with a strobe attached, you will have more luck. Set the ASA on the camera as high as it can go (usually 1600). Keep the shutter speed set manually at the highest it can go with a flash attached. Set the strobe to manual, and dial down the power to 1/8 or 1/16 power. The color balance needs to be set to strobe. You will be using ambient light now from the field lights, and the strobe will freeze the players, as well as give you good color balance. 

If all else fails, check out the Mycapture galleries on our web site for thousands of images from sporting events.

-Bob Hammerstrom