Do you wish you could take better photos of your child playing sports? Check out my tips on sports photography.

For parents of athletes, pictures are a way to capture moments on the field, and save them to share with family and friends. Sports photography is not easy, and takes a good camera and quick reaction time to freeze the peak action and expressions.

Here are some tips to help you bring back better photographs from outdoor sporting events.

1) Buy a quality SLR camera and a long lens. You don’t need to purchase top-of-the-line equipment, but you will need a camera that shoots 2-3 frames per second, and a lens that reaches out at least 200mm for field events. The minimun aperature doesn’t matter for day events. A simple 70-200, f.4-5.6 zoom will work fine.

2) If you can set the camera to manual, do it. Then set the shutter speed to a minimum of 1/250. Higher shutters speeds will freeze faster action, and you will have a shallower depth of field. That is the amount of the photo that is in focus. Larger depth of field will yield a sharp photo in the foreground and background. For sports, a shallow depth of field is better, with a fast shutter speed.

3) Get as close to the field as you can, without being in the way of the players and fans.

4) Use autofocus if the camera is equipped.

5)  Don’t zoom while your following a play. Leave the zoom lens at the longest setting and just worry about following the play. That part is hard enough.

6) If your camera has a built in flash, turn it off to save batteries. It won’t do anything for you in the daytime anyway.

7) Pick a player and follow them, or find a spot and focus manually on it, waiting for the action to get there. This will depend on the sport you’re shooting.

Don’t forget to look at the bench for interesting moments going on. And turn around to look over the bleachers. There’s lot of emotion and expressions there.

9) Always recharge or change your batteries before a long day of shooting. And, carry spare batteries with you, as well as a spare memory card or film.

10) Turn off the viewer screen on the back of your digital camera to save batteries. Wait until after the game to go back and delete files. That’s something you can do from home.

11) Anticipate where the ball is going or the player is running, and stay ahead of them. I try to keep about 30 yards ahead of the offensive on a football field. In games like soccer, lacrosse and field hockey I stay near the goal and let the action come to me.

12) Use the sun, don’t abuse it. Shoot with the sun behind you or to the side if you can. Looking directly into it will give you flat underexposed pictures, and flares on your film from the sun.

13) Watch the pros. I occasionally have people come up to me on the field asking questions about the equipment I carry, or how I get the shots. I don’t mind chatting before the game or at half time.

14) Take a look at our sports section, or in sporting magazines to see where those pictures are taken from. Keep in mind we use very fast and long lenses. But you can still make fine pictures with your equipment and a little practice.  

15) Find a good printer online for your digital files. I use Printroom.com for my photo printing. It’s cheaper to have an online company print your pictures, than purchasing expensive inks and paper to do it yourself.

Hopefully these tips will help improve your sports shooting skills. If you have a tip of your own, please comment.

-Bob Hammerstrom

Tags: camera, game, outdoor, photo, Photography, picture, sports, tips