|
Tips for
getting great sports photos with your point and shoot…
To read about taking your own team or player photos
click here
We have
all been there. You do your best to get the best photos
you can at your son’s baseball game and you get nothing
but blurry photos and photos with only half of him in
the picture. Well, fortunately, with digital photography
we can all afford to make mistakes. However, if your son
scores the winning run and you miss it, there is nothing
you can do about that! So unless you have the latest
DSLR or pro photography equipment, here are some tips for the
average person getting great photos with a not so great
camera. |
 |
|
KNOW THE
GAME...ANTICIPATE THE ACTION!
It certainly
helps your photographic efforts if you understand what
you are looking for. If you son is on third base and the
batter squares around to bunt, you should understand
that the squeeze is on and your son will be flying down
the third base line. If you know this you will be better
prepared to focus in on the action. You don’t want to
try and follow him down the line. You will want to hold
your camera steady focused on home plate and when the
play is made shoot away. It is no different with soccer
or football, if you can learn to anticipate the action,
you will better prepared to capture it! |
|
GET
LOW...LOW...LOW...LOW!
Have you
ever seen a sports photographer at a game or on TV.
Where are they at? They are usually really low to the
ground, sometimes laying down. Why is that? It is
because at this perspective you are capturing the game
from the level it is being played at. And so when
viewing your photos you will feel as though you were
right on top of the action. So get down low, sit down,
capture the moment as if you are part of the game. And
don’t shoot from the bleachers. |
|
BE SURE
THE SUN IS AT YOUR BACK...
There is
nothing worse than catching a great moment and then
previewing it only to find out that all you have is a
massive sun flare and a silhouette of your kids scoring
the winning run or goal. You almost always want to shoot
with the sun over your shoulder. For obvious reasons.
Your camera is made to search for light and if it finds
the sun, it will drowned out the rest of your subjects.
If you have to move positions and go over to the enemies
territory then do so. It is worth it, trust me. For me,
the best time to shoot is about an hour before sun down. |
|
TAKE LOTS OF
SHOTS...(NO, NOT THOSE KIND OF SHOTS!)
In the old
days, when you had a limit to the number of photos you
had per roll, you were very careful (or should have
been) to make sure you budgeted your film use. But with
digital photography, those days are over. You wanna know
a little secret? If a professional photographer takes
200 photos at an event, he might be lucky to get 10-15
good ones that he can put on display. Why is this? Well,
as much as a pro photographer likes to think he is in
control, he is really at the mercy of the action. Like
what happens when the umpire or referee steps right in
front of the action? You miss the shot. Or a
parent says "Excuse me" and you move out of the way just
as the most amazing play has just transpired. It
happens. Well, if you set your mind to taking as many
shots as you can, the law of averages says you will have
a better chance of getting lucky enough to get that
great shot! And remember, some of the greatest
photographs were accidental! |
|
GET
SOME GOOD PHOTO-EDITING SOFTWARE
Wanna know
another secret? Well, don't tell anyone, but a lot of
great photographs don't look so great from the get go.
With today's amazing photo-editing software, even the
novice photographer can manipulate their images until it
looks spectacular. Now most parents don't have the dough
to buy the latest version of Adobe Photoshop...but there
are alternatives. Adobe Photoshop Elements is a great
and inexpensive (at least to me) way of getting some of
the best effects of Photoshop without selling your home
to do so. Retail cost is about $75. Another great
program, that I recommend is Picasa by Google. I
personally use a high end photo-editing software
program, but I must say, I use Picasa a lot too. It has
image tuning, cropping, special effects, image
straightening, and so much more. Also, you can create
online albums to upload and share your photos with
anyone. For the beginner, it is a great way to get your
feet wet with photo-editing. And the best part is...IT"S
FREE. Just
click here to
download it. |
|
