Sports photography

If you are, like I am, a parent with active children there will come a time that capturing images of kids at play becomes a little more serious. They grow up into small adults and need more exciting things to play at and living in New Zealand that sort of play is all around us. There is soccer, rugby, surfing.... and the list goes on and on and it gets more extreme the older they get too. So to be able to capture quality images gets a bit of a hit and miss affair without the right knowledge and to an extent equipment.

Don't worry I am not advising you go out and spent mega bucks on a flash SLR. No you can obtain relatively good images with a point and snap type camera using some basic rules.

Get as close as you dare. By using a zoom or your feet but getting close is important. By getting close to the subject you risk chopping heads and feet off yes, but you can capture expressions of struggle if its a physical sport like rugby. If the sport or activity is a fast paced activity like cycling where the subject can fly by before you can react, use your cameras flash. This has the effect of freezing the subject in motion but will only have this effect if you are close to the subject.

There are many different types of images you can capture by changing settings on you camera as well. Using flash with a fast shutter speed and following the subject with the camera (also known as panning) will freeze the subject making a crisp clear image, if that's the type of image you want. This type of image is commonly used by newspaper photographers but you can also do the opposite of this by not following the subject, not using the flash and using a slow shutter speed. The image will be blurred creating a sense of speed and motion. If you don't follow the subject, have a slow shutter speed and use the flash you can create an image that portrays motion and partially freezes the subject, making the person at least identifiable to viewers

Below I have two totaly different types of sporting images. The first is a standard type image you will find in all news papers and magazines around the world. Although it is a very good image that shows exactly what sport it is, it also tells a story of danger, pain, and tradition. I shot this using a zoom lens and a fast ish shutter speed, no flash needed as the day was bright and wel'la! Easy

 

This next image is a favorite of mine.It shows a sport I realy enjoy (I will talk at a latter stage about enjoyment) at a place I love. It also tells a story and lets face it thats what photography is all about. The subject is doing a dangerous sport and is more likely to die than the fella above. I have included this image just to show you that by not having an expensive camera you can still take wicked photographs of sporting fun without all the dissapointment.

Shooting people

Don't take the title the wrong way but shooting people with your camera can be fun and rewarding.

Here's a few tips that I find produce stunning images of friends and family.

• Never ask a child to pose for a photo. As soon as you do this the child (this applies to adults as well) will become serious and lose all natural expression and sense of fun. I like to shoot kids without them knowing i am. I try to get the kid or kids involved in something fun, something they like doing, then move away to somewhere where the light is side on to the subject or slightly behind the subject. I choose a fast shutter speed and a large aperture on the camera settings and start shooting. A fast shutter speed freezes the subject in motion (and lets face it kids don't stop moving). A large aperture or what is also known as an "f stop" has the effect of blurring the back ground
• Rules of composition go out the window when shooting like this so don't get too hung up on it but just make sure you don't chop off heads. I find using your camera zoom a valuable tool. Keep away and don't let the subject know you are shooting them, zoom in and shoot. A close zoom can capture expressions of joy, concentration, happiness, fun and will produce stunning masterpieces for the whole family to cherish.
• Think of you camera as a machine gun. Hold your finger on the trigger and shoot hard out. If you hesitate for a moment you will, and i can guarantee this, miss that masterpiece! Photography now is not like the old days when every time you clicked the trigger it cost you $2, with no guarantee you got the shot. Now its easy and essentially free to hold your finger on the trigger. I tend to work to the law of averages at 2%. This means that for every 100 shots taken you will average 2 shots of quality and 1 masterpiece.

Composition

The single most important factor in a photographic master piece is composition!

Composition is basically the structure and balance of the photo. It holds the viewer and stops the eye from straying off the page. It can draw the viewer (literally) into the photograph.

Imagine a photograph divided into 3 equal parts across and 3 equal parts down (9 squares). To compose the subject so that each square is evenly filled with subject and the main attention, or focus point is in the middle square. Easier said than done you may ask yourself but with today's modern digital cameras it is easy. Most, these days have an option to grid the view finder which can help you compose the shot, but i lean toward the easier option. 

The easier option is cropping. Cropping is done using the software package you got with your camera and enables the photograph to be balanced evenly. It can also be used to remove unwanted things that may clutter the picture. As i have done in the picture on the previous post of an old bungalow. The bland colour photograph was nothing special and obviously i could not move the house to arrange the shot as i wanted, so i just cropped the image. Simple.

The image below is of a sunrise i took last week at Mimiwhangata while on holiday. Nothing has been done to the picture. It is, as shot. It is a well balanced shot with the dark fore ground leading the eye into the main subject of the sun and clouds.

 

 

Not all images need to be composed as such. The image below is one of a friends kid. As you are all aware kids don't stop moving, and to try and stop them is a fools errand. I didn't even attempt to compose the shot, i just clicked and this is what came of it. It is balanced with even amounts of sky and kid. Some photographers will critique the composition as being bizarre, however i will disagree and say yes its unusual, but very unique and even different from most perspectives of traditional photographs. But still a great image.

"Photography is the art of painting with light"

Once upon a time a long time ago in land far far away i befriended a professional photographer who lived a few doors down my street. He was an elderly Jamaican gentleman by the name of Winston. He became a mentor and inspiration for me. He had published a few books based on the hardships Jamaican immigrants faced in London in the 50's and 60's. These where all black and white reporter style images. Dramatic, often graphic scenes of social taboos but very very cool.  Although not my style, i stored his advice and now i have the means to pass it on.
 Winston, god bless his soul had a phrase we would discuss often over a rum or 3
"Photography is the art of painting with light"
Light is all around us. It is strong, soft, harsh, dirty and clean. It is why flowers are red and the sea is blue. It creates shadow and contrast and it is the most important ingredient in a photographic masterpiece!
Winston would sometimes take an absolute age composing his shots. Getting the light right, just right. Easy to do when you have all the time in the world and a subject that has no place to go.
But in our busy world things don't stop so you have to be quick if you see a great shot. So here are a few rules i apply in my photographic expeditions

1. When the sun is low in the sky, between 20-60 degrees it is a great time for landscape and outdoor portraits. The sun is clean and pure in the morning. Colour has greater saturation and is more dramatic.
2. In the evening the sun gets contaminated by the days dust and pollution. This light can provide strong shadows, great for sunsets, portraits and high contrast shots.
3. In the middle of the day when the sun is at its peak, light is harsh and can create unfortunate illusions on faces but is great for shooting architecture, cars, bikes etc

This is an early morning shot taken facing the sun as it crept over the hill in the background

A great late evening shoot for the family. The low sun created a fantastic contrast with dark shadows and light highlights

The sun was high but not at its peak for this shot. It has a great shadow and good colour. If the sun was higher the shadow would have been too small to distinguish and if the sun was too low there would not have been any shadow at all

Starting point

My first tip to home photographers out there (me included) who are inspired by the new digital age in photography is this "Black and white"! With the advancement of photography in the digital world pretty much all camera's come with simple editing software that give the user the ability to crop, paint and also change a photo to black and white. A rather bland picture (below) can be transformed into a masterpiece with a trim and a change to b/w all done in under 2 minutes. Give it a go. You have nothing to lose and at worst you have wasted 2 or 3 minutes. But you just never know whats hidden in a deletable picture

Second tip to all home or budding photographers is "Never delete a photograph"