Sports Photography 3 - Shots on the Cheap

Continuing my past posts on Sports Photography techniques, today I'll share my thoughts on some successful techniques I've used to create successful action shots on a budget.

One of the biggest constraints of the amateur photographer is the lens. As previously discussed, professional sports lenses can cost anything in the region of £1500 - 7000, far beyond the budget of most people. Most sports photographers also carry a range of fixed lenses with them, further increasing the outlay. At the moment, I only use a Nikon 70 - 300mm f4-5.6 G-type lens - it's about the cheapest telephoto on the market.

1. Shoot at "alternative" moments

Joe Denly Practicing

If your chosen sport has a "warm up" period prior to the main action, it can be a very good time to get closer shots than might otherwise be possible. The example I've used here was taken at a Surrey vs Kent cricket match a couple of weeks ago. My lens is nowhere near powerful enough to pick out facial detail from 500 yards away, but during the players' warm up they were practicing on the edge of the outfield, so I was able to get much closer. The other advantage of shooting in the warm up is that most of the crowd won't be paying very much attention - if you need to move around, people are much more willing to have their view momentarily obstructed than during the main action.

2. Shoot with a crop in mind

Greg Randall

Shooting from the stands, you will rarely have much control over the viewpoint of your shots. With that in mind, I find it helpful to "see" a completed shot with a crop in mind. It's not ideal, but it works - take a look of the portrait of Greg Randall at an ice hockey match. Your pictures may look cluttered in camera, but a bit of Photoshopping after the event can work wonders

3. Shoot images that capture some of the atmosphere around the ground

T-Shirt Gun

Think of shooting at a sports event as an opportunity for a photographic essay. Newspapers generally only carry at most a couple of pictures from an event, so they don't look repetitive. If you're shooting for a couple of hours or more and all your shots are of the action, no matter how good they are, they will start to look the same after a while. Use the opportunity to take shots of other action around the ground / arena - in these kind of shots, you're competing on a level playing field with the professionals.