Sports photography
Encyclopedia
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
that covers all types of sport
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
s.
In the majority of cases, professional sports photography is a branch of photojournalism
Photojournalism
Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism...
, while amateur sports photography, such as photos of children playing association football, is a branch of vernacular photography
Vernacular photography
Vernacular photography or amateur photography refers to the creation of photographs by amateur or unknown photographers who take everyday life and common things as subjects...
.
The main application of professional sports photography is for editorial purposes; dedicated sports photographers usually work for newspapers, major wire agencies or dedicated sports magazines. However, sports photography is also used for advertising purposes both to build a brand and as well as to promote a sport in a way that cannot be accomplished by editorial means.
Equipment
Equipment used for sports photography is a Digital Single Lens Reflex camera (DSLR), with high shutter speeds. Interchangeable lenses that have 50mm and can be zoomed or changed to 300mm zoom, depending on the type of sport. Lenses are very important, to reach closer or farther as fast as possibly to stay with the game play. A monopod or tripod for stability and extra batteries are essential.Camera bodies
Preferred camera bodies for the modern sport photographer are those with fast autofocusing ability and a high frame rate (usually 8 frames per second or faster). The current flagship sports cameras produced by Canon and Nikon are the Canon EOS-1D Mark IVCanon EOS-1D Mark IV
The EOS-1D Mark IV is a professional 16.1 effective megapixels digital single lens reflex camera camera body produced by Canon. The EOS-1D Mark IV is the successor of the Canon EOS-1D Mark III and was announced on October 20, 2009, just four days after Nikon announced the D3s...
and the Nikon D3S
Nikon D3S
The Nikon D3S is a 12.1 megapixel professional-grade full frame digital single-lens reflex camera announced by Nikon Corporation on 14 October 2009. The D3S is the fourth camera in Nikon's line to feature a full frame sensor, following the D3, D700 and D3X. It is also Nikon's first full frame...
, and these are the most popular in professional sports.
Lenses
Different sports favor different lenses, but sports photography usually requires fastLens speed
Lens speed refers to the maximum aperture diameter, or minimum f-number, of a photographic lens. A lens with a larger maximum aperture is a fast lens because it delivers more light intensity to the focal plane, allowing a faster shutter speed...
(wide aperture) telephoto lenses, with fast autofocus
Autofocus
An autofocus optical system uses a sensor, a control system and a motor to focus fully automatic or on a manually selected point or area. An electronic rangefinder has a display instead of the motor; the adjustment of the optical system has to be done manually until indication...
performance. Fast autofocus is needed to focus on movement, telephoto to get close to the action, and wide aperture serves several purposes:
- The background is put drastically out of focus, resulting in better subject isolation.
- The lenses can focus more quickly due to the increase in light entering the lens – important with fast-moving action.
- Faster shutter speeds can be used to freeze the action.
However, extremely wide apertures (such as f/1.2 or f/1.4) are more rarely used, because at these apertures the depth of field is quite low, which makes focusing more difficult and slows down autofocus.
The main distinction is between outdoor sports and indoor sports – in outdoor sports the distances are greater and the light brighter, while in indoor sports the distances are lesser and the light dimmer. Accordingly, outdoor sports tend to have longer focal length long focus lenses with slower apertures, while indoor sports tend to have shorter long lens lenses with faster apertures.
Both zoom and prime lenses are used; zoom – generally in the 70–200, 75–300, or 100–400 range – allow a greater range of framing, while primes are faster, cheaper, lighter, and optically superior, while being more restricted in framing.
Aperture
Aperture
In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. The aperture determines how collimated the admitted rays are,...
s of f/2.8 or faster are most often used, though f/4 is also found, particularly on brighter days. Particularly visible are the Canon super telephoto lenses, whose distinctive white casing (to dissipate the sun's heat) is recognizable at many sporting events. Of these, the Canon 400mm f/2.8
Canon EF 400mm lens
The Canon EF 400mm are four super-telephoto lenses made by Canon Inc. These lenses have an EF mount that work with the EOS line of cameras. These lenses are widely used by sports and wildlife photographers....
is particularly recommended for field sports such as football
Football
Football may refer to one of a number of team sports which all involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer"...
.
This varies with sport and preference; for example golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
photographers may prefer to use a 500mm f/4 as opposed to a 400mm f/2.8 as it is a lighter lens to be carried around all day.
Remote cameras
Sports photographers, may use remote cameras triggered by wireless shutter devices (i.e. Pocket WizardsPocketWizard
The PocketWizard is a wireless radio triggering system for off-camera lighting developed in the late 1990s, by LPA Design. It requires a transmitter electrically connected to the camera, usually mounted on the camera's hot shoe to trigger a remote receiver connected to a remote flash unit via a PC...
) to photograph from places they could not otherwise be, for example in an elevated position such as above a basketball basket, or to be in two places at once, i.e. at the start and the finish - such as at horse racing.
Technique
Location is often important for sports photography. At big events, professional photographers often shoot from VIP spots with the best views, usually as close to the action as possible. Most sports require the photographer to frame their images with speed and adjust camera settings spontaneously to prevent blurring or incorrect exposure. Some sports photography is also done from distances to give the game a unique effect.Shutter speed is critical to catching motion, and thus sports photography is often done in shutter priority
Shutter priority
Shutter priority refers to a setting on some cameras that allows the user to choose a specific shutter speed while the camera adjusts the aperture to ensure correct exposure...
mode or manual. ISO speed is often high (to allow faster shutter speeds), and may be left in auto.
Photos are often taken in burst mode to capture the best moment, sometimes in combination with JPEG rather than RAW shooting (JPEG files being smaller, these allow longer bursts).