Sports - shooting shots for others

[Anthony]

I've only ever just been shotting my wife play hockey to get good shots - shots that I am proud of. However, now some of the players in her team also play juniors, and some of the parents would like me along to take shots of them. This will be a whole new kettle of fish. Firstly, it may assist in my camera lust , but more importantly it means taking shots to suit others; most people don't care about artistically great shots, or technically perfect shots.

So what is it that a event/sports shooter should look for in their shots, to appeal to parents etc... I have looked at many people's online galleries, and find that I don't post many shots per game. Others post 100 or 200 shots, but still only have 20 or 30 I'd be happy to have in a gallery (and this goes for some of the big names).

Do those other get picked by parents? Are parents happy to see all the dross in a gallery just as long each parent gets a pic of their kid?

 

[scott kirkpatrick]

I'm not speaking from very much personal experience, but I would suggest that you concentrate on getting clear shots of players' faces in action, then good expressions on those faces in action, and then finally meaningful action. That'll keep you busy, and as long as you post proofs quickly, happy parents will follow.

Note that this is a different setting from the "shoot for yourself, not what you think others will want," ethic that prevails elsewhere in this forum.

 

[Nill Toulme]

Anthony, here are some general pointers I once jotted down in the specific context of soccer. I know they work for basketball too, and to a large degree for baseball, but I've never shot hockey so I don't know if you can literally plug in "puck" for "ball" here or not, but the general thrust should still work...

1. Shoot tight.

2. Crop tighter.

3. Subject to occasional intentional rule-breaking exceptions, what you're shooting for is face/ball/action/contact. No particular order, and the more the better, but with *very* few exceptions, a shot without a face and the ball goes in the trash. Eyes up are better than eyes down, and expressions matter — sometimes a lot.

4. Keep your horizon level. Fix it in the crop if necessary.

5. Don't be afraid to cut off body parts, but don't cut them off at the joint. I.e., don't cut off a leg at the ankle or the knee, and don't cut off an arm at the elbow or the wrist. It's something subliminal about the way the brain processes the image that makes images cropped that way vaguely disturbing and off-putting.

6. Watch your backgrounds, both while shooting and in editing. Shooting big apertures wide open will help to blow out distracting backgrounds to a pleasing blur.

7. For the little guys, get down low and shoot from their level. Some people use knee pads (available cheap from Home Depot) for this purpose. My knees aren't so good, so I use a little folding three-legged camp stool. But sometimes you have to actually get right down on the ground!

8. Pay some attention to the overall "design" of your image — the way the various visual elements interact. This isn't high art we're engaged in here, but a little art goes a long way to make a better image.

9. Shooting RAW leaves you more latitude to recover from exposure and WB excursions, and often gives you better ability to handle high contrast situations like bright overhead sun and white uniforms without blowing the highlights or to bring up an underexposed image from dimly lit youth stadiums and gyms.

10. Flash sucks.

11. If you can, use a monopod.

12. Don't be afraid to trade ISO for shutter speed. A sharp noisy image is better than a clean blurry one. In most cases I'll underexpose rather than go below 1/400.

13. Shoot a lot. Then shoot some more.

14. Only show the good ones.

15. What you consider a good one will change over time.

16. Shoot tight.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

 

[Paul Romersa]

All good points Nill...
I'm a big advocate of "Get on em!"...your shooting tight =)
Paul

 

[Jon P. Ferguson]

Yup

Nill has it pretty much down pat. The trick is to burn all those concepts into your head and then automatically make them happen. The learning curve for phtography pretty much ends at your final breath.

 

[Gary Ayala]

Family Perspective

Nil has addressed the basic needs of one that shoots sports ... but images for the parents and family ... all they really care about is that their son/daughter is in uniform and recognizable. I've shot a lot of sports (family members on various teams) for the team members. If the shot is okay (minimum criteria being sharp, well exposed and has a ball in it), then I'll toss it on my website for them to view and download. As the season continues I become more selective and only toss up stuff that makes me feel good. (I do it pro bono as a favor to the teams).