Rhythm in Sports Photography

Knowing the Sport’s Rhythms and Hot Spots is a Key to Sports Photos

Aug 15, 2007 Philip Northeast

An important element in sports photography is anticipating the action, based on an understanding of the sport. This allows the capturing of the action's decisive moment

By anticipating the action the sports photographer is ready and waiting for the action. The preliminary work of focusing, composing the anticipated shot and the metering are done. Then comes the hard part of the taking the picture, pressing the shutter button at the right moment.

Simpler digital cameras are notorious for having extended shutter lag. In most normal digital picture situations this is not be critical, in a fast-paced sports environment it is a significant handicap.

Even mechanical film cameras have some delay in this process, because it takes time to press and operate the shutter button and then for the mechanism to release the shutter. The more complex the digital cameras usually have a small shutter lag, comparable to the old film cameras.

To capture the decisive moment in sports action the photographer must get the timing right, so that the shutter is opening as the key moment of the event unfolds. The rhythm of the action varies from sport to sport, and there are variations within a sport. Practice and reviewing images on the LCD screen help establish a picture taking rhythm for each situation.

While some may use the continuous shoot function to hope to capture a magic moment, others rely on their skill. This involves knowing the pace of the sport and the time from when the photographer starts to press the shutter button until the digital camera captures the image

The continuous shooting mode will not guarantee the capture of a precise moment; it is just as likely to produce a series of images before and after the moment. This mode is ideal when the action is more than one anticipated moment and is a sequence of abnormal events. It is still useful for sports. Select the digital camera’s continuous mode and then keep the shutter button depressed to use the function.

Location is important because you need to get as close as possible to the action to fill the frame. To know where the most and best action is going to occur comes from knowledge of the sport. This is not necessarily where the other photographers choose.

Indoors or outdoors the sports photographer has little control over lighting and must use the available light. Knowing how the light interacts with the action during the course of an event can help the photographer be in the right spot at the right time for the light conditions. Outside this can mean choosing spots based on time of day and even the amount of cloud.

Look for spots offering more than one photographic possibility. For example, the inside of a sweeping corner on a motor racing track may offer a clear shot with lots of different angles of the car while the focus and metering are the same. This allows the photographer to follow the car through the corner getting different angled shots as well as the possibility of a panning shot.

Finally use your knowledge of the sport to select photo locations that suit your digital camera’s capabilities. This may limit the types of shots you can attempt, but at least you should bring home images of the event worth keeping and sharing. This knowledge of equipment and the sport can help in choosing new equipment if you decide to upgrade.

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