On the photo you can see the muscle work (photo: A. Pratzner)
- Camera:
- Canon EOS 50D
- Aperture:
- f/4.5
- Exposure:
- 1/2500 Sek.
- Focal length:
- 31 mm
- ISO:
- 400
Sports photography - how to capture fast movements
Sports photography is characterized by fast movements - sometimes extremly fast movements. Additionaly you as a photographer often have to fight bad light situations, which often occur in sport facilitites or while football games which are spoiled by raining.
To compete with these adversities, you need several things:
- a light intense tele objective
- high ISO values
- a fast camera with a high number of photos in a photo series
- a sporty photographer (Following the events with your camera is exhausting after some time)
Tennis and sports photography
2-4 players and a ball (mostly yellow). Tennis is charaterisied by fast movements and tactical play, to save your own strength, while making the enemy do mistakes by exhausting him. Or simply play so overwhelming that you win.
Tennis ball dormant (photo: A. Pratzner)
- Camera:
- Canon EOS 5D Mark II
- Aperture:
- f/5.6
- Exposure:
- 1/1000 Sek.
- Focal length:
- 24 mm
- ISO:
- 100
The picture above was shot with an exposure of 1/1000 seconds. This wasn't necessary - however, the picture got taken in a break between 2 motion studies (and the camera was still set like that).
Tennis can be a game with high speeds. The ball can have after an serve up to 240 km/h (serve of Andy Roddick from the USA).
A fast serve is half the game (photo: A. Pratzner)
- Camera:
- Canon EOS 5D Mark II
- Aperture:
- f/4.5
- Exposure:
- 1/1250 Sek.
- Focal length:
- 24 mm
- ISO:
- 100
And when looking at some picture you can think about, where the photographer has been when he made the picture - as you can see in the following picture.
Total dedication (also from the photographer) (photo: A. Pratzner)
- Camera:
- Canon EOS 5D Mark II
- Aperture:
- f/4
- Exposure:
- 1/1600 Sek.
- Focal length:
- 8 mm
- ISO:
- 100
In the last picture you can nicely see motion blur of the tennis player through the fast movement. If I would have taken the shot with a higher exposure (so above 1/1600 seconds) the motion blur would have vanished. The Ball is depicted nearly sharp.
Sport photography and football
Very interesting are the sequences of an incident - that is the reason why serial pictures are a clever idea. Keep your finger on the trigger (lateron you have plenty of time to delete the bad ones).
For good pictures the photographer should permanently sit in ambush and move the camera with the events that occur. Often it is about capturing emotions.
Football and "a foot in the way" happens quite often (photo: A. Pratzner)
- Camera:
- Canon EOS 350D
- Aperture:
- f/7.1
- Exposure:
- 1/800 Sek.
- Focal length:
- 55 mm
- ISO:
- 400
When Gravity is against you (photo: A. Pratzner)
- Camera:
- Canon EOS 350D
- Aperture:
- f/7.1
- Exposure:
- 1/800 Sek.
- Focal length:
- 55 mm
- ISO:
- 400
Friendly matches need conciliatory gestures (photo: A. Pratzner)
- Camera:
- Canon EOS 350D
- Aperture:
- f/7.1
- Exposure:
- 1/800 Sek.
- Focal length:
- 55 mm
- ISO:
- 400
Author: Axel Pratzner
Translator: Felix Pratzner