Sports Photography Can Be Fun And Frustrating

You can see the results on the newspaper sports pages practically everyday so you know that taking good pictures of sporting events is possible, it just does not seem that sports photography would be as hard. Portrait photography seems to be difficult enough with the proper lighting and the direction in which the subject is looking, but taking pictures of subjects that seem to be constantly moving can add another dimension to the difficulty.

By definition, sports photography can be tough because you are trying to depict the action of the sport through a still photograph. Additionally, sports photography cannot be posed pictures and you have to depend on your knowledge of the game and the way it is played to be able to anticipate a player's next move in order for a shot to be taken.

Add to the unpredictability of any given player's movements the technical needs for lighting and focusing, and a person looking into sports photography as a hobby or a job, will soon learn the need for practice to be able to make the perfect shot that can accurately tell the story of the game.

Different Sports Offers Different Challenges

Many small-town newspaper photographers cut their sports photography teeth on high school football, typically on Friday nights and many do not have the budget for expensive, high-tech equipment and rely on the experience of others in learning how to obtain quality pictures while shooting under less-than ideal conditions. Shooting slowly enough to insure enough light in the frame can also be too slow an end up being out of focus.

Basketball offers much better lighting conditions, but many times automatic cameras will misread the available light based on reflections from the playing floor. Typically, the misread light will result in a darkened picture and sports photography that does not always tell the right story.

Baseball should be the ideal sports photography occupation as it is usually played in good weather, but due to the limitations placed on photographers in regards as to where they can stand to take the pictures, leaves the possibilities for different results than everyone else, somewhat limited.

Sports such as hockey, soccer and volleyball each offer their own set of unique challenges when it comes to sports photography with the venue, inside of outside, being the biggest determining factor, but the one issue agreed upon by amateurs and professionals alike, is that it takes years of practice and experience in order for a person to be good at sports photography on a consistent basis.