How to take better Sports Photos - Part 2

We left of part one after talking about Camera's and lighting (or the lack of) If you haven't read part one yet start HERE
Location
The most important step to achieving a good sports photograph is attaining the correct vantage point, this is often easier said than done as access is highly controlled at sporting events, more for your own safety than anything as there is nothing worse than being on the side lines at a rugby match as some 25 stone bloke gets taken into touch taking you and more importantly your £6000 camera set up with him! Its a pretty scary thing to experience. 

Sports photography is all about the bring the viewer close to the action, making them feel like there are part of the winning play. This is achieved threw selecting the right location and getting as close as possible to the action. if your lucky and get a press pass you can be on the side lines how ever positions will still be limited as you will be there with 10 or 20 other photographers all wanting the same thing. Ok so you've selected the best location to catch the best action from as close as possible, thats half the battle won the next is finding the angles that allow you to create a clean and uncluttered background.
Photo 1

Photo 2

As you can see the people in the background of photo one distract your eye and to not make for such a pleasing image as photo 2.

At major sporting venus cutter is unavoidable but it is all about how you work with it to minimize the effect it has on the image a small DoF (depth of field) helps blur the background into a creamy soup of color allowing your subject to stand out almost jumping off the page. 

The "Moment"
Spray and pray is the only way to shoot Timing and anticipation are two very important parts of sports photography. The art and skill is being able to anticipate the peak of an action and release the trigger so that you capture it. You can’t wait for the moment to happen other wise by the time your retina has seen the moment sent the information to your brain which in turn has interpreted the information and decided that you want a photo of this and sent a command to your trigger finger to take a photo, your finger has then pressed the trigger and then the camera final takes a photo by which point chances are the moments past and the shot has been lost.

By knowing and understanding your sport you are able better judge the speed at which some one (or something) is traveling and you can adjust your point of reaction accordingly (this can also help for moving out of the way of low flying cricket balls rugby players and the odd stray part of a car).
For example I’m shooting cricket using a 600mm lens and wanting a ball on bat shot. I know the bowler Is probably going to be bowling a fast ball, I know that roughly if I press the trigger as the ball hits the ground I will get a bat on ball shot(assuming that the batsman hits the ball).

Composition
Faces
A regular cry that can be heard coming from most picture desk editors offices is “give me faces!”. Faces are a key factor in a successful sports image as it is the easiest and most effective way to portray emotion. In a ideal world all your photos should have clear faces and you should be able to see the whites of there eyes to really drive home the message of what’s going on how ever this is easier said than done.

Rule of 3rds
A basic rule of all photography is the rule or thirds where you divied the frames into thirds vertically and horizontally and then place the subject at the intersection of the lines thus making the photo more interesting.

In sports the rule of thirds is a good idea. . . . Most of the time. If you are shooting a runner running right to left leave more room on the left than on the right to imply that he’s going somewhere. Shooting the frame as if hes leaving the frame is classed as poor composition and is not desirable or pleasing (try it and see what I mean).

Portrait or landscape?
Logic dictates that you are trying to fill the frame with the action and with humans being tall and thin there for the most effective way use the camera would be in the portrait position. And this works great when your trying to isolate an individual. How ever multiple people don’t fit particularly well in a portrait image with allot of empty space being waisted. So when you are trying to show conflict between two (or more) people landscape is often the best way to shoot alowing you to get as close to the action as you can with out chopping any body parts off or having too much dead space.

Part 3 comming soon!