How to take a perfect sports photo
Whether it’s the basketball team or the swim team, getting good pictures at sporting events can be tricky especially for amateur photographers.
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The last adjustment that can easily lead to blurriness and has to be made is the lens apincorrect focus points. Howev- erture. er, sports photos are widely viewed Using the smallest number by the readership of any publication, possible is equal to the largest making it important that they are of a aperture size. By using smaller numbers, more light can be high quality. That’s why NEWSPA asked UW-Os- captured by the camera. hkosh journalism professor Tim Glea- Now that the camera is ready to son to offer a few tips on how to cap- go, it’s time to begin shooting. It’s ture the perfect image at a sporting important to find a good spot on the field or court to capture the subject event. For this tutorial we’ll use a digital you wish to be photographing. SLR camera as an example. Point and “A photographer needs to think shoot cameras may not be powerful about which way his or her team is enough to adequately capture high facing, where the officials tend to be so you can avoid them, and where the quality images fit for publication. The first step is to set the camera light is best,” Gleason said. to the correct settings beginning with Gleason recommends to first bethe ISO. The ISO controls the cam- gin shooting players who are not movera’s censor sensitivity. When the ISO ing around; for example, batters in is at a high setting, it is more ready baseball. Once enough of those picto capture movement in low light con- tures are taken, the photographer can begin to experiment ditions, according to with more interesting Gleason. The best pictures are angles and positions. When shooting on unusual and gripping. “The best pictures sunny days the ISO Tim Gleason are unusual and gripshould be set to 200400. When it is overJournalism Professor ping,” Gleason said. “Showing eyes tends cast or close to sunto make sports photographs more exset, increase the ISO to 800. Indoor citing because you can see the drama sporting events should be shot with in the subject’s eyes.” an ISO of 1600 or higher. recom The shutter speed also needs to Photographymad.com mends using the burst mode, which be adjusted before beginning. Gleaallows multiple pictures to be taken son advises to not use anything lower very quickly, giving the photographer than 1/250. On sunny days, set the shutter speed to 1/500 or 1/1000 for more of a chance to capture a good shot. optimum picture quality. aking photos of moving objects
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by Haley Walters
The website suggests against using a flash unless the subject is close enough for it to be effective. After shooting enough pictures, upload the photos and do some editing in Photoshop. “Unsharp Mask comes in handy because every digital can be improved with proper sharpening,” Gleason said. Gleason advises against using in-camera sharpening options which may be too invasive and actually lead to a poorer picture. He also said cropping pictures can lead to poorer image quality. Photographers should get as close to the action as possible to avoid having to crop the images later. Editing should be kept to a minimum, according to Gleason. “It is unethical in journalism to remove objects or change them significantly, so use Photoshop minimally,” he said. “The best advice is to know the sport thoroughly,” Gleason said. “Try to get to know how the players play like a good opposing coach. You start to know what the other team will do and you can prepare for that action.” By keeping these tips in mind and a little practice, any student journalist can improve their photographs and grow as a photographer.
How to set a camera for Sports Photos Cut out and keep in your camera bag!
ISO: Sunny: 200- 400; Overcast: 800; Indoor: 1600+ Shutter Speed: 1/500 to 1/1000 *no lower than 1/250 Lens Aperture: Lowest number possible Flash: No uwosh.edu/journalism/newspa 10