Category Archives: Equipment

Sports Photography Equipment

Posted by Scott on July 20, 2009 None comments

Having the right equipment for taking family sports and action shots is critical.  Pay attention to the photographers at a professional or college sporting event.  You will often see them with two cameras one large lens on a mono-pod and another camera and lens around their neck.  No, you won’t have to do the same thing, but having the best equipment you can will make getting great photos much easier and simpler.  The fields, courts and facilities you are shooting at may be similar in size or the exact same size as college and professional facilities, but hopefully you will have better access for positioning yourself and more ability for moving around.  While this mobility will help you compensate for much of the "professional" equipment you will still need to invest in quality equipment to get the shots you want!

Camera
This is not the time for you point and shoot camera.  While that will work fine for posed photos on vacation and around the house, you will not get quality sports and action shots with it.  Okay, maybe it will work for the 6 year-old soccer game where you get to walk around on the field with the kids, but that’s about it.  For everything else you will need a Digital SLR 35mm camera with a quality lens.  Point and shoot cameras are not fast enough and do not have quality lenses for capturing action without blur, taking shots at a distance and shots in poor light.

Focus
Thank goodness for auto focus, imagine having to manually focus on a soccer player as they run toward you.  A camera and lens with a quick focus is a must.  There is not a lot you will have to do here because the camera and lens will do the focusing for you.  If you do get blurry photos it will not be the focus but rather the shutter speed.  You can help your camera focus in advance if you push the shutter button half way down.  For instance I will do this on a corner kick or penalty kick in soccer.  The ball is this case remains still, the player backs a few steps away and then approaches the ball to strike it.  You know where the player will be in this case when they strike  ball, so I simply focus on the ball and then follow the player.  As they kick I press the shutter the rest of the way and the camera shoots quickly.

Lens
Nothing as disappointing as a action shot that you thought was great only to find out that on your computer the athlete is just a small spec on the screen.  And yes, you can crop that photo until the athlete fills your screen but the photo will be pixilated by then.  The best shots are when the action fills the frame.  This requires a good long and fast lens.  Different sports may require different lenses or if you have one good lens and can position yourself well you can accomplish a lot by moving around. 

You’ll notice professional sports photographers will have one "huge" lens on a mono-pod and another camera and lens around their neck.  Well that "huge" lens may often cost $8,000 and up, so it’s not often a lens that the family sports photographer can afford.  A good quality 2.8 80-200mm lens is not inexpensive ($800-$1400), but it will let you capture most any sport if you are willing to move around a bit.  The 2.8 makes it fast enough to capture action in those dingy poorly lit gyms and long enough to capture action on a soccer field.  Granted on the soccer field if you’re on one end it’s not long enough to capture great action on the far side of the field, but if you move around the field and wait for the action to come to you, you’ll get plenty of great shots.

The ability to crop is a real advantage with digital.  Try to take well framed photos to begin with because it will save you time, but if that doesn’t always happen you can copy the photo to your computer, then crop the image and it will look like you took a professional shot right from the beginning.  Too much cropping is time consuming and your resulting image will be pixilated, but a minor amount of cropping can turn a "fair" photo into an amazingly well composed action shot.

Lens speed
The faster lens you have the faster shutter speed you can shoot at.  You need to shoot at a fast shutter speed to capture/freeze the action.  For both indoor and outdoor sports you will need a F2.8 or faster.  My favorite lens is a F2.8 80-200mm lens which works both outdoors and indoors.  If everything you do is outdoor sports on big fields you may be able to get away with a slower lens, but the 80-200mm lens is ideal for most all family sports photography.

Scott

ProPix Photography

The Sports Photography Professionals

Digital vs Optical Zoom

Posted by Scott on May 18, 2009 None comments

 

Many times when purchasing a digital camera you will hear reference to two different zoom types, digital zoom and optical zoom. In short you should never even look at the digital zoom number. That’s right, it will only cause you a headache in the end wondering why your photos always turn out so poorly.

Let’s take a look at what each term means and the difference.

The dark side: Digital zoom

Digital zoom is exactly what it says, it digitally zooms into your photo. For example let’s say you are photographing a soccer game and you are standing at midfield taking photos of the goalie.  Digital zoom will start to magnify your image more and more as you zoom in closer. This will make your photo pixilated, because your photo is made up of very small pixels, and the more you zoom in using your digital zoom the larger these pixels become. The larger the pixels become the more blocky and blurry your final photo will be.

There really is no need to use your digital zoom anyway, as you can do the exact same thing on your computer after you have taken the shot. To achieve a similar result, just crop in on your photo and then resize it back to the original dimensions. The only difference is that you are doing the digital zoom rather than your camera.

So how can you avoid this? Simply turn it off. Many cameras have the ability to tell it not to use the digital zoom at all. This can be found in  your cameras menu. Many times you can also tell when your camera switches from optical to digital. If you have digital zoom enabled, try and zoom in on something as tight as you can. You may notice a slight pause somewhere in between the start to the end. That slight pause is when the camera is actually turning on the digital zoom and using it instead of the optical.

Optical zoom is always better

In contrast to digital zoom, optical zoom is actually physically moving your parts of your lens to zoom in or out. In doing this you do not lose any quality no matter how far you zoom into your subject. You might think of this as a magnifying glass. You can look at something very close, but you don’t lose any quality while doing so.

If for some reason you are not able to zoom in as far as you would like with the optical zoom on your camera, I would suggest you either take the shot as is and crop later, or if possible, get closer to your athlete of interest.

ProPix Photography

The Sports Photography Professionals

Sports Photography In All Kinds of Weather

Posted by Scott on April 13, 2009 None comments

The clouds roll in and the rain starts to fall and many sports photographers turn-off the camera and run for cover.  That’s not going to be you, because you’re going to be prepared and will stay through the weather to capture those sporting moments that can carry even more emotion and excitement in the midst of difficult weather.  All types of weather presents a different challenge you just need to be prepared for it.  Think of it as an opportunity for great shots rather than an obstacle or a nuisance.  Yes, you can pamper your equipment and leave it in the house whenever the weather looks threatening, but you’ll find yourself with very few photos and miss out on many wonderful opportunities for great photos.

Sunny
Okay, you’re thinking what’s wrong with sunny weather isn’t that exactly what we want to be shooting in?  Well yes and no, a sunny day presents it’s own challenges.  A sunny hot day may be one of the most difficult times to shoot sports.  You’re not sitting peacefully with the other fans on the sidelines but rather moving up and down the field or along the sidelines working to capture the great sports moments.  Doing that in 100 degree weather can be a challenge.  Just like the athletes you need to dress appropriately, comfortably and cool.  The same types of clothing you might wear out hiking or running in the sun is typically good.  You never no  you might be out in the sun for 1-2 or more hours depending on how many games you are shooting.  Be sure to use sun screen, cover the back of your neck that will be exposed and take breaks in the shade.  Hydrate yourself before, during and afterward by carrying a water bottle with you.  Keeping a "sweat" rag handy is a good idea to wipe sweat away from your body as well as your camera equipment. 

Be sure to have the basic camera cleaning equipment with you such as a blower, microfiber cloth and lens cleaning fluid.  A bright sunny day makes for beautiful shots if you do it right.  That means make sure to shoot with the sun to your back so that your athlete’s faces are bright and not shadowed.  Sunny days bring shadows so make sure you allow the sun to do the work for you since flash photography is typically not allowed and wouldn’t do you much good either.

Overcast or Shady
These can be beautiful days to shoot long and hard at sports photography.  Physically it is not as demanding as a sunny hot day and certainly doesn’t present the challenges of rain or snow.  With lower light you will need to allow more light to reach the sensor.  This can be accomplished in a couple of ways.  In programmed or automatic mode you can adjust the ISO higher and let the camera adjust the aperture (size of the opening) and the shutter speed.   Remember the higher your ISO the more noise/grain in your photos.  Of course you can manually set the shutter speed and aperture as well to ensure proper lighting and speed.  The benefit of this type of day is that you won’t have to compete with the shadows of a sunny day.  You will have more options of where you position yourself around the field to capture the action. 

Rain
Alright so those dark clouds have now started to drop rain.  Should you turn-off the camera stick it in your bag and run for cover?  Absolutely not!  You now have a chance to catch unique photos that others will not be willing to take.  Make sure that you are prepared to protect yourself and your gear.  Make sure the gear you are not using is in a waterproof bag or is in a location protected from the water.  Protect the camera you are shooting with by using a cover or rain jacket for your camera that can be purchased or by making one yourself with a plastic bag.  Although it can be awkward you can also use an umbrella or have someone hold the umbrella for you.  Have a soft rag to dry the lens and your normal lens cleaning equipment as well.  Just as on an overcast or shady day you will need to compensate for less light.  Hang in there though because you will find wonderful shots not available without rain falling, players slipping, mud flying and crowds bundled up for protection. 

Snow and Cold
If you’re in the right geographic locations that rain might even turn into snow.  Or you might be trying to shoot skiing or snowboarding photos and you have no choice but to be in the snow and cold.  You will want to protect your equipment the same way you do in the case of rain, keep your equipment in a good weather proof bag, and protect the equipment you are shooting with, in a protective cover.  In between shots you can place the camera under your coat to help keep it warm.  Remember to dress yourself appropriately for the cold, you may be there for hours and your ears, toes and fingers will become very cold. 

Just as you buy good equipment for your camera buy good equipment for yourself to keep you protected and comfortable.  Snow introduces some unique lighting and white balance challenges.  The light meter on the camera will see the brightness of the snow and adjust accordingly often leaving everything else too dark.  You will want to overexpose the photo so that the snow is as bright as you see with your eye, and the rest of the photo is exposed appropriately.  In addition the snow will often throw off the white balance as well so try different settings.  Some cameras may even have a snow white balance and if not you may need to try setting it manually or shoot in RAW mode and adjust it in post processing.

If your camera has a custom white balance setting you can also try shooting a white patch of snow for the reference shot. If all else fails or your camera doesn’t have these options, you can always leave the white balance on auto. It may not be perfect, but it should still give you decent, if not great color.

Successful sports photographers are those that are prepared, ready and willing to shoot even when the weather is not ideal.

ProPix Photography

The Sports Photography Professionals

How a Digital Camera Works

Posted by Scott on January 28, 2009 None comments

How a digital camera works
This will not be enough detail to satisfy the physics majors out there, but it is detailed enough to help the practical Sports Photographer understand the basics of how a digital camera works.  Those old enough to remember film cameras know that a film camera worked by exposing film (photosensitive chemical) to light or a scene.  The aperture and shutter speed controlled the amount of light allowed to expose the film.  It was a chemical and mechanical process not requiring electrical power of any sort.  In today’s world of digital, it’s hard to imagine a camera without batteries.  Many of the basic photography concepts have remained the same in today’s digital world, but much has changed with digital cameras.

Digital Cameras
Instead of film, digital cameras are equipped with two critical devices, an image sensor and a chip/processor.  There are different types of image sensors such as CCD, CMOS or foveon.  The most common is the CCD which stands for charged-coupled device.  The chip/processor just like the one in your computer is a specialized computer that converts the captured light into digital numbers that represent your image and allows it to be written on a memory card in your camera and then transferred to your computer. 

The Image Sensor
The image sensor is a special solid-state device.  This device is covered with millions of light collecting diodes that electronically detect the brightness of the light.  These diodes or pixels laid across the image sensor represent the number of pixels the camera will shoot and that your photo will have.  When light strikes the sensor each diode/pixel collects a charge that leaves an imprint/picture on the pixel.  This charge in each pixel represents the brightness of that spot in the photo.  The brighter the light the higher the charge in that pixel and the less light the lower the charge.  Along with the brightness a special filtering process allows each pixel to also represent the appropriate color.  After the shutter closes and the exposure is complete the charges in each pixel are measured and converted to a digital number.  The digital number is represented by 1s and 0s which allows your image to then be saved on a memory card.  So in simplest terms the image sensor turns light into an electrical charge that is ultimately represented by digital 1s and 0s.

Controlling the Light
Just as with a conventional camera the lens controls the amount of light that reaches the sensor or CCD.  The amount of light is controlled through the aperture and shutter speed.  Aperture is how large the opening is that allows the light to strike the image sensor and shutter speed is the length of time that light is allowed to pass through the aperture.  Both the aperture and the shutter speed can be controlled by you, but can also be controlled automatically by the camera.  These two features work together to allow the proper amount of light to reach the sensor for an accurately exposed image, also stated as an accurate exposure of the sensor.

The Processor
The chip or processor in your camera is much like the processor in your computer.  The difference is it is designed and programmed to do very specific tasks. Those tasks are related to the processing of your image on your camera and includes the converting of the electrical charges to digital 1s and 0s.  In many ways you can think of your camera as a small computer.  The small LCD display is the computer screen and instead of a keyboard and mouse you have a menu system, dials and buttons. 

Familiarizing yourself with some of these basics will provide a foundation as you continue your understanding of digital photography,

ProPix Photography
The Sports Photographers