Sports Photography Tips

Practice your focusing technique: Even with auto focus, getting sharp images of fast moving sports subjects takes practice and auto focus is not infallible. The best way to increase your chances is to practice, whether you are manually focusing—and yes, sports pros still do use manual focus under certain situations—or relying on the camera’s inbuilt auto focusing capabilities. And one of the best ways of photographing fast moving subjects is to shoot vehicles in everyday traffic. Set yourself up where you can photograph cars coming down a road towards you; pan as they go by; and even shoot as they move away from you. It’s all good practice. You might get some strange looks but you’ll quickly find out how good you—or your camera’s auto focus—are.

Tripods and monopods: Camera movement is one of the main contributors to ruined images. And while most photographers can hand hold cameras fairly well, there’s a reason that most pros who shoot sports use a monopod—to ensure consistent results they need to keep that camera steady, especially if using longer lenses. If you need mobility, a good monopod is an excellent tool. On the other hand, if you are going to be in the one spot for a long time—such as when photographing a surfing event—a sturdy tripod is a good thing to have.

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