Sports Photography Tips - 1 year the wiser?

I believe I can fly. F2.8; 1/500; ISO2200.

Here's a follow up, one and a half years after writing this.

I still love going to my kids' sports events - both to see them grow in the sports they love, as well as for me to use the hobby I love to some good use!

1.Equipment

I armed myself with my standard lens 24-70 f2.8 and my "sports" lens 80-200 f2.8; and of course shot with my beloved D600.

With basketball, at least in the arena I was shooting, it was small, and I was able to get up close, so I shot manly with the 24-70. A thing to note is that, because basketball is a very quick game,having a zoom is very useful - if not essential - to getting the shot. Especially if you are like me, with only 1 body to use.

Shooting indoors can be tricky. Hard to hit 1/500 if there isn't enough light. So having a f2.8 (or faster?) lens is helpful. But it is more expensive. The key is really to use whatever lenses you have.






2.Shooting Mode
To freeze the action, you'll need to shoot at at least 1/500 or  faster. So I use aperture mode (biggest aperture possible at F2.8); allow a highest ISO (better noisy sharp picture, than clean blur one) plus a minimum shutter speed at 1/500.

I also used with Auto-Focus (Continuous) or AI-Servo in Canon speak, so that the camera continues to track the subject, and changes the focus accordingly. Not 100%, but its pretty good - maybe 80% it is able to track the subject. The problem with the D600 is the small focus area this has. But we work with the "limitations" we have.

Instead of the normal single shot I take, I take multiple - which will give me a better chance of catching the "moment".

3.Know the sport and Anticipate
To shoot sports, you need to know about the sport (fortunately, knowing how to play it is completely optional). You'll need to know how fast the game is, where your subject (my son) will be; what position he plays, what kind of plays he likes to make - where the action will be.

My son is a scorer (shooting guard I think), always attacking the basket. So I plonked myself just under the basket at where I know he'll be shooting.

In the picture above, my son stole the ball from the opponent, dribbled quickly towards the basket - I knew that he'd either lay-up or try a short jumper - so I'm tracking him with my camera, and shooting - until he takes the shot, then you get your shot. 

4.Capture the moment
I love this picture because it captures that moment - the moment when he just release the shot; and since its a steal, everyone is chasing him, and nicely facing the camera.

I converted the picture to black and white - because color would just be too fussy, distracting. With black and white, you focus on shadows and shapes - and in this case, my son is enveloped by the indoor lights; and the shadows of the players chasing him cast on the court.



There are no short cuts to any form of photography. No amount of reading books/forums/internet can replicate just going out there to shoot, and learning from experience. It's also not about the equipment. Just keep shooting!

Rookie Mistake! Sigh.

I almost always shoot in Aperture Mode. Sometimes Manual for landscapes.

There was a dance at church earlier that day, and decided that with the low light, I wanted to capture the movement "frozen" - and so switched to Shutter Priority - setting 1/500s, and letting the camera pick ISO and Aperture size.

And of course, I forgot to switch it back (you know where this is heading....).
So when I had a hot date with my wife at night, I had to shoot what I eat (wife groans...) and shot this appetizer (warm brie with grilled vegetables - which was quite nice). I noticed on the screen it looking a little dark, but didn't think too much, shot a few, then ate.

Then when I processed the picture - I noticed that this was shot at aperture f2.8 (which is right); ISO 25,600 (erh....); and shutter speed 1/500s! Doh! Forgot to switch back, forgot to check - rookie mistake!

Oh well, lesson learned. Always double check your settings, before you shoot.
And yes, keep shooting!

Late to the Instagram game?

Yes I'm late to the game.

I used to have an iPhone 3GS, and loved taking pictures with it - back in 2009.
I shot my family's trip to UK with it, and had a real hoot tooling around all the different apps.
Then it got pickpocketed in 2010, and thus ended my short mobile photography.

I finally got another iPhone earlier this year, but the camera as much as I thought I would, as I still carried my DSLR everywhere!


 

 Well, last weekend, I went on a Minimoon (short cheap trip, no kids!) with my gorgeous wife to Bali. My inlaws were zipping into town, and whilst seated in the plane, I saw them disembark from the plane next to us (their flight was delayed, we missed them), and walking on the tarmac - oh no! Camera in the overhead compartment, and so whip out the iPhone - snap - and upload immediately?!!! wow.









 Whilst lounging around the villa, I tried out various apps, hipstamatic (which I loved from before), camera + (which I remember was highly acclaimed!), iphone's own camera, and of course instagram.

I did find that the instagram app, was the easiest to use - in terms of adding filters - I really didn't want the filters to be the gimmick of the pictures, and spend too much time combing various apps to get the "effect" - bit too gimmicky.

There's also seem to be whole communities around Instagram. Although I did notice that people used #hashtags, which I had to google and see what its about.

The interesting thing about Instangramming/Mobile photography is, its quick, easy to use, and really quick to process/upload if you want to feed into your social media (facebook). 

The square format is interesting - and I did find myself having to compose and think photographically differently! Somehow, I suddenly felt freer to take the frivolous - working not on the technical aspects of the picture, but how to frame it, compose the picture. 

 The rules of photography still applies, rule of thirds, leading lines etc, but just framing a picture in a square is different, its fun, its quirky. 

And the good thing is, its fast, non-threatening and discrete. Just whip up the camera, snap, and you can always process it discreetly a few minutes later. 

, and during one of the days, we just nua (did lots of nothing, wife read) in the villa, where I toyed with the iPhone and checked out mobile photography, trying out various apps!

 To be honest, after reviewing the pictures in the computer, the quality of an Instagram and a DSLR picture is vastly different. But they serve a whole different purpose altogether.

It is an art form, that is completely different. And that's the best thing about Photography - you are not bound by the equipment you have, and after all, the best camera you have is the one you have on you - and most of us always carry our phones with us - so that's no excuse!

So keep shooting, with whatever you have.
See you on Instagram! (look me up @ soosing)

Patience, Perseverance and Perth

In my recent trip to Margaret River in Perth, I knew that I had to go shoot something new, different, and hopefully interesting/good. And if you are shooting any landscapes, you'd know that the best time to shoot is sunrise or sunset.
Not quite willing to wake up at 5am, I'd settle for sunsets, and with just 3 days in Margaret River, I'd basically 3 chances of trying to shoot.

1st day, I dragged my family to Surfer's Point @ Cowaramup Bay - which is the closest beach to where we stayed. The sunset was gorgeous, I snapped, and snapped, and sadly, after over 1 hour, nothing I shot worth anything. The only picture I liked was this of my family, the gorgeous golden light makes everyone look good. But no landscape - the spot was just a plain beach, kinda a cape like pointy beach, with no features. Sigh.

Day 2, we went to Yallingup Bay, there were lots of rock formations, so I thot it'll make great long exposures. Well, the problem was the sun was setting on the beach side, and casting a lot of shadows on the beach side. The numerous pictures I took, were pathetic. I kept moving, shooting, and trying. Finally, whilst my boys were just exploring the rocks, I saw my sons just were the Sun was, and told my oldest to put out his hands, moved to frame the setting sun behind him, and shot. Never tried it before, after my pathetic attempts, I had nothing to lose. At the end of the shoot, I went back quite disappointed. 2 days wasted.

Well, upon post processing, I did find that whilst the landscape shots were bad, this particular shot came out more interesting than I'd thought. My sons in the picture made the difference, in an otherwise pretty boring shot.

Day and last day, after dropping the gals off to shop, I dragged my sons to yet another beach spot -
Gnarabup Beach - with promises of more places to climb/explore! This was my last chance to try and shoot something special. I found a small jetty/pier - and thought perfect for that long exposure. 

But people kept using the pier, to hang around. What interested me, was then 3 boys who was oblivious to me, and playing off the jetty. I took lots of shots of them, whilst waiting for the pier to be empty of people - and this, to me, was the most interesting. I love how daring and carefree they were.

Well, the pier never cleared, so I wandered off to the beach. Time ticked, and I could never get that illusive special landscape I craved for. Time ticked on, and this was perhaps the best of the lot. Not a particular fantastic shot, shot with my favorite ND400 (9 stop) filter.

 Anyway, I did realize that, good landscape photographers, work hard to get the shot. I strolled up to a spot, and expected to shoot a fantastic shot - and it just doesn't work that way. Good landscape photographers would research where to shoot, what time to shoot, scout around, explore - getting that shot is the culmination of the hardwork - it really takes patience (especially if the photographer has a family in tow), and perseverance to keep trying.

My best photo (in my opinion) for the trip was probably the 2nd picture above with my sons, a shot by accident rather than intent.

And I will get that illusive magical landscape one day.

Entering Year 3.

I'm entering into the 3rd year of my journey into photography. Just penning my thoughts about that journey down, on this romantic Valentines day.

Year 1
In my 1st year, it was all about the equipment - Nikon or Canon (no, it doesn't really matter), zoom or prime lenses (I got both), UV filters or not (I decided to go without), which tripod - and how to use them.

I consumed a lot of information on the web, magazines, books - about how to use the camera, the tools.I experimented with various things like HDR, "Brenizar" method, Light painting, "Time-Slice", ND filters etc. But the best tool I learnt was using Lightroom, and besides ND filters (which I still love using), I've pretty much ditched using them for the sake of using them.


Year 2
I came across the website Pixoto, and had a lot of fun uploading my pictures, and seeing how they fared against others. I loved the almost instant "feedback", and gave me lots of examples of great work, ideas on how to get great shots. It gives out a lot of "awards" too, from best (from top 20% to top 10) of the day/week/month/year - and out of sheer vanity, I linked Pixoto to my facebook account. Getting good feedback, and likes, is addictive.


I also got to shoot 2 weddings, and 1 "unofficial" portrait session - they were stressful, but great fun and learning opportunities.I finally took the plunge and got my full frame camera, then had my computer crash and lost the last 5 months worth of photographs in 2012. I also ran a workshop for some photo enthusiast from my church, which I think went alright.

And I've really learned how to handle my own camera, esp when I struggled during the 1st weeding shoot - I got down and tried to learn everything about the camera, so that I know exactly what settings to use, for what purposes.

Year 3
As I enter the 3rd year, I've realized that I've come a long way since I started. Ironically, as I have improved technically, my own "standards" have raised, and not so easy for me to be "impressed" by my own photography. I seem to get less "wow" shots, and sometimes, I shoot less - as I realize that I won't be able to get a good shot.

I now know that I have absolutely no interest in macro photography, photos of flowers/nature stuff, using photoshop (so far), funny filters (which I did when I shot with iphone) and gimmicky photography.

I do like a great cityscape/landscape, and shooting what I eat, and would love to hunt for the holy grail of mastering light - both natural, as well as learning how to master the use of the flash. And I've found myself drawn to - is photo journalism. I love shooting events as they unfold, and if in "another life", I'd love to be a conflict photographer, shoot for a newspaper covering events. I love shooting people, I want pictures that show emotion, that draws you into the picture and forces an emotion out of you.

Back to equipment, I love the tools I have now. I am absolutely loving the D600 camera (ISO, dynamic range, and functionality of it). My 24-70 lens is a bit stiff, suffering the wear and tear & prob needs a bit of repair - but it is the perfect match. I also love the 50 f1.4 prime, and whip out the 80-200 when I need the distance or shooting sports. And it is much less about getting equipment now. I've been flirting with getting a nice Carl Zeiss 21mm lens for wide angle landscape, but that's a $2k lens which can wait.

It's been a wonderful journey - I am much more focused now. I hope my desire to learn doesn't stop, as a result. And I hope that I can be using my "hobby" not just to "gain glory for myself" but in more useful/beneficial ways of helping others. Let's see.