Sports photographers develop a talent for looking both through the viewfinder and at the unfolding action. In basketball, there are 12 other people on the court besides the one who has the ball. In baseball, there can be as many as 13 players on the field, everyone primed for action and maneuvering plays. This article intends to give you ideas on how to deal with sports photography.
The Bench or Dugout
Often, the best and worst moments of a sporting event occur not in the arena but in the dugouts or benches. Be quick to record the reactions of teammates and coaches to great plays and disastrous flubs by their team or the opposing team. Those high-fives or screams of anguish in the benches are just as effective in capturing the memory of a great play as the play itself.
The Bleachers
It’s not just about scanning the gallery for pretty faces. You should occasionally point your camera away from the arena to capture the jubilation and the belligerence in the stands. Years from now, when you’re perusing your album, or back in the editorial room when you are reviewing your shots, you will find “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” just as effectively imprinted on the faces of spectators as in your picture of the winning shot itself.
Eye on Your Gear
Don’t be so engrossed on the action in the arena or on the cheering and jeering in the gallery that you lose sight of your bag or equipment, especially if you’re shooting from the stands and not from a special press section.
Watch your gear, too, when you find yourself in the middle of a celebration fans high-flying one another or players tossing their coach in the air after a championship game. There’ll be bodies and other cameras banging your gear, and champagne dousing everyone within spraying reach.
Play By the Rules
Being a photographer at a sporting event makes you the fourth party inside the ring or court, after the two opposing players and the referee. (Coaches and judges are usually not allowed within the area.) Being in the play zone means you must abide by the rules of the game for fourth parties: do not distract the players, do not disturb the play, remain invisible at all times.
So turn off your camera’s and cell phone’s audible signals, put away your flash and keep your camera at its quietest even if you have to turn off auto focusing and stay out of the way.
When the action moves to the green, photographers are prohibited from positioning themselves along the same axis as the line of putt, even if they are a hundred feet away, as they will be in the direct field of vision of the player who is reading the green or putting. In these instances, photographers are required to stay around 45 degrees away from the line.
