Photo tips for football and voleyball players.

[ZenKev]

I have been taking pictures for the past two years, I have been member of the Photo Club for one and I have just been hired as the College photographer for sport and social events.

Now I know how to take good pictures, but I want to make sure I do a good job. I would like to know some important things not to forget and ways of taking really good pictures. I will be using a Canon Digital Rebel Xti owned by the school and I will be taking player pictures in 2 days. The background is a kind of a blue plastic cardboard.

Also, all good photographers say I have to interact with the people I'm taking pictures of. I don't want to be the annoying kind of guy who says to smile a little more but what are some things I could say?

Anyway, thanks.

- Kev

 

[tsaraleksi]

Are you doing headshots or game photos?

 

[manaheim]

Tip #1 for volleyball players trying to take pictures: Don't use your camera to spike the ball.

Cameras are very expensive and the impact to the lens or body in a spike can cause significant damage, or at the very least rather significant camera shake causing blur.

Try to hold the camera with the other hand and take the shot that way.

sorry, I'm tired.

Blue plastic card? Seriously? Yuck. That's going to only get you so far. Have you considered asking if you could take the pics of people on the field or something? Something more appropriate, or at least more visually appealing?

As far as not looking annoying, search the forums for making people smile, there was a good thread about that a little while back. It boiled down to making all sorts of random comments to your subject that made them laugh naturally. More to it than that though, definitely take the time to search for the thread.

 

[ZenKev]

Are you doing headshots or game photos?

I will be doing both but right now I'm asking for headshots.


Thanks mamaheim. This is the thread you are referring to?

http://thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=136273&highlight=Smile

 

[manaheim]

^^^ ya, that's the one.

 

[Overread]

what lenses are you using?
If you get out on to the field with a wide aperture lens you could get some good portrats shots of the players with the field blurring behind them - least would be better than the bluecard!

 

[tsaraleksi]

When you are doing these type of shots, it's not about your creativity or interaction with the subject. It's about having consistent images. You want the photography to disappear-- no one should be looking at these images and commenting on what good photography they are. You want to have everyone fit in the frame the same, and you want to make sure you have to do as little post-process cropping as possible, because that will just add to your work load. If the day is very bright (and you are outside) then fill flash is in order to make sure there are not strong shadows across people's faces, because you want even illumination. The ideal day is a cloudy one where the light is diffuse and soft.

Something like this is what you should be aiming for.

 

[ZenKev]

Okay, thanks. Good picture by the way.

About the background, there is a good chance I will have to take the pictures with the blue plastic cardboard since the school logo is on it. Is there a setting I should be careful with?

 

[Overread]

if thier logo is in the background then there is a good chance that they want it readable and sharp in the shot - so you would look to a slightly smaller aperture and have subjects close to the background so as to get the background infocus