Sports photography

[mortallis288]

i have a few questions regarding sports photography.
1. Is it wrong to go to rec baseball games/basketball games to shoot? I am gonna start with my cousins but i was hoping to go to more.
2.I use a film SLR, but i was thinking about trying to sell photos of the parents kids to them would i need to try to get a cd made of photos then burn cds and show them?
3. i have a quntaray 70-300 lens would this be decent to use for little league sports games?

Thanks

 

[JIP]

1. I'm not sure I understand this question unless you think you need to ask permission from the place where you are shooting and sometimes this is the case and if you are selling photos you might need to give them a cut

2. I think it is up to you the format you choose to present to the parents. Just remember if you give them a CD just to show them samples they can just go out and et them printed themselves. An ideal way to do this, and I worked for someone who did this, is do it digitally and go to big tournaments and have a computer and printer there and be able to show them the photos. Now I'm sure this is bigger than you wanted to go but an idea might be to shoot at a tournament and got to some one hour place get the film printed and be able to show them something after the game is over. Now one problem with this is that it assumes a little risk on your part by having to pay for prints but I guess nothing ventured nothing gained right?.

3. This depends on your skill and what kind of cameras the parents have. Nowadays it is no surprise to see someone have a 70-200 2.8 VR lens just to shoot their kids little league games but if you are producing a better image than them that's what matters.

 

[Alex_B]

1. nothing wrong to go shooting there, if the organiser or owner of the place does not forbid you to.

2. i think CDs with full resoloutiomn images are not a god idea. also handing a CD around is not very useful in terms of advertising. I know how lazy i am myself when i get a CD .. however, if I get leaflet or something printed, i usually look at it

3. what is the max aperture / min f/stop?

you will need a fast lens for sports .. or very fast/sensitive film

 

[usayit]

1. Is it wrong to go to rec baseball games/basketball games to shoot? I am gonna start with my cousins but i was hoping to go to more.

Only if you have permission.

2.I use a film SLR, but i was thinking about trying to sell photos of the parents kids. Would I need to try to get a cd made of photos then burn cds and show them?

Another option to consider... Business card with contact information. If they are interested, they will contact you and you send them a CD of samples. They can contact you for orders. Its more business like, not all parents can view CDs or want to, its cheap way to get known, and its easy.

3. i have a quntaray 70-300 lens would this be decent to use for little league sports games?

Perhaps.. but sports photography is pretty demanding on equipment. Why don't you try shooting a sports event with your current equipment (not for the intention of selling photographs) and see if your equipment meets your needs. At the very least, you will know where your next investment should be placed.

 

[RacePhoto]

You can probably shoot all you want. If it's private property the owner can tell you to stop. If it's public, you have no restrictions on shooting. The big complication comes in when you do something with those pictures like sell them, not when you take them.

Most of the time, parents are happy to have pictures of their kids and it shouldn't be a problem. Just warning you that there are some potential pitfalls.

You might ask if the league has an "official" photographer? Sometimes they have exclusive rights to sell photos. Or on a good day, maybe that could be you? :hail: It doesn't stop spectators or parents or friends from taking pictures, it restricts other professional photographers from selling photos.


If you are taking pictures of your cousin, for yourself or your cousin, you shouldn't have any problems. It's when the marketing comes in that everything gets complicated.

Have you considered a web page with the pictures on it. Reduced size, watermarked of course. Not as expensive as CDs. There are multiple free web pages, where you could host a gallery. Hand out business cards with the website on it. You can find a very good site for around $100 a year. How many photo CDs is that?

Use the equipment you have and see how you do. You don't have to have a $2000 lens to make good pictures and see if there's a market. Take the photos first, and if you can make some money, invest in better equipment as you make progress.

You might think about a digital camera to cut your expenses for the long run, once you get going.

Sorry to say, but for sports, digital is better for a number of reasons. Cost is a big one, if you are going to shoot high volumes of pictures. You can expect 1 out of 3 pictures to be throw aways, if you are shooting action.

Another third are probably going to be, not quite right, because you aren't shooting a sitting subject with a choice of lighting and controlling placement of all the content.

If potential customers have to wade through out of focus or blurred actions shots, looking for a good one, they will get bored fast. Only display the best images. It makes you look better and holds their attention.

 

[mortallis288]

it is usually a public park/school. thanks for all the help. i do plan on getting a D50 within the next couple months but right now i just wanna try it out. i was plan on going friday night but then something came up and i couldn't. supposly there are some dslr there from the parents but not all the parents have them so i dunno. but if they get good i might try the laptop thing. another question how do you go about printing digitals? would a nice photo printer be better in the long run or use a mom and pop printing store?

 

[Imagee]

There should not be a problem practicing shooting at the games, but most leagues have contracts with someone who has exclusive rights to sell photos. I know that for a fact since I worked for such a company for 10 years. It might be a good idea for you to check into working for a sport photography company for a year or 2 to learn the ropes. It's not as simple as it sounds.

 

[mortallis288]

right i was wondering more of the shooting little kids part

 

[Jeremy Z]

Yes, try it with your current equipment. Start with ISO 400 film, the Fuji 800 color print film is also very good.

When you have the film developed, also have it scanned to CD. Upload small versions of those pix (too small to print, such as about 500 pixels wide) to the web.

I am going to try something similar to this local to me. Not little league type stuff yet, but snowboarding & skiiing! I sent a nice email offering my local ski place a cut and asked their permission. They couldn't be bothered to even reply. So I'm just going to go and do it, and see if they throw me out, hehehe.

FYI, the Quantaray lenses are made by Sigma, and are pretty good, if you can overlook the hokey green print they put on them. I'm pretty sure the lens is an f/4 - 5.6, so do use fast film.

 

[JD in Socal]

right i was wondering more of the shooting little kids part

I think everyone is so focused on the photography aspect of the question that this has been missed.

You can't just go to a little league game and start shooting pictures of little boys (or girls) you don't know, especially if you are male. As a dad of 2 boys and an amateur photog, I don't even take pictures of the other kids in my son's games unless: a) I know the parents well (family friends) or; b) have been requested (by the parents) to take pictures of their son/daughter.

Show up at a game of little kids where no one knows you and start taking pictures and you will likely be having an up-close-and-personal chat with a dad in short order.

Go to a high-school age (and older) game, and you will likely be fine even if you don't know anyone. Or, go shoot pics of a friend or relative's kids at a their games.

If you get to the point of commercially shooting the games, the coaches and parents should know ahead of time who you are and what you are doing.

Your question is a good one, and you are smart to consider these issues that are bigger than just the quality of the shot.

JD

 

[mortallis288]

i am going to start with my cousins at their baseball game and mabye my aunt and uncle will show the other parents some shots of them and then mabye they will want me to do some of their kids. thanks for all the help

 

[JD in Socal]

That sounds like a good plan.

If you get some good shots and the other parents see them, you will have lots of people asking for pics.

JD

 

[mortallis288]

Thanks! ill post some once baseball/softball season starts

 

[mimartin]

i am going to start with my cousins at their baseball game and mabye my aunt and uncle will show the other parents some shots of them and then mabye they will want me to do some of their kids. thanks for all the help

I do sports photography. I started by shooting pictures of my son and the demand from friends (and eventually strangers) caused me to open my business. All it takes is for one person to invite me to an event and before I leave, my husband is handing out cards and I have at least five kids instead of one that I'm taking pictures of.

You should post the pictures on a website. I use shutterfly. I upload the pictures and the parents look at them and buy them offline. Smugmug is another good one (I think they're cheaper too). They take care of the money, printing, and shipping. They send you a check once a month. It's great!!! Good luck!