|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Action Shots
This blog post is about action on the field, not reactions to it.
Three things I think you should strive to have in all your action shots on the field:
- The Ball
- Expression
- The competition
While not every great sports photo will have all three, most will.
Definition of Sport—an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.
I like capturing football players’ expressions. An expression shows the “physical exertion” of players. So the key is to put myself where I can see their faces more often.
When possible, I recommend covering one team. This way, you can show their team’s faces on offense and defense without running up and down the field repeatedly to get in front of them.
I generally try to shoot way downfield in front of the teams and prefer standing in the end zones. If they are far away, I use a longer lens, like a 600mm, and when they are on the goal line, I may switch to my 70-200mm.
Why the endzone? They’re generally running in that direction and trying to cross the goal line. So when you are on the sideline, they may run slightly in your path, but they could also be running to the other sideline.
While my knees get sore from kneeling most of the time, I think you get better “athletic” moments. When you are low, you make the football players look much higher off the ground when they jump than when you stand. We like our star running backs to look like Roman gods flying when necessary. Remember, the purpose of the sport is entertainment. Flying from down low is a lot more exciting than from above, where they look closer to the ground.
Some of the best defense shots happen behind the line of scrimmage. From behind the offense, you can capture the quarterback being sacked. You can also catch the running back. You can see the defense move the ball forward when they force a loss for the other team’s offense.
I recommend renting long glass lenses rather than buying them. A lens between 300mm and 500mm would help for football, and adding 1.4x and 2x converters gets you the longer reach.
Here is the list of gear I use in football
- (2) Nikon D4 Cameras
- 14-24mm ƒ/2.8 Nikkor
- 28-300mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 Nikkor
- Sigma 70-200mm ƒ/2.8
- 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 DG OS HSM | S carried in the Thinktank Glass Taxi™ [not in photo]
- Sigma 1.4 converter
- Nikon SB-900
- Manfrotto 294 Aluminum 4 Section Monopod
- Manfrotto by Bogen Imaging 323 RC2 System Quick Release Adapter w/200PL-14
- ExpoDisc
- Shure FP15/83 Lavalier Wireless System
- RØDE VideoMic Pro
- Zacuto Z-Finder
- AWP Knee Pads – Important to save your knees
- ThinkTank System for lenses using belt and harness
- ThinkTank Memory Card Holder
- ThinkTank Airport Security™ V 2.0 Rolling Camera Bag
- ThinkTank Credential Holder Tall V2.0
One last advantage of shooting from the end zones is BACKGROUNDS. Your background is easier to keep clean and make more impactful.
Have fun shooting this fall.
