This year, I became the Staff Photographer for The Central Trend. Throughout the past eight months, I’ve had to figure out the best ways to get the most incredible photos. While I still think I have a lot to learn, here are four of my tips on how to become the best sports photographer you can be.
Find a camera setting that you love
For all of my photo galleries on the website right now, I used the settings that came with the camera. While it still looks nice, I’ve begun to notice how unnatural it looks. It seems to give all of my photos a little bit of green or yellow tint. Now that I’ve been playing around in settings a little, my photos are starting to look more natural. I’m now excited to see what my next photo gallery will look like now that I have settings that I prefer.
Know the rules of your sport
Before becoming a photographer, I still attended many of our school sporting events, but never really knew the rules. I enjoyed hanging out with my friends and watching, but I didn’t actually understand it. When I didn’t know the rules, it was still easy enough to take photos, but it was hard to know what the players were doing and where they were planning on going. Without knowing the rules, it’s difficult to know what’s going to happen next. Now that I know more rules, it’s easier for me to get a good shot of the photos.
Be paying attention all the time
The sports that I take photos of most often are football, basketball, and soccer. These three sports are incredibly fast-paced, so I tend to miss a lot of the more exciting moments. I’ve undoubtedly missed some magnificent moments in the games because I haven’t been paying enough attention. While my photo galleries still turn out well without action shots, it’s much more exciting with a variety of shots.
Become an extrovert
While action shots are great to have, they can get boring if there are too many. It’s nice when you have photos of the actual team together. At the beginning of taking photos, I was terrified of going up to the players to ask them if I could take photos of them. While you shouldn’t be distracting them, it’s always sweet to get photos of teammates together. As long as they’re not busy, going up to them to ask for a photo is a great way to get the perfect photo. Teammates are an important part of sports, so it’s important to show off their relationships in the photos.
Over the past year, I have learned so much about taking photos, whether it’s getting the perfect action shot or finding the perfect setting in my camera. I’m hopeful to continue photography as a class next year, but also starting a mini photography business. I’ve had such an amazing time this year learning how to get the perfect photos, and I wish everyone luck on their journey of photography.
