October Newsletter
Greetings from
Porter's Camera Store!

As the high school sports seasons begin, folks start asking, "How do I get good photos of the action? I want good photos, but I don't have a lot of money to spend." You can get good photos without spending a lot. Good sports photography is one part equipment and three parts knowing when to take the photo.

FOOTBALL Although getting the most powerful flash you can afford is a good start, the secret of taking football photos at night on a dimly lit field is waiting for the action to come to you. Have your camera in manual focus, preferably at a pre-set focus distance and wait for the action to come to you. Move up and down the field as you need, but you won't get good shots when the players are in the middle of the field. Waiting on the sidelines for the action to come will enable you to get those important blocking plays as the runner is attempting to run out of grounds to stop the clock. FYI- run quickly if they keep coming, because they won't be worried about you.

BASKETBALL & VOLLEYBALL A basic rule of thumb when shooting these sports without flash is to use the fastest shutter speed possible. This will STOP the action. When a slow shutter speed is used, the resulting photos will be of blurry arms, legs and heads. Timing is everything. Have your camera in manual focus at a pre-set distance. The photographer who anticipates when the ball is tossed, or one who waits that nano-second when the action peaks, will be the one who gets the winning shot. If the officials allow you to use flash, then by all means do. The brief duration of flash will freeze even the quickest motion. Many times, the referees are trying to protect the players so they aren't distracted by nearby flashes You may be able to assure the officials you will only use flash if it does not interfere with the game, such as only doing flash photos from a distance. Using a camera with a faster flash sync shutter speed, such as 1/200th or 1/250th will reduce secondary ghost images. If using a flash is not an option, a lens with a faster aperture would be very beneficial. Using higher speed film will benefit you, but will increase the grain in your photos. Because of the type of lights used in gymnasiums, there will be a color variance when using color film. A digital camera will be able to correct for the lighting color. A film camera will not be able to correct it on the film, but color correction filters may help in some cases. But a color correction filter is usually not practical, since it reduces the amount of light by several f-stops and since various types and brands of lights each require different amounts of filtering. A good processing lab should be able to color correct the final prints to minimize the off-color lighting even without a corrective filter on the camera.

SOCCER & CROSS-COUNTRY Many of the same rules used in photography of football and basketball can be used with these sports. Wait for the action to come to you. In soccer, use a fast shutter speed and try to anticipate the shot. With cross-country, place yourself at a strategic point in the race. Perhaps, where you can see the runners from a distance and you can focus on them (or have a pre-set focus) as they are running towards you. Get a photo of someone who adequately fills the frame. It will be better and less grainy than a small subject that needs to be greatly enlarged to be legible. Choose your location so you can quickly move to a nearby second vantage point to shoot additional pictures.

ESSENTIAL ITEMS FOR GOOD SPORTS
PHOTOS LENSES A fast lens is easier to use for sports photography. While bigger and more expensive, a fast lens makes the viewfinder brighter for easier focusing, allows more light to reach the film so a faster shutter speed can be used and it increases the flash distance range. Usually a good zoom lens for most circumstances would reach out to 300mm focal length. At that range, you have 6 times the magnification of what your eye sees. Tamron's 70-300mm lens is very affordable and includes a free padded lens case. Other lenses, with broader zoom ranges include the Tokina 80-400mm and Sigma 170-500mm.
FLASH The higher the guide number of a flash, the more powerful it is. A flash with a guide number of 100 or more is recommended for most sports photography. A flash which has the ability to go into a manual exposure mode would allow you to set the flash so it will give you the maximum amount of flash every time. This is particularly beneficial when shooting football. Flashes such as the Vivitar 285, the Sunpak 544 or the Metz CL-1 are all good flashes for this purpose. If you have several camera types, the Promaster 5700 flash system would allow you to use the same flash on different camera models. For Canon cameras, the 550EX has a guide number of #180 and the Minolta 5400HS for Maxxum cameras has a guide number of #183. Zoom heads on flashes let you concentrate the light beam, which benefits you by extending your flash range.
FILM For the finest grain and greatest resolution in your photos, ISO 400 is the best. Another option would be to use B&W 400 speed film and "pushing" it up to ISO 800. Or using Kodak T-Max 3200 and shooting it at ISO 800, 1600 or 3200 speed. With each step you "push" your film, you will be able to use a shutter speed one step faster, but your grain will also increase. With some experimentation, you can find the combination that suits your needs.