Keeping up with the Players - Sports Photography
8 August 2008

The Olympics is staring at us in the face and whether you are planning to go and watch the action up close or if you just prefer to go and check out the latest game at a stadium near you, you might be thinking of taking your camera with you to try and capture the action.

Sports photography is not the easiest thing in the world, even for professionals it can be a daunting challenge but like all photography the best way to tackle it is to start doing it. There are a few things that are indispensible if you want to photograph the high stakes players.

You will of course need a camera. A DSLR is helpful because they often have really fast start-up and shutter times which help with sports photography. No point in pressing the shutter and missing the pitch. So you might want to have a DSLR, such as the Canon EOS 1000D Digital SLR or if you are looking for something with more of an edge you could try the Nikon D700 Digital SLR. But if you aren't keen on trying to learn to use a DSLR while taking pictures you could opt for something like the Casio EXILIM Pro EX-F1 Digital Camera which has one of the fastest continuous shooting speed in any camera to date.

When you get a DSLR, you will want to buy a good lens. Often in most sports, the action is moving around and you can never be sure if the players will be close to you or on the other end of the field so you should be lookat at a lens like the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM for action that's happening closer and something similar to the Nikon Nikkor AF 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 D ED VR to get up close to the action as it happens. If you are indoors when you are taking photos, the lights might not be bright enough. You will be shooting at fast shutter speeds to freeze the action and that means the widest possible apertures so you could consider getting a fast zoom lens like the Nikon Nikkor AF 80-200mm f/2.8 D ED.

The other option if you don’t have a fast lens is to buy a good flash. An external flash like the Nikon SB-800 Speedlight Flash is powerful enough but they will work best when the action is relatively close and not on the other end of the field. But of course, you need to be sure that you are allowed flashes, in some sports venues you aren’t allowed to keep popping bright lights.

Take a tripod with you, as it may come in useful in helping you compose shots or better yet a monopod which could help you keep the camera relatively steady but still move and turn to follow the action, the Manfrotto 557B PRO VIDEO MONOPOD can reach eye level, but should be easier to carry around than a normal tripod. When taking many fast shots in continuous shooting mode, a fast memory card is essential so you don't clog up the buffer memory on your camera. If that happens, you often have to wait awhile for it to clear and during that time, you might miss something. If you are using CF cards, something like the Transcend 2GB 266x Compact Flash High Speed Card will help you on your way or if SD cards are more your thing, then try the SanDisk 8GB SDHC Memory Card. It's fast and offers 8 GB of memory which is plenty.

Of course, you are going to need a bag to carry all those things. if you have a ton of things to carry, the camera body and several lenses as well as accessories such as lenses and tripods, then you need a bigger bag like the Lowepro DryZone Rover [34732]. But if you are keeping things light and you're just taking your camera with one lens and some extra batteries or memory cards, something like the Lowepro Nova 170 AW Shoulder Bag [35252] would be enough. Of course you have to think carefully about whether what exactly you are taking, but a good camera bag will protect your equipment from shocks and knocks.

Finally the most important thing about taking sports photography is to enjoy yourself. Taking photographs of sports can be very fun, and with the right equipment you could be well on you're way to becoming a good sports photographer.