Soccer Photography

[LL III]

I enjoy sports photography and am always looking for advice. Please critique and educate.

f-stop F/3.5
Exposure 1/2000
ISO 200
Focal Length 200 mm
No Flash

[phil24]

The fast shutter speed did a great job of freezing the action, even the ball is stopped, or appears to be.

As a long time soccer coach the first question I would ask is what are the players looking at if not the ball? Whatever it is that has there attention should be the focus of the shot, or they should be running laps until they remember that the key item in the match is the ball.

The shot leaves me wondering what is the focal point of the shot? If you are trying to show the action maybe a slower shutter speed to allow some blur would give the sense of motion.

I have found being on the sideline when my kids were playing, my shots were all like this, yet when I was at games where I knew none of the players, or worried about the ones I was coaching against, I was more creative with getting a shot that showed the speed and beauty of the game.

Keep shooting and supporting the kids.

[Lensmeister]

Originally Posted by LL III

I enjoy sports photography and am always looking for advice. Please critique and educate.

f-stop F/3.5
Exposure 1/2000
ISO 200
Focal Length 200 mm
No Flash

Hi,

I have been shooting Football since the early 1990s. Starting out with film cameras and now on to Digital. The hight of my 'career' being featured in magazines, books and even a cup final programme produced by the England FA at Wembley stadium.

I like your shot is's composed well and has caught action too.

Depending on what camers you are using I always do the following:

Camera in Av Mode always.
Low aperture like 2.8 or 3.5 helps.
Make sure your ISO is relatively fast according the light you have available. In Summer you will get away with 100 but in darkest December when it's raining andovercast you'll need 1600 ISO to get shot.
Your shutter must always be as fast as possible (remember a 200mm lens will always require a 1/200 minimum shutter).
Monopod. Always a good idea. A big lens will make your arms ache after a while so a good sturdy support will be good to help you. Tripods are good for video but lousy for moving about as a photographer.
Composition: forget it LOL. All joking aside it's hard to think of composition as two two people are hurtling towards you. Shoot as best you can and then use crop to compose better if you can when you get home.

Positioning: It's good to try and get the best action in one position. But having watched a game where there were five goals all at the opposite end of the pitch to me this is harder than it looks On the half way line will get you the best action and battle. In line with the six yard box will get you a good view of goalmouth action so it will depend on what you are after.

NEVER use flash. It can put players off and actually have you removed from pitchside.

Then there is the question of insurance.

In the UK (England) you will NEED public liability insurance and licences to photograph at anything like premiership, Championship or league football. Even the Conference requires a level of liability up to about £2,000,000 now. Below this level you can shoot comfortably from the stands and still get good shots.

Kids football is a different ball game (pardon the pun) In the UK you will need to have the permission from ALL the players in the squads taking part. AND be CRB checked.

Good luck with it all. I love shooting football it can be the best photography, and it can be the most annoying. Missing that winning goal shot or that great penalty save. But you'll get some good shots

[Hill Country Hack]

+1 to lensmeister. I also use center point focus in AI Serve (Canon term) for continuous focussing. I also use "back button focus". I'll also do some panning shots along the way. Also, as Lensmeiter states, don't worry too much about composition, shoot a little looser and crop in PP. Oh, and per Jim Bryant...crop and then crop tighter.

[LL III]

Lensmiester,

I enjoy shooting soccer (Football). My son has played since he was very young. Enjoying photography, it was a natural transition. I’ve noticed that there are a lot of missed photos during the coarse of the game. I end up purging a fair number.

Anything I can do to get the number of “keepers” up would be helpful. Your suggestions are helpful. Many I’ve employed through trial and error.

Positioning on the field is always a question. I’m a keepers father, so I’m usually posted near the 18. Midfield would provide greater opportunities, though my son creates a bias. I’ve included a pic, feel free to critique.

Soccer is a great game, providing a great deal of action. Thank you for your comments!

[Hill Country Hack]

To get more keepers. Practice, practice and practice some more. My keeper rate is climbing. I would say about 20% are keepers, and out of the keepers there may be only one or two that make me smile cause "I done good". As a long time soccer parent and maybe palyer you should have a decent grasp as to anticipate action.

The pro sports photogs take 100s of shots and throw away many. But they also have camera with burst modes to grab many shots in a very short period of time. My fps is slow so I need to anticipate more.

[MaryPetillo]

Thanks for sharing

[ccting]

Hi LL,

I am noob of photography, and I would like to press my view below, in term of lighting.

First, I find side lighting, which is very nice.

Question 1: Which one makes more contrast? Face-background or Uniform -background?
Question 2: Have you ever use rim lighting from the sun together when flash? I believe SB900 has 200m head zoom.
Question 3: Have you ever use flat lighting from the sun, together with darker background to generate photos for socceer..?

In case you don't know me, I am just a noob who never involve in socceer.. but just interested in phtoography.

[Lensmeister]

Originally Posted by ccting

Hi LL,

I am noob of photography, and I would like to press my view below, in term of lighting.

First, I find side lighting, which is very nice.

Question 1: Which one makes more contrast? Face-background or Uniform -background?
Question 2: Have you ever use rim lighting from the sun together when flash? I believe SB900 has 200m head zoom.
Question 3: Have you ever use flat lighting from the sun, together with darker background to generate photos for socceer..?

In case you don't know me, I am just a noob who never involve in socceer.. but just interested in phtoography.

NEVER use flash at ANY sporting event. It will distract the athlete/Player and get you removed from the event itself. Better to crank up the ISO.

Question 1. Depends on the player and kit they are wearing.

Question 2 see above.

Question 3 At any event/match the lighting can vary from Sunshine, overcast, rain, snow, to night time like the image below. This was taken late one evening and I had to crank up the ISO and hope for the best, the player in orange and the ball has a sense of movement.



Hope this helps.