Sports Action Photos: The thrill of victory...and the agony of defeat!
I have always felt that some of the greatest sports photos of our time were not necessarily the stop action NFL leaping grabs you see in Sports Illustrated (though they are awesome). I personally like the close up, gritty photos that show the faces of winners and losers. I think maybe ABC's Wide World of Sports said it best in their classic theme line, "The thrill of victory...and the agony of defeat!"
The Saturday morning soccer pitches and T-ball fields across America offer drama; maybe of a different sort, but drama nonetheless. Below are a few photos I have chosen from recent trips to those hallowed fields of sport — T-ball and soccer.
Sometimes the best photos from children's sports are actually kind of funny. Below, this young T-Ball player totally obliterated the "T" while missing the ball - leaving the sphere perfectly suspended in air. I love this child's expression.
The action on the soccer pitch in the photo below is great stuff, but I love the facial expression on the kid in gray. He's probably thinking, "Whooa . . . that ball is coming fast."
The photo below tells a story: the life of a first base coach (in this case a parent snagged for Saturday morning duty). Do you suppose this coach is advising his player on a grand-strategy for stealing second base or is it a grain of sand that got in the runner's eye? Either way, this is the stuff of real drama on the diamond.
You think the player below adjusting his hat, but not really. Check out those stealy eyes. Naw! He's actually sending the catcher a secret signal that the coach is offering free ice cream to the whole team after the game.
Here are some quick tips for your Saturday morning trips to the world of kids-league-sports:
Tip 1: Set your camera's quality level to the highest possible resolution (super-fine or something similar)
Tip 2: Set your camera's ISO to 400 (it will allow you to shoot at a faster shutter speed)
Tip 3: Set your camera's shutter speed (Time-Value) at 500 of a second or faster
Tip 4: Use your flash (even in the morning sun) - it's probably a setting called "Daylight-Fill Mode" or something similar
Tip 5: Use your camera's telephoto zoom function to "zoom-in" on the action
Tip 6: Take lots of pictures (for action photos your "yield" will be lower; maybe even as low as 20% really good photos)
Tip 7: At home, online, or a photo-store digital-kiosk like MotoPhoto in Tyler, crop-in on your photos to emphasize your young player on the soccer pitch.
Tip 8: Take advantage of your sports-action photos and make photo-gifts. Order one on a coffee mug for Dad. Make a photo tie for grandpa. Put one on a mouse-pad for your own office. At MotoPhoto in Tyler we have all of these gifts and many more available at great prices.
Until next time, live well and take lots of pictures!
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