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If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough.
Truer words have never been spoken than Robert Capa's famous quote regarding photography, and it holds true today when shooting your favorite Lions, Tigers, Bears or even the Blue Jays.
Although there's a limit to how close you can get in most sports events, the next best option is to bring the event close to you. A telephoto or zoom lens brings in the action while you're safely on the sidelines or in the stands.
Whether shooting a running back for the Buffalo Bills or your sons tyke football game there are a couple things you can do to make great action photos.
Let the auto focus do the work. Today's auto focus cameras are generally much faster than most professional photographers and most pro sport shooters are leaving their cameras on AF much of the time. Shooting on AF allows you to concentrate more on the image content while the camera does the focus work.
Use the sun to your advantage. If you're at an outdoor event and can stand on either side of the field why not walk to the side where the sun is behind you and shining on the players. It gives the photo more contrast, helps the auto focus work faster, allows slower ISO settings for finer grain or digital detail and cuts down on any flare you might get from shooting into the sun.
Bring you own sun. If you're shooting hockey or basketball indoors use an extra flash instead of the available light in the rink or gym. When I shoot the NHL or NBA I use the strobes in the arena. For pro games they're mounted in the ceiling and you fire them with a remote. You can see them go off when watching NBA or NHL on TV.
For house league and minor sports pop a flash on camera and try to shoot over the glass. You could set the ISO of your camera to a higher number such as ISO 800 but you're giving up a lot of colour quality so using a flash is better.
For most house league or kids' sports no one seems to mind the flash going off but don't use it at a gymnastics event or dance competition.
Use a longer lens. If you want to bring the action in close you need a long telephoto like the type you see on the sidelines of a NFL or pro baseball game. I regularly use a 300mm lens (6 times closer), a 400mm lens (8 times ), and a 600mm lens (12 times). These same lenses are great at house league football games and other youth sports. You could crop the picture later instead, but it doesn't provide the same quality and look as a telephoto lens.
Use the proper ISO (film speed) for the conditions. The lower the film speed, the greater the detail and the better the colours. So use a low speed when you can. Some events however are just too dark for the lower speed films and you're forced to use a higher speed. When shooting outdoors I try to use ISO 200 first. If the sun is out and behind me this will give me a shooting speed of 1/1600th of a second at F4. As the light level lowers I switch to a higher speed until I get to ISO 3200. I rarely go above 3200 because the detail isn't there. Even when shooting pro hockey I use ISO 800 but remember this is a bright rink..
Use the right shutter speed. In most cases you want to stop the action as best you can. For outdoor shots of football, baseball or field hockey try to use a shutter speed of 1/800th second or faster. For faster sports like skiing, cycling or auto racing I use 1/2000 if I can. On some cameras you can use speeds as high as 1/8000 second but it's overkill. There's no practical reason to go higher than 1/2000th and in most cases I try to use a shutter speed around 1/1200 or 1/1600. If it's bright enough to go higher then I'll choose a lower ISO setting.
Forget about depth of field because it wouldn't work in sports. You need to get the subject in focus and not worry about depth of field, it isn't going to save a soft picture anyway.
Will these tips make you a great sports photographer overnight? Probably not, but with enough practice you should be able to get a nice photo of your child's touchdown or game winning goal.
To watch a video on tips for shooting soccer go to....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZiXg7TZR_Y&feature=channel_page
To watch a video on tips for shooting hockey go to.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDMcQFD3PbU&feature=channel_page