Tips for taking spectacular sports pictures
Patuxent Homestead photographers cover scores of high school sporting events during the school year. They capture hundreds of goals and runs, victories and losses, tears of joy and sadness. Photographers Jen Rynda and Brian Krista each picked six of their favorites from baseball, softball, lacrosse and track, and shared a couple of tips for taking great sports shots. (Below)
- River Hill’s Lauren Black stretches to make a catch and get Howard’s Taylor Latimer, right, out at first base during the softball game at River Hill High School in Clarksville on Monday, May 7, 2012. (Jen Rynda/Patuxent Homestead)
- Despite pressure from Century’s Alice Mercer, left, Mae Tarr of Notre Dame Prep, center, fires a shot between the legs of Century goalie Allison Remenapp during a girls lacrosse game at Notre Dame Prep in Towson, Md., on Saturday, April 7, 2012. The shot was wide of the goal. (Brian Krista/Patuxent Homestead)
- South River’s Bella Pyne reacts after loosing to Marriotts Ridge during the girls lacrosse game at South River High School in East Edgewater on Tuesday, May 8, 2012. (Jen Rynda/Patuxent Homestead)
- Glenelg’s Logan Dubbe pitches during the baseball game against River Hill at Glenelg High School in Glenelg on Tuesday, April 24, 2012. (Jen Rynda/Patuxent Homestead)
- Saints Peter & Paul’s Charlie Cross and Cory Yoviene, center, celebrate their teams win over Friends during the MIAA lacrosse “B” conference championship at Towson University Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson on Friday, May 18, 2012. (Jen Rynda/Patuxent Homestead)
- Shareif Parker of Wilde Lake makes an attempt in the high jump during the Howard County championship track meet at Reservoir High School in Fulton, Md., on Thursday, May 10, 2012. (Brian Krista/Patuxent Homestead)
- Johnny Kelly of Calvert Hall, right, manages to hold onto the ball as Conestoga’s Jared Jacobs breaks his stick on a body check during a boys lacrosse game at Calvert Hall in Baltimore, Md., on Friday, March 23, 2012. (Brian Krista/Patuxent Homestead)
- Reservoir second baseman Amy Bresson dives for a ball on a hit by a Mount Hebron batter during a softball game at Reservoir High School in Fulton, Md., on Friday, April 13, 2012. (Brian Krista/Patuxent Homestead)
- Notre Dame softball players run to their teammate Emily Reuling after Rueling caught the last out of the “B” conference girls softball championship game against The Catholic at Bachman Sports Complex in Glen Burnie on Thursday, May 17, 2012. (Jen Rynda/Patuxent Homestead)
- Dondre Randall of Franklin anchors their men’s 4×200-meter relay team to victory during the Baltimore County Track and Field championships at Sparrows Point High School in Edgemere, Md., on Saturday, May 12, 2012. (Brian Krista/Patuxent Homestead)
- Franklin’s Andy Thompson, left, slides into home and scores a run behind Glen Burnie’s catcher Ian Dukehart, right, during the baseball game at Glen Burnie High School in Glen Burnie on Thursday, April 5, 2012. (Jen Rynda/Patuxent Homestead)
- Mt. Hebron teammates celelbrate their victory over Matrriotts Ridge in the girls lacrosse regional championship game at Marriotts Ridge High School in Marriottsville, Md., on Wednesday, May 16, 2012. (Brian Krista/Patuxent Homestead)
From Jen:
People say baseball is a game of inches but I like to think sports photography is a game of centimeters. Sure it doesn’t sound as cool but it is the honest truth. You need to have right equipment, be able to anticipate the action, have just the right amount of luck to capture that fleeting moment and hope that a referee doesn’t move a centimeter to block you before the winning goal. My sports photography teacher at Rochester Institute of Technology and former co-worker Jay Capers taught me a rule of thumb to judge a good sports photograph. He said you have to have at least two of the three following things to make a good sports photograph:
1. Peak action
2. Game telling
3. It needs to be technically correct, for example is the photo in focus and exposed correctly.
Also, keep in mind that emotion sets great photographs apart from good ones.
From Brian:
The reason I enjoy photographing sports is because it’s always a challenge. After becoming more familiar with a sport, and its specific rules, you become aware of the different possible shots that can be attained, but you always want to strive to obtain a different image or angle that you’ve never gotten before. And while you’re trying to capture that critical action-packed play, it’s the ones that also capture the emotion of the moment that make you feel like you did a good job at the end of the game.
Rich
Jun 26, 2012 @ 15:51:32
Great advice… I enjoy taking sports pictures and I really never though of taking a picture the wat ezplained it.