The most important shots

The best shots are off the field, at least I think so. A good action shot is like winning the lottery. You have a 10% chance of getting it and if you do it gets the "Wow" factor. But to me, it's the looks on the players faces that tell a story. The look of concern, the look of excitement, and the happy or sad faces of winning or defeat. 

I spend quite a bit of time on the sidelines looking for those pictures that tell a story and those are the ones that probably end up being downloaded, printed and put in scrap books. I'm sure a good tackle or a dive into the endzone make it there too, but not as often. 

I know I'm not the only one who got this shot, but I'm glad I did. It was a good set up that happened by accident. I love the player in the back with his arm raised as to say, "We won!" And they did.

I chose to shoot this shot because of the sky in the background. I have an art background and when the sun is just going down and the field lights are on it can make for some dramatic shots.

I could go into depth of field, F-stops and all sorts of other topics, but I don't think most people care about that stuff. Most great shots are by accident with a lot of pre-planning in hopes something cool happens.

Attitude is the difference

Another in a series of "How to take good sports (or any other kind) of photographs.

Again, I won't go into shutter speeds, F-stops and any other settings, this post is about attitude. Your pictures will reflect your attitude and motivation to get good shots. If you want to get interesting actions shots, you need to be ready for those shots and get in the mind set of where you need to be and how you want the shot to look.

This will also determine the type of lens you want to use and the angles you want to shoot. I prefer close shots, the closer the better. That is a matter of taste and maybe you prefer a group shot instead. No matter what you are going for, you have to plan ahead and be ready to capture what you have in mind.

I see lots of photos shot at sporting events that look like snapshots. Snapshots in that they look unplanned, and "as is." If that is what you are looking for then great. I think like most things, you need to have a bit of forethought going into what you are doing.

Here is a good example of a shot that took some planning to get. The focus had to be set to the left to keep the pitcher in focus while getting the ball to appear on the right side of the batter. It took several shots to get the one I was looking for but the results were worth it. 

If you are wondering, I shot that at F-2.8 at around 1500/sec shutter speed with a 200mm telephoto through the chain link fence. 

Another example of a simple but effective shot. The focus was set to the left so I'd have plenty of "out of focus" room to the right. The picture was composed so she would have room to swing the bat. 

I think good photographs need planning and the right attitude to get the shots you want. Even if you don't know how to set your camera, you can still approach your photography with the attitude that you will get the best shots you can no matter what. If you do, you might be surprised what you can do. 

KT 

How to take great pictures

Last year I wrote a series of blog posts on how to take excellent sports photographs and published them on my Trimmphoto page. I don't know if anyone read any of them or took any of my advice to heart so I decided to follow up with this...

In those articles I went over F stops, shutter speeds, lighting, angles and all sorts of stuff that I felt was needed to get shots that really stand out. Most of that may have been over peoples heads so I decided to write a different blog that isn't about any of that stuff.

Here is another way to take excellent sports (or any other kind) of photographs...

1. Pay attention to what's going on. This is mainly about sports, but if you have your nose buried in your phone you will miss the good shots. Should be no brainer advice but I've seen many paid professional photographers staring at their phones while the great shots go by the wayside. 
2. Get close... The closer the better. 
3. Find your subject. Pictures without a defined clear subject are dull to look at. 
4. Crop (and or) compose your picture. Photographs that are not well balanced are hard to look at. 
5. Color correct your pictures. Pictures straight off your camera will look washed out. Trust me on this. (and please do not dump 50 unedited photos on Facebook. Nobody is going to get past #3.

If you set your camera to the "action" tab or "portrait" tab you may get some good shots. If you follow the previous advice, you may get a lot more awesome shots. 

It's about attitude as well as being proficient in how you set the camera. 

Trimmphoto

If anyone is wondering why I shoot photos of student activities (and other Fairbury related content) I would like to explain where Trimmphoto started and why.

Simply, it started because my wife Cheryl was elected president of the Booster club and they needed someone to shoot button pictures and I was the only person with experience with a camera. And by experience I want to give a brief background of me and the camera.

I had my first working dark room at the age of 16, and by dark room I mean old school chemicals, enlargers and the red light you see in old movies. My father was a professional photographer when I was about 5 and he had all this gear stored away that I brushed off and figured out how to use.

This was around 1982.

Back in those days you had to develop your negatives before you could make prints with this huge enlarger and dunk them in smelly chemicals. I again had a working dark room in 1997 before digital came around.

I have been shooting with a camera since Jr. high and was on the Blazer and Fairbury yearbook as a photographer, I was on the SCC paper as a photographer, and worked for the Fairbury Journal News for a summer before going off to UNK to be a graphic design major.

In other words, I know a lot about cameras.

So my wife recruited me to shoot button pictures and one day I decided I would try shooting football again. The last time I had shot a game would have been in 1983 and 1984 when I graduated from Fairbury.

It was pretty cool getting back on the field, and luckily nobody told me to get lost so I shot and shot and shot. And now I am in my second year of shooting and started a Facebook page to feature those pictures. I hope you have seen and liked the page.

I would like to thank the school and the coaches for giving me the same access as the local paid media and hope I am doing the athletes justice with my work.