Sports mode can ruin your shots

If you use the sports mode on your camera normally you get decent shots but as it gets darker out you may notice your shots getting blurry. Why would this happen? You're using the correct settings right? It's in "sports mode."

The answer is that when you give up control to the camera to make adjustments to your settings there is a trade off when it gets dark out and you're shooting under the lights. The camera wants to have enough light to make the image and the result is that the shutter speed suffers to the point that action shots become blurry.

So what do you do to fix this?

When the stadium lights come on, and in poorly lit gym's (which is most of them) you have to go manual. That can be scary for a lot of people but if you want crisp action shots you will have to figure it out. You will need to set you shutter speed at at least 400/sec (that is still low in my opinion) and set your F stop to around 4 or 5.6. I set my ISO to 6400 as soon as the sun starts to set or in any gym.

By doing this you have control over how fast your shutter works and you have a better chance of capturing the image without blur. I would not suggest using a flash at all ever.

If you find that your shots are now clear but a bit dark, try setting your F stop to 3.5 or 2.8 to allow more light in. Your depth of field will narrow and may cause some focus issues but at least your shots will be brighter.

Go out some evening with your camera and try to shoot photos of traffic under the street lights and play with the settings.

KT

Best photo advice

If you want to up your game with your photography this is probably the best free advice I can give you. Pay attention to what is going on. Yep, it is that easy. I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I will tell you what I do and if you like my photos this is how I do it.

I've often been at games where I've seen the pro's punching buttons on their phones, probably updating scores to Twitter while great shots go unnoticed. I shake my head and go on wondering who these people are that need up to date Twitter scores but maybe this is a new thing.

Whatever game I am covering I have the camera up to my eye ready for a shot at every play. That is a lot of plays during a football game but nothing is getting past me. I anticipate the play based on the formation and follow the ball. I don't miss much doing that and that's why my shots look like they do. It's the same with volleyball, softball, basketball, etc...

If you are a casual photographer that just wants a few snapshots of your child then this advice probably isn't for you. But you should still pay attention to what's going on. I choose my lens, my angles and where I stand on the field/court based on what I plan to shoot. I have special angles for certain sports, head shots and wide angles also based on the outcome I desire.

Being a good sports photographer means being part of the game and choosing the right shutter speeds and F stops. And by that I mean not using the sports mode that came with the camera. I will get into that in a later article.

This may have seemed like the most obvious bit of advice I could have written but it is by far the most important thing you can do to improve your photography. You have to pay attention to what is going on and be prepared.

KT

Cropping

Next up on photography tips is cropping. I think all camera phones these days allow you to crop, I know mine does so why should you use it? If you take your photography seriously it makes a huge difference in how you photo looks. If you want your images to look professional you should crop all your shots because there is usually a lot of extra "stuff" that needs to go. Let me explain why I do what I do.

If you ever wondered why I put the batter at the back of the photo when I post softball pictures there is a good reason. You have to give you subject a place to move in the picture. The picture is a still image but by giving more room in the direction of where the subject is looking, or moving, you create a visual dynamic that the still shot has room to breathe and that the subject, if it were a live shot could move into this space.

Here is a side by side of the raw shot of Taylor moving towards the team. In the original shot she was centered and that created the illusion that she was stuck in this space. By cropping out the area behind her now she has a space to move into. This may seem like a trivial thing but I crop all my shots this way. I think this simple change takes a photo from amateur to professional in one step.  I feel you have to give your subject a place to go or you end up stagnating them in that space.

Here is another example and probably the most dynamic. Here Devin just threw the ball and if I didn't give him the space to throw the ball he would look flat and by flat I mean still. I want my still image to look like it has a place to go and by leaving him plenty of room to move into I have created that illusion.

If you want your photos to get to the next level spend some time with your crop function and give your subject a place to go. Don't force them into a still space and stagnate them. Let them breathe...

KT