This article is for anyone who uses any kind of camera including cell phone cameras. I often see moms up close to the fence taking pictures of their kids at softball/baseball games with their phone in the portrait position. Long side up and down instead of landscape side to side and I want to say something but I keep my mouth shut. I get what they are doing, they want a picture of their kid and the background isn’t important. But it is.
Portrait photography is great for senior pictures and weddings but sports in played out on a field that runs from side to side and leaving that out creates a photo out the context of what you are shooting. If you are only interested in close up photos of your child then read no further.
One of the most important parts of photography is composition and cropping. Your cell phone camera has a cropping function, at least mine does and you should use it if you want your photos to look professional. If you are happy with the way your photos look then again, read no further.
Composition has to do with the weight on the images in the photo. The rule of thirds says to make a tic tac toe board in your mind and place the subject in one of the intersections, preferably at the top right or left. When shooting a moving player always and I mean always place additional room in front of the athlete to give them a visual place to move. If you show an athlete looking to one side or the other give them room to look.
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| Rule of Thirds |
If they are swinging a bat give the bat some room to hit the ball. This can all be done when you shoot the photo or when you crop. Also when possible, crop so there is more image at the bottom than the top, it is best to anchor your image down than up. And always crop for head room. That means leave no more room above the subjects head than necessary. And this is something people don't think about. Watch your background. If possible, and I know it's not always possible, keep telephone poles, trees and other objects from sticking out of your subject's head. I learned this stuff back when I was in college and I don't know if they teach it anymore.
In this example above Jamie is pitching and the photo is cropped on the left in portrait and on the right in landscape with plenty of room in front of her for the ball to go. Even though the ball isn't actually going anywhere in this still shot it gives the impression that there is someone in front of her that is going to swing.
The same for this example where Bennet is cropped so he has room to run.
Here is a great example of using portrait photos for a true portrait of Jordan and a good example of using F3.5 with a telephoto lens to blur out the background. There are cell phones that use a computer to duplicate this effect, yours might do that.
Here is another example of composition giving Ellie's bat a place to go. This is shot landscape to give the action a place to live.
Cell phone cameras do allow you to zoom in on the action but they aren't the best at getting clean images at a distance. The best bet, if possible and that can be a stretch at a game, is to get as close as you can. The fence is about as close as most can get and I understand that.
The last thing I want to harp on and I harp on this a lot is end of game group shots. Here is a great example of what I am talking about below.
Don't be the person who shoots from the side and distracts the players. Let one person shoot and have them share with the rest of you so all the players are looking in one direction.
