Do you shoot?

[Matt Stephens]

Only when I have to, and since they traded the broken "good" office camera for a point-n-shoot with no manual focus, I refuse to shoot sports.

As far as your pics above, they're all right to begin with, but one thing I learned when shooting and placing photos is this (don't ever forget it): "Real people doing real things."

Otherwise, shoot the "standing still" shots to have something to fall back on, but begin to challenge yourself. One thing I do/did, in shooting baseball or softball, for instance, is focus the camera on a base and then shoot like hell as a runner is moving to that base. Shooting the pitcher is another easy one, because they don't move from your frame much, so you can manual focus on the mound/circle (Please, DO NOT EVER CALL IT A MOUND IN SOFTBALL).

Football, volleyball and basketball? I leave those to the pros. Volleyball is doable, just focus the camera on the setter or server and hope for the best.

I'm with ya on basketball. It can be hard as hell, especially since some arenas are so darn dark that you have to turn your ISO up to 3200 (depending on what lens you have, that is). The best hoops shots I got this year were at the Sprint Center in KC due to lighting:

And I agree about using standing still as a backup. I feel at football practice, it's much harder to get action stuff due to how many people are out there on the field making the background a distraction. These are some of my better football shots (quality is crap because I'm copying from facebook right now):

 

[Matt Stephens]

I like to get the photography out of the way, first.

That way, it's less of an interruption and the resulting images appear to be more spontaneous.

I like that approach. Thanks.

 

[JimmyHoward33]

I've thought about it but it feels like if I volunteer to do it once I'll be expected to do it all the time. And I can't afford my own equipment on what they're paying me.

 

[UPChip]

Wyo? Seriously?

---

Anyhow, at my first gig, we had one staff photographer who also had to balance everything on deadline, which meant we could only use her for big events. I had to learn on the fly to shoot for myself, and now that I've gone to a place that has no regular staff photographer (previous editor hated/didn't understand sports, and we haven't had money to undo that since), it's certainly come in handy.

I really don't mind it that much, mostly because it's all I've ever known, and I'm confident that I can provide B+ photos most nights and every once in a while, I get lucky. This is my favorite from basketball season, which is as the game-winner is being released at the buzzer.

We have two staff SLRs for sports, one of which is a really old Nikon D2H (it was dropped 20 feet within months of its purchase but was reconditioned and works very well - kind of like an old pickup truck), and a somewhat less-old Nikon D70.

So, yeah, it's probably crazy but at this point, shooting and writing and such is just ingrained in my rhythm - shoot, look, scribble note, repeat.

 

[mustangj17]

My first gig at a 3,000 circ paper I shot... poorly.

Only took a few shots at another small paper I worked for but that was if I had the digital on me and it was just for web only photos.

 

[HandsomeHarley]

Those are some sweet shots, Matt. I especially like the hoops shot at top.

Now that's what I'm talking about.

 

[albert77]

I have a decent point-and-click that I use on occasion to shoot mugs and other static shots. But for anything that requires action, I leave that to the pros.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

I like to get the photography out of the way, first.

That way, it's less of an interruption and the resulting images appear to be more spontaneous.

Then, a can concentrate on a meaningful interview without the distraction of thinking about what visuals might be needed to accompany the story.

In other words: I shoot first and ask questions, later.

That was sublime. Or overwritten. I'm not sure. Either way, I enjoyed the heck out of that.

 

[John]

I shot all the time early in my career when I was working at a weekly and got good enough at it that I had to decide whether I wanted to pursue photography or writing. The idea of being sent to shoot some bridge club event, or some of the other crap that photogs shoot, convinced me to stick with writing.

 

[Matt Stephens]

Those are some sweet shots, Matt. I especially like the hoops shot at top.

Now that's what I'm talking about.

Thanks.

I also have noticed lately just browsing the web and looking at .pdf's that quite a few 20K+ circulation papers run photos all the time in print that back at my old college paper our photo editor wouldn't allow to run in 100 years. I find that a bit ironic in terms of standards.

 

[Rhody31]

I had a D1H at the office, until it crapped out. They weren't going to pay to have it fixed or replaced and bought us a point and shoot to shoot action shots despite pleading that it wouldn't work and we'd be better off fixing the camera bodies (we have two) and lenses (we have a slew of them) or buying a new body.
When I tried the point and shoot and it didn't work, I had to use an additonal freelancer. In like two months we rang up like $800 in freelance payments to one woman. When the publisher saw this, she realized we were right and my two bodies and lenses (two 200 mls, two 300 mls) are being fixed.
Mrs. Rhody and I are pregnant (her more than me) and she wants to get a new camera; I'm going to try and talk her into using our tax refund to get a D7000.

Some advice I've picked up while shooting:

-Layer your photos. You can turn boring shots into nice looking ones by providing foreground, subject and a background.

-Shoot first, worry about what comes out later. I'll take 300 shots at a game and look at them when I get back to the office. I can delete images quickly and usually get 10-20 shots that are usable and maybe 1-5 that are home runs.

-Shoot away from the ball.

-Emotion is better than action 9 out of 10 times.

 

[Rhody31]

Only when I have to, and since they traded the broken "good" office camera for a point-n-shoot with no manual focus, I refuse to shoot sports.

As far as your pics above, they're all right to begin with, but one thing I learned when shooting and placing photos is this (don't ever forget it): "Real people doing real things."

Otherwise, shoot the "standing still" shots to have something to fall back on, but begin to challenge yourself. One thing I do/did, in shooting baseball or softball, for instance, is focus the camera on a base and then shoot like hell as a runner is moving to that base. Shooting the pitcher is another easy one, because they don't move from your frame much, so you can manual focus on the mound/circle (Please, DO NOT EVER CALL IT A MOUND IN SOFTBALL).

Football, volleyball and basketball? I leave those to the pros. Volleyball is doable, just focus the camera on the setter or server and hope for the best.

Football and basketball are fairly easy to shoot because you can follow the ball; you have to have the right camera and a good lens.
Volleyball I haven't figured out yet. Our lenses are too big and our cameras don't work well in our poorly lit gyms.
Is there a way to load photos from my computer in posts? Wanted to post some shots for the thread, but couldn't figure it out.