Hello everyone. Yesterday it was the first time for me shooting sports. It was Volleyball. How the *** do professionals get solid photos with all the faces, people running around, athletes getting in your shot while you are focused on a subject, limited space etc? I took around 1300 photos. Only like 300 of them are usable. It was extremely tough anticipating the ball and trying to capture the action. And when I did… the faces… Oh my god. And not only that… it was women playing…you can imagine how many of the photos they will like. Some are pretty good athletic photos not gonna lie. And to my defense I had only one lens a 24-105 f/4. I am waiting for the new Sigma for Sony mount. I think it will help a lot. Anyway I would love some advice. Thank you.
Edit: By saying it was women I wasnt trying to be sexist at all. But my girlfriend was playing and when see saw the photos she would look at every minute detail of her body.
I shoot a lot of basketball and my hit rate is 10% on a good night.
Knowing the sport well really helps so you can anticipate the action. Knowing the players and their tendencies is also a huge help.
Start by trying to copy other people’s shots from volleyball then start finding your own style.
late to the party and it looks like you got good advice, super fast lenses (f/2.8 or better), and IMO know the sport, It really helps, but also know your gear, what you can and cannot do. When I was active I’d be sitting with 30 other photographers and every. single. one. did a spray and pray. Well, almost. I didn’t, and the AP photographer didn’t either, but he’d show up, take 1-3 shots, edit them, upload, and leave. I mostly shot ice hockey and play/knew the game well enough that I didn’t have to spray and pray. I could take a few hundred photos and I’d keep more than 50% and my photos told the story of the game. Whether that’s 51% or 70% I can’t recall, it was 15 years ago and it varied from game to game some better than others, some worse. It was a lot of fun, met a lot of the hockey players I got to photo but it burned me out and I set the camera down for many, many years.
100% agree that the better you know the sport the better you can anticipate and the better you can shoot. I used to do university sports and shoot everything - I knew soccer extremely well and could be there and done in 5 minutes confidently, but every time I would have to shoot lacrosse or boxing or something it would be a nightmare the first time.