Suggested Reading:
• Sports Photography: How to Capture Action and Emotion by Peter Skinner

• Digital Sports Photography: Take Winning Shots Every Time by Serge Timacheff and David Karlins


1. Get in Position
• For sports photography, your location is going to be make or break. Do you have a good backdrop? Are you where the action will occur? Take practice shots in order to make sure everything looks the way you'd want it to. Put yourself in position for success.

• Although great shots can happen from almost any perspective, you must be in position to take the shot, which sounds simple but is often forgotten.


2. Focus!
• In sports photography, it's all about focus. Make sure you focus on where the ball goes, most of the time. Sometimes it is beneficial to look elsewhere for other players or expressions than just the action happening around the ball directly.

• Anticipate where the ball will go, aim your camera there early, and prepare for the shot when it will happen – this is also part of the timing. Make sure your focus is ready for your timing!

• Pre-focus will provide pleasing results as you attempt to capture action shots. You don't want to have to worry about focusing while the play blows by you.


3. Timing...
• This comes with practice, but be able to anticipate where the action will be. You need to be able to press the shutter before you see the action happening. Once you see the action and then decide to take the shot, it is already too late.

• Pre-focus to make sure your shot is ready to go when the time is right. Have your cameras ready for various distances and locations, especially hot spots like football endzones.


4. Lighting
• Sports arenas are not known for having the best lighting for photography. As a matter of fact, places like basketball stadiums can be one of the hardest locations to handle lighting. Experiment a bit with an extra strobe, but until you master working with the lighting, remember you will have Silkypix back at home.


5. Aim for the Stars
• We mean this literally, not as a cliché. Remember that the star players are the ones who will usually produce the best photographs, and this is because they usually do things that other players and people cannot do. Although great photos do occur with other people and in the crowds even (keep an eye out for that), the majority of your successful photographs will be from watching the greatest stars do their magic.