Some people were asking for some tips on shooting rugby photos. I don’t claim to be an expert, but here’s what I do;
Before the game
I shoot aperture priority, not shutter priority because I want to achieve f/8,0 where I think my lens gives me best quality. Secondly, with my camera, you can set a minimum shutter speed in the ISO section. I set 1/500 as this freezes most elements of the player but still shows a little movement. If I were a better photographer I’d go down to 1/250. Personally, I’d end up with too much camera shake.
Next, I sit on the 22 meter line for the first half and behind the goal for the second half. Whenever I am shooting pictures, I make sure I have the boys running towards me. I will select the left or right side of the field depending on the direction of the sun. I want maximum light on the boys faces. I have a friend who likes to shoot with the sun behind the palyers, to get that halo effect. For me, I want lots of light, lots of detail and the fastest shutter speed possible!
Finally, I will sit on the ground; rugby is a game played close to the earth and I want to be in line with or below the boys eyes. Eyeline is key. If you stand up, you loose the intimacy that this sport requires.
I shoot everything horizontally in the camera because I have more room to frame the boys and finally I’m going to crop the shots heavily in the computer so I shoot a little wide.
At the game
During the game you have to be on your toes. You need to predict the play as far as possible. When the opposition has the ball our boys will tackle them. That tackle will become quite airborne if the opposition gets a good run and heads out to the wing. Conversely, when our boys get the ball, they will gnerally move it to their right and then run up the field. The more I observe the way our boys play, the better I can predict where the next shot will be.
Two key shots are when our boys tackle the opposition or when they make a run with the ball. A change in direction means a change or lean of the body and that makes a good photograph.
After the game
When I get them home, I open every image in to Photoshop. I do it five images at a time and then crop closely making the final image 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels high. That is big enough for a screen. I rarely color correct but I do lighten higlights and shadows and then I ‘smart sharpen’ by 70% radius 0.7. I save for web as a JPEG high which gives me a 150kb image.
I then upload the images to a template that I use called phpslideshow (author) and that’s it.
It sounds like a lot of steps if you aren’t used to it, but as the process is pretty much the same each week it becomes quite straight forward.
How many pictures do I shoot? About twice as many as I show.
What camera do I have? A Nikon D90 with a Nikon AF 85-400mm zoom and a Manfrotto monopod. You could easily get away with a lens that goes to 200mm so long as you crop the images on your PC afterwards. You don’t need a camera with a massive sensor, but the more pixels you have to start with, the more you can crop the photo. My camera does have a motor drive, but I rarely shoot more than two images in a sequence.
I think the results come from the position on the field (low and front on to the players) not the equipment. And it comes from practice; the more I shoot pictures of our boys, the better the pictures.
