Shooting for the Washington Kastles - Part 2: Tips
Rennae Stubbs — Shot with Canon 24-70mm f/2.8
In part one of this series of posts, I talked about all the gear that I used to photograph the Washington Kastles’ season in July. You can have all the photography equipment in the world, but you need to know how and when to use it. Anticipating and planning your shot is just as important as the gear you have strapped around your neck and slung over your shoulders. In this post, I’m going to share how my anticipation and planning allowed me to fully utilize my gear.
When you are shooting wide, chances are, you’re in a crowd of photographers. Get out of the crowd! Step away and find a different angle giving you a completely different shot. This makes you and your work stand out from everyone else. Above is great example of this while shooting the Kastles was during player introductions. A majority, if not all, of the photographers were shooting into the tunnel as the players ran out onto the court. Instead of doing the same, I positioned myself at the entrance of the tunnel and shot the players’ backs as they ran out onto the court. This provided me with a totally different view than what most of the other photographers were getting. The children and cheerleaders are all facing my direction. The player is also dominant subject in the frame as they are in the foreground of the frame.
Serena Williams — Shot with Canon 70-200mm f/2.8
Venus Williams — Shot with Canon 70-200mm f/2.8
When shooting sports, getting close to the action can give you some very intense photos. The closest I could get to the action was sitting right on the side of the court. Although I was so close to the players, I needed something longer than my 24-70mm. The Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 was perfect for this as it allowed me to zoom in and out on the action as it took place all over the court. These closeup shots can really come to life if you’re able to capture things like wild facial expressions, muscles flexing, and sweat flying from the players’ faces.
Bobby Reynolds — Shot with Canon 300mm f/2.8
John McEnroe — Shot with Canon 300mm f/2.8
Rennae Stubbs — Shot with Canon 300mm f/2.8
Leander Paes — Shot with Canon 300mm f/2.8
Arina Rodionova — Shot with Canon 300mm f/2.8
When you think of photographing a sporting event, you typically imagine shooting from the sidelines. Although sitting as close to the action as possible is exciting and can produce some incredible shots, sometimes it is a good idea to explore other positions to shoot from. That’s exactly what I did while using my 300mm. The Kastles’ stadium was a good enough size that I could get a nice shot of the players on the court from just about anywhere in the stadium. By shooting over the net from a higher vantage point, I got the players looking in my direction as they hit the ball. I liked to keep my camera trained on the player closest to the net because they usually had to react fast to the ball while making a strained facial expression. I used the 300mm more than any other lens throughout the season. The main reason for this is simply that the higher vantage point gave me a much cleaner background as compared to the shots from using the 24-70mm or 70-200mm. Instead of people sitting in the stands, the court itself was the background.
Kastles Stadium at the Wharf — Shot with a Fujifilm Finepix X100
This certainly is not your typical type of camera used for photographing sporting events. However, like I said in the initial post, I take this thing everywhere with me. The Washington Kastles staff wanted to get a photo of the stadium as it sat along the Waterfront during a match at sunset. There was a neighboring building that I was given access to so I could photograph the stadium from the highest vantage point nearby. From there, I shot a few frames with my Canon 40D and then it dawned on me. This was the moment for my X100 to really be put to use. Remembering the X100 has the built in feature of shooing panoramic photos, I changed to pano mode and panned about five or six shots. It wasn’t until I looked at the panoramics at home that I realized how incredible they turned out. The colors were phenomenal and the in-camera stitching was shockingly accurate. I’m extremely satisfied with the results, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the final image.
Anticipation. Know what, where, and when the shot is going to be. — Shot with Canon 24-70mm f/2.8
When shooting sports, it is important to know where “the shot” is going to be and when to look for it. On this night, the match came down to the wire and everyone was on the edge of their seats, including Kastles owner, Mark Ein, and the sixth mayor of D.C., Adrian Fenty. If the match was won by the Kastles, I knew there would be some high-fiving going on, and sure enough, when the final point was won, that is exactly what happened. The anticipation paid off, and I got a different shot from all the other photographers who stayed on the court to photograph the team.
So again, having the gear is just part of it. Knowing how to utilize it is what really sets you apart. And don’t think that you have to go out and drop all kinds of money on equipment to be a good photographer. Start with what you have and grow with it. When you see yourself being limited by a lens or camera, then start to explore your options by renting gear and go from there. That goes for any genre of photography.
