Sports Photography How To

A graduate from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) with a degree in commercial photography, Andy Batt is an accomplished photographer and photo educator. The Portland, Oregon-based Batt is well known for his sports photography and his expert ability to create beautifully lit, high-intensity action shots that capture moments of peak performance.

We’ve had a few opportunities to shoot alongside top sports photographer Patrick Murphy-Racey, and on every occasion we gained a wealth of information about capturing action. By watching the 10-minute tutorial below you’ll learn a few of Murpey-Racey’s secrets for shooting spectacular sports images.

Not long ago, pro sports photographer Brad Mangin wrote a story for the PetaPixel website that was titled, I Earned More From Photo Gigs in 2016 With My iPhone Than My DSLRs!

Fujifilm reimagined the medium format photography game last fall at Photokina with the introduction of their 51-megapixel GFX 50S compact, mirrorless camera and three unique lenses to take advantage of everything this camera can do. In the video below you’ll see what extreme sports photographer Daniel Tengs was able to accomplish with the eminently mobile, large-sensor GFX 50S.

Chris Burkard is an adventure photographer who travels the world looking for epic images of our untamed planet. He recently garnered a lot of attention for the once-in-a-lifetime shot above of a surfer in Iceland lit by the Northern Lights, and the video below gives you the backstory.

Sports photography shares much in common with capturing images of wildlife: You’ve got an active scene captured at a distance requiring specialized equipment and knowledge of the subject’s activities while anticipating what they are going to do next…or not. Sure, you’ll need fast, long focal length lenses but you will also need camera supports and other gear that along with specialized knowledge separates the virtuosos, like Regis Lefebure (regislefebure.com), from the wannabes. Here’s a look at some of our favorite tools of the sports trade.

Today’s camera gear is faster than ever and much of it is tailor-made for capturing any sort of motion or movement. So then why do so many photographers struggle to shoot compelling images of action? Part of it has to do with timing and part of it has to do with composition. Your camera and lens can only do so much and there’s more to a great action shot than simply capturing the moment and making sure it’s in focus. For this assignment, we were looking for images of anything from basketball to dance to wildlife, just as long as there was some kind of action in the scene. For the winning images, we were looking for great composition, effective use of backgrounds and scenery, and powerful emotion: human, animal, or otherwise. Here are our six favorites.