AVP Volleyball

Tennis Today

A couple of pictures from today. I was trying to get the ball & face in the pictures.

Here's a face.

Just a shot that shows a face. I wish the background was better.

In a Nutshell

I don’t know how much I really know about sports photography, but here is some of my experience.

During the shutter speed challenge I got to shoot pictures at a pro satellite tennis tournament 3 days. The first day I was trying for a slow shutter speed by using the AV setting. They were pretty bad with too much blurring. Another day I changed the AV setting to use a faster shutter speed. They were better, but not fast enough to show the tennis balls in focus.

I used continuous shooting, but my camera is slow. There was someone sitting next to me for a while with a camera that was taking an amazing number of pictures while mine would take 3. I did get better at timing the shots. They were a lot more interesting when the ball was in the picture.

It was pretty cool that I could sit right at the edge of the court. This was great since at most pro events I would be too far away for my lens. I was able to move around and try different locations so I could get the players from the side, front or back. The lighting was best when the sun was behind me.

Well, for the hundreds of pictures I took that week, the one I chose for the challenge got a whopping 4.826 score (http://dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=251672) My next thing to try is the shutter speed setting.

One day at a local tournament I played with the ISO setting. The pictures that day seemed grainier.

I often take pictures after I am done playing in my Friday tennis league. The lighting seems to be better in the overcast days rather than the bright sunny days…also tough on sunny days on the beach. The sand makes it very bright.

What do I want to learn about sports photography? I would like to know how to get better shots…better focus, not grainy, good lighting,…maybe if I had more of a system for what I am doing rather than winging it each time. I guess understanding how I should be using the camera’s settings would be a good start.

I’m looking forward to reading everyone’s blogs and trying to incorporate what I learn into how I shoot. I have many opportunities for sports shots and I would love it if I could get some great pictures.

Hi

Hi. This is zippy's sports photography blog.