Tennis Star

[wanda]

Could someone please give me some help with my actin shots which I am really struggling with. My settings don't seem to be working the way I had hoped. Thank you.

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[mickncrispy]

Hi Wanda, I like the first shot better out of the two, it shows more movement and tension. I don't know much (anything) about sports photography so I took a look through a bunch of sports photography blogs and sites on the web and it seems for tennis most of the best shots show the players as they are about to hit the ball, are hitting the ball or have just hit the ball - I'm talking micro seconds here!! I guess the best tip would be to put your camera on multishot, focus on one player and go for it. I guess it would help if you can anticipate their moves and presumably that woud take a good understanding of the game and lots of practice. Good luck :)

Check this image out as an example: http://www.protennisphotos.net/TGalleries/Men/MaratSafin/content/090902.169_large.html

[wanda]

Thanks again Lisa, I don't like taking sports pics much but need to get something for my final assignment. I think I will head out again tomorrow morning and see if I can get some cycling shots as we have a big bike riding fraternity in our town. Maybe they will be better. Thanks for your time.

[mickncrispy]

No problems. I'm up to the last assignment too and having trouble with the sports shots. I went down to the beach last weekend and took some of the beach volley ball and they were all blah. Not sure what I am going to do for that or the night city scape yet.

[JackRussell]

The shots themselves are quite tight.

Try leaving a bit more room, getting the ball in the shot, and do the final crop to suit in PP.

[Geneo]

Your settings seem to be fine. The player is frozen and there's very little, if any, blur. Keep that shutter at about 1/500th just in case, but never less then 1/250th.

Timing is everything. Don't forget that there is a teeny tiny bit of lag between when you press the shutter and when the picture is recorded. In other words, click it just a hair before you think you should to get that "decisive moment".

[Patey]

I tend to go the opposite way to everyone else on action shots. I use a slow shutter speed and move the camera with the subject, to get some motion effect.
The perfect action shot IMHO has a blurred BG, sharp head and torso, with evidence of movement in arms and legs. But of course not everyone would agree and wouldn't life be boring if they did. :)

[Geneo]

Patey is absolutely right! Sometimes frozen action works, sometimes blurred action works to get the feeling of motion. Such is the life of a photographer- decisions, decisions, decisions.

Course, this will also depend on what your assignment for the class wants too...

[wanda]

Thanks one and all for your comments and help here. This was my very first try at action shots and I sure wasn't very happy with them. I think I did much better on my cycle race series which I have also posted, they were taken quite some time later and I was a bit more familiar with the camera, Would like your cc on them if you could take the time.