Every photographer has their own preferences for how to shoot, what to shoot, which gear to use and which software to edit with. I thought I’d share my three most important football photography tips.
When it comes to different disciplines of photography, there are some specific techniques many photographers will aim to follow.
Here are my top football photography tips:
- Get low down
This is possibly the most important of the football photography tips I got when starting out. Contrary to what some people think, photographers inside professional stadia do not sit on tiny stools to keep their heads out of the fans’ way. It is because a football photo works so much better when it’s shot from a low angle. You are part of the action and often players will be looking down to the ball.
The ‘get low’ technique can be applied across many sports. As with all photography you’re trying to catch the moment, the emotion, and the facial expressions. For example, if you’re shooting rugby standing up and players go down tussling for a try, you’ll get the top half of their face and possibly their hair.
If you’re crouched or sat down nice and low, the image changes completely. You see the full facial expression as they dive for the line.
- Fill the frame
It’s a pretty simple piece of advice and one of the first you will be critiqued on. Fill the frame as best you can with a sports photo, let there be no room for wondering eyes to be distracted away from the subject.
If you cannot fill the frame at the time of shooting the image, crop nice and tight afterward when editing.
- Keep it straight
An important rule in most types of photography is to get the shot straight. Use a point in the background somewhere, such as the horizon, a tree line or an advertising hoarding to keep the shot level. Some of my earliest pictures make me cringe looking how uneven they are.
This is something that will become second nature as you become more experienced shooting, but until then, be aware of it and rotate in post. I’ll do a tutorial showing you how to do this in Lightroom.
- Know the story
As we know, when you’re out photographing sport, you are illustrating a moment. The way you illustrate it can differ depending what or who you are shooting for, but always know as much about the event or fixture as possible.
In football, if there is a player or manager returning to a former club, a player returning from long-term injury or perhaps a promotion or relegation in the offing, give some thought to the circumstances beforehand and how you may best capture it. Other photographers will have this in mind, you need to as well.
Also look for records to be broken or even a player in a great or lousy run of form. If they score, where will they run? To the dugout, to a certain stand? Try to also be aware of certain players’ styles so you can best pre-empt what they may do in a game.
These are four very simple and basic tips I picked up early on when shooting football. They can be applied at any level, park football right up to professional. They make a huge difference to your images though.
What’s the best advice you have been given, or what football photography tips would you have new photographers? Leave your comments in the form below.
