Sports, like life, are fleeting – shoot in bursts..

In short, sports shooting is a kind of reportage shooting, but it requires a special reaction, attention, knowledge of the process and technical equipment. That’s why it is treated as an independent genre among professionals and at competitions. For example, at a recent Nikon competition “I’m in the heart of the picture” sports photos were singled out in a separate category. Let’s see what you need to do to get a good sports photo.

AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED VR, f/7.1, 1/640, ISO 500

Experiment with the angle. Do not be afraid to use “oblique” angles and slightly obscure the horizon. A moderate tilt in the desired direction adds dynamics to the shot

Decide on the sport you want to shoot first. A beautiful shot is not all that the editor-in-chief can demand from you. Decide on the key points of each sport. Passing, overtaking – this moment is different for every sport. To make your first shooting comfortable, talk to people who have already shot that particular sport, and ask about specifics of shooting and about any particular moments and nuances. You can find pictures of almost every kind of sport on the web, from the banal ice hockey to the exotic kokboru, the equestrian sport practiced in Central Asia and the Middle East.

Study the place where you are going to shoot and the conditions in which you will be working. Often, especially at major competitions, it happens that photographers are allocated a particular place for shooting. If this is so and you see that there will be about ten other photographers in the photo booth beside you, it makes sense to come to the set early and take a more comfortable place with a better view angle. Often the restrictions for photographers are dictated by safety. At the racetrack, for example, you will be asked to go behind the fence, especially if you decide to stand on the turn. This is for your own safety – during the race the cart may roll off the track to the periphery and injure a reckless photographer.

If you are given a lot of freedom, then choose your location carefully. Check with the organizers right away, where you can and cannot enter. Try to find out if there are some places no one has ever photographed from and if it is possible to get there and under what conditions. Talk to the riders in advance and ask where you can get the best shots. By the way, talk to the athletes and show them the frames after the shooting. It’s often the case that a photo you think is spectacular doesn’t capture the best moment of a stunt or shows an outright failure on the part of the athlete. It is better to know about it in advance.

You can talk to athletes for a different purpose. You may well agree to shoot not only at competitions, but also in training, where your characters won’t be influenced by the need to be faster, taller, stronger. Exactly during training sessions you can get as close as possible to the place of action and take a rare spectacular shot or experiment with artificial light.

Try to find shooting positions from which you can see the most interesting parts of the event. For example, in horse racing these are the turns. If you choose a good position, you can make a good shot of your overtaking crews, and then from the U-turn, overtaking attempts… Try to get close enough to show not only the general views of the competition, but also close-ups, such as the faces and hands of the athletes. At the same time, look for original angles to show not only close-ups of the athletes, but also to blend them into the landscape, to show the scene. At the Central New York Hippodrome you can find shooting points where there are running carriages against the background of the hippodrome building itself or the New York City Towers.

AF-S NIKKOR 80-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED VR, f/6.3, 1/6400, ISO 800

Look for original perspectives and ways to capture characters in landscape or architecture. That way you show the scale and define the place of action for the viewer

Move around if the shooting location allows you to. Change the point of view, get closer and farther away, try to show events from different angles. Not many people would be interested in watching a moto-trials reportage which consists of pictures of motorcyclists going into the same turn.

Sports photography is one of the most demanding genres in terms of technique. It’s not enough to have a good feel for the moment in order to get good shots, but it’s important to have a good feel for the moment. Many competitions are held indoors or at night with artificial light. And even if your eyes see that the light is very bright, the exposure meter shows too slow shutter speeds, and you have to freeze the movement as well. The only way out in this situation is to use higher ISO speeds.

The Nikon D5 can shoot with relatively low digital noise at sensitivities up to ISO 25600. From here on, the noise starts to snowball, and you have to make a choice: either you get a clear but noisy picture, or a “clear” but blurry picture. You are free to experiment with shutter speeds and get motion-blurry photos, but these experiments should not be the only result of your work. So shoot the scene traditionally and then get creative.

Nikon D5. 12 fps high-speed burst

AF-s Nikkor 80-400 f/4.5-5.6 VR, 1/2500 c, f/7.1 ISO 500

AF-s Nikkor 80-400 f/4 lens.5-5.6 VR, 1/2500 c, f/7.1 ISO 500

AF-s Nikkor 80-400 f/4 lens.5-5.6 VR, 1/2500 c, f/7.1 ISO 500

AF-s Nikkor 80-400 f/4.5-5.6 VR, 1/2500 c, f/7.1 ISO 500

AF-s Nikkor 80-400 f/4 Lens.5-5.6 VR, 1/2500 c, f/7.1 ISO 500

AF-s Nikkor 80-400 f/4.5-5.6 VR, 1/2500 s, f/7.1 ISO 500

AF-s Nikkor 80-400 f/4 Lens.5-5.6 VR, 1/2500 sec, f/7.1 ISO 500

AF-s Nikkor 80-400 f/4 lens.5-5.6 VR, 1/2500 s, f/7.1 ISO 500

AF-s Nikkor 80-400 f/4 lens.5-5.6 VR, 1/2500 s, f/7.1 ISO 500

AF-s Nikkor 80-400 f/4 lens.5-5.6 VR, 1/2500 c, f/7.1 ISO 500

AF-s Nikkor 80-400 f/4.5-5.6 VR, 1/2500 c, f/7.1 ISO 500

AF-S NIKKOR 80-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED VR, f/7.1, 1/1000, ISO 500

Use high speed shooting to catch even the moments the eye can’t see. But don’t rely solely on the equipment. You have to know and feel the sport you are shooting well in order to anticipate the moments and choose the most interesting places to shoot

Shoot in bursts. Many moments in sports are so fleeting that you may not see them, much less predict them. The Nikon D5 at 12 fps will help you catch those moments, show the progression of events. And given that the camera continues to autofocus on the selected subject during continuous shooting, you’ll get a series of clear shots.

You won’t have time to learn the camera on a shoot, so you should know and feel your equipment very well. Set up the camera beforehand, get used to all the buttons and settings, check and set the ISO sensitivity according to the shooting conditions. And don’t forget that shooting conditions can change, which means you’ll need to change your settings. Stock up on removable memory cards and spare batteries. With active shooting, you quickly run out of both.

AF-S NIKKOR 80-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED VR, f/6.3, 1/4000, ISO 800

Use your telephoto lens to catch funny or absurd situations, it will give your photos more life

Choose your lenses carefully. Sports photography often requires lenses with very long focal lengths. If you have the opportunity to take the AF-S NIKKOR 200-500 mm f/5.6E ED VR, AF-S NIKKOR 500 mm f/4E FL ED VR, AF-S NIKKOR 200-400 mm F4G ED VR II, eventually AF-S NIKKOR 80-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED VR, an opportunity worth seizing. It’s the telephoto lens that lets you see the details, the grin on faces, and all the tension of a fight. But that doesn’t mean you have to have only telephoto lenses in your kit case. There are situations in which you may need a tripod, such as the AF-S NIKKOR 24-70 mm f/2.8E ED VR or even wide-angle AF-S NIKKOR 14-24 mm f/2.8G ED. The first one is for showing the scene. The second one, just in case you managed to get very close to the action.

AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED VR, f/7.1, 1/800, ISO 500

Don’t neglect framing and toning your shots artistically. But learn to feel the measure of both. Overly pretentious toning used out of proportion and out of place can spoil even a good shot.

AF-S NIKKOR 80-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED VR, f/7.1, 1/2000, ISO 500

Competitors in front of a racetrack. Such a shot allows you to clearly identify the place of action

AF-S NIKKOR 80-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED VR, f/7.1, 1/640, ISO 500

Try to catch an interesting phase of the athlete’s movement. Speed shooting is the best way to do it, because human reactions can’t always catch up with the swift moves of the racers

AF-S NIKKOR 80-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED VR, f/7.1, 1/3200, ISO 500

Frame your shots so you can see the other racers, it helps to show the dynamics of the race

AF-S NIKKOR 80-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED VR, f/6.3, 1/3200, ISO 500

Be prepared for the unexpected, including things that aren’t directly related to sports. For example, in this shot, a soaring pigeon popped into the frame, giving it added dynamics and effect. If you’re used to reviewing frames on the camera and removing them as you shoot, you might want to skip this shot. Take your time. Better to take more flash cards with you and fill them all up than in a hurry to delete an interesting shot that didn’t seem special on the camera’s small screen

AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED VR, f/6.3, 1/1250, ISO 500

Look for original angles. In this case, the lower point of the shot allowed to show, to bring the motorcyclist almost above the buildings and to emphasize the height of the jump. You don’t just want to be prepared for these kinds of shots, you have to know what can happen to the rider at any given point on the course

AF-S NIKKOR 80-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED VR, f/5.6, 1/2500, ISO 1000

The oblique view emphasizes the dynamics of the race, while the continuous shooting captures the interesting moment

AF-S NIKKOR 14-24 mm f/2.8G ED f/5.6, 1/4000, ISO 500

Use a wide angle lens and try to get close to the athletes. These kinds of shots are risky because you get too close to the athlete, and a wide-angle lens removes all sense of distance from the subject

AF-S NIKKOR 14-24 mm f/2.8G ED f/6.3, 1/1600, ISO 500

If you make it to practice, you have a chance to interact with the athletes and ask them to play along with you. Here I had the motorcyclist ride the very edge of the embankment and literally lie in the air in the corner. I myself was standing literally a meter away from the motorcyclist. If you try something like this during a race, you make the rider think not about passing the course, but about not hitting you. In training, and even by appointment, there is no such pressure on an athlete

AF-S NIKKOR 14-24 mm f/2.8G ED f/6.3, 1/5000, ISO 1250

Seize the moment, it’s the most important thing in sports