Sports photography

In sports photography is meant next to the photographing sporting events, especially those taking pictures of fast moving objects, even if it has to do not always have to do with sports. On the other hand, taking pictures of a sporting event is sometimes classified in other genres ( pictures of a chess tournament are probably to be regarded rather as a portrait photos).

Sports photos are often close-ups that have been made with telephoto lenses. These have a very shallow depth of field, which makes them look different than the man the same scene sees with his eyes. The total blurring of the background makes the foreground image limiting, preventing sports photos often appear spectacular.

Rapid movements

Often there are telephoto lenses or so-called " super-telephoto " with focal lengths from 1.8/200 to 4.0/600 mm mm are used. As long lenses and fast movement usually contradict, these lenses must have a very high light intensity, which they are extremely expensive. Often the lenses used in sports photography cost several times the camera. Special high- speed films with above ISO 400, or in digital photography sensors with high sensitivity and low noise used - addition - at least for field sports and the sports hall. The camera is often pulled in photography; one follows, for example, in football as with the television camera the ball makes this type of photo shots very physically demanding, which is why some photographers like to work with monopods. Water sports such as diving or gymnastics are characterized by extremely fast movements and are often used in halls with very poor lighting conditions instead. The photographer has to plan in advance, knowing which places the subject, the athletes walked through, and then find the right moment to take in a fraction of a second his pictures. Here, too, telephoto lenses for use as a close proximity to the athletes during the competitions is not possible. Due to the required high ISO settings (sometimes up to 6400), these images are often coarser grained or have a higher noise than outside light shots with digital cameras onto.

Camera Settings

Cheap - and middle-class SLR cameras and some rangefinder cameras often have a so-called sports program. The camera electronics tries to shoot at the fastest possible shutter speed. The iris is fully open it; so that the time is determined solely by ambient light and film. With this camera's automatic result - provided sufficient light - relatively sharp images with frozen scenes and minimum depth of field. The use of highly sensitive films in rangefinder cameras is usually not possible because these films only recognize up to ISO 400 with a few exceptions.

Manual photography

Sports photos, as they are known from glossy magazines, professional photographers are reserved with expensive technology. Cameras are often adjusted manually and the aperture slightly closed in order to have at least a little depth of field. It is customary to use movies from ISO 50 bis in 1600. Crucial for sharp photos are with most sports a fast lens and a fast autofocus. In ball sports also the focal length should be long enough, as it usually is often as a photographer, not close to the action.

Slower sports

In sports that are either less rapidly far from being a Formula 1 race and less than football ( eg jumping ), you can certainly do with standard SLR and rangefinder cameras appealing images. The use of above-mentioned sports automatic transmission can possibly lead to quite usable images.

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• Sportknipser.de - A small introduction to sports photography