How to Photograph Your Child Playing Sports Without Having to Explain Where Th

[Penny Donnell]

Being shown a photo of tiny figures on a football field and being told
that one of the coloured dots is little Johnny is a bit pointless.
Little Johnny's face can't be seen, his fierce concentration is wasted
and his sparring with his opponent missed.
Johnny's parents may rightly argue that they cannot afford a 1200mm
zooms lens and even if they could, they are not strong enough to lug
the 8kg beast around them on the weekend as they brave the cold to
cheer on little Johnny.
So what's the solution? Engage a professional photographer? No. The
solution is to abandon the idea of photographing little Johnny
wherever he is on the field. Instead, work out where little Johnny
tends to be closest to the sideline and position yourself there with a
a moderate zoom lens (a range of 28mm to 80mm is ideal), configure
your camera, and wait. Sooner or later, you will capture perfect
moments.
Remember Robert Capa, the legendary Hungarian-born photojournalist who
declared "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close
enough".
Configuring your camera. At this point I am assuming you have a DSLR
(Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera) such as a Canon 400D or a Nikon
D60 and I will explain how to configure these cameras.
There is no reason why a digicam can't be used even though you will
need to be luckier to capture good shots given their relatively poorer
performance; many digicams won't focus quickly enough and will have
restricted shutter speeds.
Using your camera's shutter priority mode, set the shutter to 1/1500th
of a second and then increase the ISO until at least your camera's
maximum aperture is reached. For example, if you begin with 200 ISO
and your camera tells you the images will be underexposed by two
stops, you will need to increase your camera's ISO to 800 ISO. You may
find that the resulting images are very grainy but unfortunately there
is not much you can do other than buy a Nikon D3 or Canon 1DMarkIII
($6000+) or reschedule the match! Early morning and late afternoon
matches tend to have relatively dim light which means you have to
increase the ISO to compensate and this in turn increases graininess.
If you are lucky and it is a bright day, again set your shutter speed
to 1/1500th of a second and use the lowest ISO possible since the
lower the ISO, the less the grain.
Having set up exposure, you need to set up focusing so that the camera
focuses on the closest object in continuous focusing mode. With a
Nikon D60, use the AF-A focusing mode which tracks the subject as it
moves. With a Canon 400D, use the 'AI servo' autofocusing mode.
Then you need to select how many frames per second the camera will
shoot. This must be the maximum frame rate and you can afford this
since digital photos are costless! With the Canon 400D, select
'Continuous' Drive Mode. With the Nikon D60 select 'Continuous'
release mode. Do not start photographing little Johnny until he fills
at least one fifth of the frame and then take as many photos as
possible. By waiting until little Johnny is close, within 5m, you
won't have to delete most of your photos, your battery won't die and
your camera's internal memory buffer and memory card won't be full.
A word of caution. Photographing on the sideline means that you can
literally be in the firing line. Don't run away when the players come
charging up to you since this will allow you to get the perfect shot
but be very mindful that they, and the football, will be oblivious to
your presence. Neither the players nor the ball will be concerned if
they connect with you or your delicate camera.
Hope this helps others appreciate your football photos!