With the 2024 Paris Olympics fast approaching, budding sports photographers are feeling the strong urge to pull out their camera gear and aim for greatness of their own.
The purpose of sports photography is to capture the essence of athleticism on camera — a challenge that demands precision and understanding. While general photography principles apply, each sport, from the raw power of athletics to the fluid grace of swimming, presents its own unique challenges and opportunities.
Here, you'll discover the secrets to capturing those breathtaking moments that define sporting greatness, from the right camera gear and settings to special tips for mastering your favourite sporting event.
How do you do sports photography?
To become great at sports photography, be prepared to react quickly. Like an athlete, if you get caught napping or spend too much time preparing to take your shot, the key moment will pass you by. Here are the key camera settings to help you go toe to toe with the fastest and strongest people on the planet.
Shutter speed
Shutter speed is the most important camera setting for freezing action. A slow shutter speed will result in motion blur when photographing athletes in competition. While this can be a deliberate creative choice, most sports photographers aim for a sharp, detailed image. Start with a fast shutter speed of around 1/1000s and adjust as necessary.
ISO
Changing the ISO affects your camera's sensitivity to light. In action photography, we use this setting to adapt to differing lighting conditions and to help us utilise specific shutter speeds and apertures. As all settings of the exposure triangle must be adjusted in unison, we can't give you a specific figure — but don't be surprised if you're using a relatively high ISO of 800 or more, even in good lighting.
Aperture
Aperture has two key jobs. Firstly, it controls how much light reaches the sensor. Secondly, it directly affects the depth of field — how much or how little of your photograph is in focus. For sports photography, you want the athletes centre stage with backgrounds thrown into a pleasing blur. Set your aperture to f/2.8–f/4, which will also let in more light to support a fast shutter speed.
Always shoot in RAW
Even with the best-laid plans, getting a perfect exposure in the heat of the action is difficult. Shooting in RAW gives you the best opportunity to make necessary adjustments to brightness, contrast, and more without degrading image quality.
The best equipment for sports photography
Cameras
The key features of a sports photography camera all relate to its ability to react quickly. A slow, laggy camera puts you at an immediate disadvantage. Look for speedy and accurate autofocus that can track subjects as they move, and a fast continuous (burst) shooting rate — this lets you capture multiple frames of a key moment so you can choose the winner during editing.
Here are some of our favourite sports and action photography cameras:
Lenses
Even with top-price tickets, you probably won't be able to get up close and personal with athletes as they cross the finish line. You'll need a telephoto lens to bridge the gap between you and your subject. Telephoto lenses feature long magnification, cutting down on the foreground and achieving a closer view of the action.
Telephoto lenses come in various focal lengths and in both prime and zoom variants. Prime lenses are favoured by professional sports photographers for their ultimate image quality and fast maximum apertures. Zoom lenses offer versatility — you can photograph various events without changing lenses.
Here are some of our favourite sports photography lenses:
- Canon RF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM
- Nikon Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S
- Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM M2 OSS
- Olympus Pro 40-150mm f/2.8 Zoom
Other essential gear
- Monopod — tripods often take too long to set up and have a large footprint. A monopod is the often-overlooked solution for stabilising your camera gear for maximum sharpness. Read our blog on how a monopod can improve your photography.
- UV filter — when you're on the sidelines concentrating on the action, an errant elbow or stray ball can easily bump your gear. As telephoto lenses can be expensive, always use a UV filter to protect the front element.
Putting these sports photography techniques into play
With the right camera gear and settings, you'll be well placed to capture brilliant sports photography — but there are still some key steps to take to achieve the ultimate success.
Understand the key moments and rules of each sport
AFL photographers aim to capture spectacular marks and bone-crunching tackles; basketball photographers dream of slam dunks. You need to understand the rules and plays of the sport you're covering so you can anticipate key moments and be ready to fire your shutter.
Have your camera settings dialled in early
As soon as you pull out your camera, prepare yourself using the settings guide above. Fire off a few test shots and check your exposures before the events start, so you only need to make slight adjustments when the starting gun fires.
Pay attention to the start and end of events
Athletes have been training their whole lives to reach this moment, and they often only get one chance at ultimate glory. Some of the most impactful and dramatic imagery can be captured immediately before or after an event — the tension and concentration beforehand, and the extreme emotions of winners and losers at the end.
Tips for photographing your favourite Olympic event
Athletics
Athletics have been a popular feature of every summer Olympics in the modern era. One creative technique to illustrate peak performance is panning. Panning in photography involves moving your camera along with the subject, resulting in intentional motion blur but a sharp subject — a powerful way to convey speed.
Swimming
With swimming, most of the action takes place underwater, so you need to be prepared at specific moments. Aim your camera at the starting or finish lines, and anticipate moments in the stroke when a swimmer is visible above the surface to capture the most visually impactful shots.
Basketball
When photographing team sports like basketball, it can be tricky to frame an image that isn't too busy. Try to focus on one-on-one battles, moments when a player is shooting, or — of course — when someone rises above the rest for a mighty dunk.
Gymnastics
Gymnasts continuously inspire us with the way they contort their bodies and do the seemingly impossible. The challenge is that if you take a split second to react, the moment has often passed. Use an ultra-fast shutter speed and consider a camera with a pre-shooting function, such as the Canon EOS R1 or Canon EOS R5 II, for the best results.
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