Five tips for better sports photography

Sports photography can be a fun and challenging genre to embark upon. Whether you’re a hobbyist looking to capture your kid’s weekend soccer games, or a pro looking to diversify your portfolio, below are five tips to help you get started with sports photography. 

1. Dial in your camera settings.

This is the most obvious starting point for sports photography. Depending on the sport, you need to ensure that your shutter speed will be fast enough to freeze the action. Spend a little time experimenting with shutter speeds and reviewing your images to ensure you don’t have blurry subjects. You may need to open up your aperture and boost your ISO to get a faster shutter speed, especially if you’re in an indoor setting. A little bit of grain will be better than blurry images. 

Using continuous autofocus is also key. I prefer to use back button focus so that I can track my moving subject while keeping them in focus. High-speed burst mode can also be a great feature to use to nail that perfectly-timed image.