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Sports Photography Smorgasbord [IP71]

This episode is packed with sports photography tips and tricks from Jim's week-long photo shoot in Colorado Springs photographing Olympians, pro athletes, youth sports, and teenage skaters on the street.

What's in this episode

  • Tips for shooting sports in poor light during the middle of the day
  • How to photograph a credentialed sporting event
  • Tips and tricks for shooting youth sports like a pro
  • Photographing motocross and other fast action sports

Resources Mentioned in this Episode

  • Some of Jim's Sports Photography Shots from his week-long photo shoot in Colorado Springs can be seen here.

2 thoughts on “Sports Photography Smorgasbord [IP71]”

  1. I started listening to your Podcasts somewhere around episode 55 and have enjoyed every episode. I have even gone back and listened to the Dave Black episode (twice). I recently transitioned from the parent on the sidelines taking pictures to professional. It was not an easy decision to make and it took me about a year of people asking me to come out and take pictures of their kids playing before I felt confident in my abilities to transition to professional. I still have a ways to go but for now parents are more than happy to pay me to shoot their kids playing and absolutely enjoy the images I capture. My long term goal is to be good enough to be a regular on the sidelines for a professional team (the Sounders of course).

    Why is this important? Because I absolutely love your reference to shooting action sports to playing “Whak a Mole.” One thing you said in the podcast that is so true for action sports photographers is you have to know the sport you are shooting in order to get the good images. I have been a soccer parent for 20 years, a soccer coach for 20 years and a referee for 10 years. I have seen 1000’s of Youth, High School and Professional games in my life. I am passionate about soccer. It is this kind of knowledge of the game that lets me anticipate almost exactly what is going to happen a few seconds before it actually does happen on the field. Any other sport and I would feel I would just be playing “Whak a Mole.”

    Listening to you talk about shooting sports sounded a lot like me trying to talk about portrait or landscape photography and I thought that added a great humbling feel to the podcast.

    I really enjoy your podcasts as I am trying to make myself a bit more well rounded as a photographer and I really enjoy the technical information you discuss. I really look forward to the next podcast that discusses some of the technical parts of what you learned in Colorado. I too have the same problem with middle of the day no cloud in the sky shoots where half the face is in shadow because of the light. I am curious to hear if you were able to salvage any shots post process that were shot in these conditions.

    Thanks for all the great information.

  2. Hi Jim. You are awesome!

    Today I listened to the first 1/2 of the sport photography podcast. To me the next episode is SUPER important. I am into fitness A LOT. But I have lots of problems photographing action shots. I am a photographer and look to specialize in crossfit. I have taken several shots but I am never happy with it. I rented an external flash and wasn’t happy how it turned out either. I’ve tried using Manual Mode, Tv mode and AV mode and I don’t seem to get lucky in any way. I really need your help.
    Crossfit is super fast as well so I want to get cool shots, it has been very frustrating lately.
    Some of the athletes are holding 300 pounds of weight and I can’t ask HEY CAN YOU NOT MOVE FOR THREE SECONDS because they can really pass out.
    I want to promote my business as a fitness photographer but I don’t have the guts to do it yet because I feel I am missing something big.

    I look forward to your feedback
    PS I have a canon 60D, lenses 18-135mm f.4 and 50mm 1.4

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