Sports Photography Tips | Rugby Photography With David Pocock and David Gray

We teamed up with Professional Rugby player David Pocock and Professional Sports Photographer David Gray in between training to provide tips and tricks on how capture the perfect shot from the sideline.

0:50 - Knowing the game
1:10 - Look for the ball
3:12 - Framing/Cropping

[AC-idrf]

Rugby Photography tips.

Where to be...
Try the ends of the field rather than the sidelines. Try to position yourself a quarter of the way in from the touch line with the sun either at your back or to the side.

Why it works. You will see the attacking players faces and they will be lit with high contrast front or side light.

How to stand...
Get as low as you can. Sitting on a stool is good. Lying on the ground may be even better.

Why it works. Getting low makes the players look bigger, more powerful and more heroic all characteristics you may be trying to capture in sports photography.

What lens to use...
A 70-200mm on a full frame or the crop frame equivalent is more than adequate. Your best shots will be in the try area and the near quarter approaching the try area.

A 400mm f2.8 is a standard lens for pros shooting sport.
If carrying an enormous lens and shooting on a monopod is your thing, good for you. The faffery, bulk and weight of carrying a 400mm is not worthwhile for most people.

Why it works. A 70-200mm allows you to capture great shots in landscape, snap to vertical when a running individual gets closer and snap to 70mm if they score right in front of you.

Settings to use...
Shoot wide open (I.e. the smallest number which is your largest aperture say f2.8)

Shoot in AV this will maintain your wide open aperture and vary your shutter speed automatically if the light changes due to clouds or shadows on the pitch.

Adjust your ISO so that your shutter speed is 1/1000 or slightly better.

Why it works. A wide open aperture affords you faster shutter speeds to capture and freeze action. It also provides the shallowest depth of field. f/ 2.8 when shooting 200mm gives you a pleasing creamy background.

Focus and framing...
Aim small miss small is the sports photographer’s maxim. A single central point on continuous/servo focus, activated by a back button provides very good control and flexibility over what part of the image will be in focus.

Why it works. Back button focus allows you to separate focusing from shutter release. This means that you can focus on one area, release the focus button, compose and shoot with the shutter release.

It also allows you to follow a moving subject by keeping it on the centre focus point and keeping the back focus button depressed while engaging the shutter.

What to shoot...
Anticipate to shoot for the height of the action. But don’t forget to keep shooting after the action. Reactions from the winners (and the losers) are great things to include in your photographic story.

[thepanel]

*Don't slouch. It's uncomfortable.* (Make sure your monopod comes comfortably to eye-level. Or sit on a collapsible stool. A low angle looks nice in many sports.) 
Bring a rain cover for the camera and a sun-cover for the laptop. 
Keep both eyes open, not just the one looking through the viewfinder. That way you can simultaneously scan the wider area while also shooting the narrow view through the lens.
And no freelance sports shooter survives these days... all the guys you see shooting on the sideline are either full-time paid employees or guys who are just shooting for the love of it, assuming they can get accreditation. Freelancers trying to sell a few game pix are in big trouble these days. Print media has been dying for 20 years and the online version of those old publications just don't have the same budget as they did in the print media days...

[NathanHeney]

2:44 he said let’s do some of the girls 😂😂

[tareekrahman]

How many price of this lenc of Bangladesh??

[orion]

70-200 L 2.8 with a 1.4 or 2x extender give tack sharp images...with a crop sensor camera you get 560mm effectiveness but softer images at full extension.quick as you want focus...and will let you capture more from midfield and closer to the try. AI SERVO with back button AF and your keen eye helps

[nickellis]

Cool vid and interesting discussion and I'd like that 200-400
Go Westies

[Jay-ifdr]

TIPS???, still waiting for some. How about ISO, auto/manual, why you shooting into the sun, opposed to having sun behind you or to the side etc... Settings etc... Did you shoot manual, shutter, AP. So as said, no tips here except showing thousands in lenses and camera, WHICH, YOU DON'T NEED TO HAVE PEOPLE.

[meteoroz]

Interesting, but I failed to see any real "tips", other than the cropping and follow the ball...