Sports Photography TIPS that you NEED to hear!

[@moritzschneider2735]

Photography is a ruthless art

[@photosfromphilly]

I like the photo with player coming from left. That arm is creating a nice arc frame over the adjacent player. It works well for me, showing a lot more action than a typical boring shot of player heading toward basket. Yes, a crop works too, highlighting the attack to the basket, but don't discount that arm

[@JennyLaBouff]

Thank you for the tips. It caused me to go through all of my images and critique them using your technique. It was very helpful and I look forward to my next photo session next week.

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Good stuff, Rob. The one point I'd also add is: Eyes/face nice and sharp. I can live with a slightly soft face if jersey numbers are sharp, but I much prefer a set of sharp eyes.

[@timkruse7082]

Very basic and very useful. I'm always surprised at how many good sports photographers don't do the simple things like straighten. I use a three step sorting process to get from over 1,000 images to less than 100. It really helps to sort fast when you know what you will accept in the end .... and yet the last tip is the hardest, be brutal with what you will accept and what you won't.

[@ianofsjkartwork]

Great advice Rob.........also well explained.........stay safe............thanks for sharing

[@andrewelder2739]

SUPER helpful, thank you!! Love the tip about keeping the ball in frame. It's intuitive, but I would not have articulated it. Makes perfect sense!

[@markguerin6071]

This was great advice. Thank you for sharing them. Cheers.

[@SportfotografieAeschimann]

Thank you, Rob. Good reminder 💪.

[@PauloOtago]

Thanks Rob. It’s all stuff that we’ve probably heard before, but I still need reminding of (as I sit here with 800 images from a game). Your examples really helped too.

[@RobSambles]

Thanks Paul

[@awiks6966]

I use every rule from this video and my photos are much better than most of people.

[@BruceLeroyUK]

Great tips

[@gheorghegrozav5570]

Thanks a lot for video, I'll try to apply it in volleyball photos

[@SJHFoto]

What level of volleyball do you shoot? A good portion of my work is volleyball

[@gheorghegrozav5570]

@@SJHFotoIn Romania I shoot men and women in first division, women in second division and teenagers. Also I had an experience in CEV Challenge Cup (women). There are few photographers in my region, so I can gain experience. I'm still a beginner (just about 4 months)

[@SJHFoto]

@@gheorghegrozav5570 Neat!

[@DavyEnglish]

Brilliant, really really helpful. thanks

[@MLeeMedia]

Amen to all of those. Crooked horizons especially make me twitch :D

[@pk_fauxtaux]

Good tips

[@SJHFoto]

All of your points are great. The thing I would ad is to get them right in camera! This way, you won't have to spend time later cropping, straightening, etc. Now, I know that for many of you, you can do this later-I can not. I sell onsite at youth sports events (especially girls volleyball and dance competitions). We do no editing-the images go directly to the server which distributes them to the laptops where the girls can instantly see them, and purchase them

[@RobSambles]

Yeah agreed but getting images exactly right in terms of horizon levelling everytime is not realistic. The images I shoot are going direct to news outlets. The process of editing them inbetween is a 2min job and easy to include

[@johnheggie8020]

Hi Rob, another great video. I agree with having the face of the athlete(s) in the photo. I am the sports photographer for my kids' high school and I am amazed with how many athletes will post a photo of the backside of them themselves. I don’t understand it. I am now taking photos of the athletes walking away from me. (Maybe it is just a thing in the USA.)

[@robertlawrence7958]

Good tips Rob. I think an awful lot of photographers are a bit starry eyed when it comes to their own images. The delete button is one of a photographers best friends.

[@my_everyday_carry]

Thanks - that was good.

[@simonvail458]

Great series of tips. Have you a picture of where you normally work from in relation to the players? Thank you

[@RobSambles]

If you mean shooting position for basketball I normally move around the baseline to the right of the basket. Football usually by the corner

[@coreycarter9752]

I'm not on TikTok yet but my daughter would think I'm cool! Thank you but what about shutter speed, ISO and aperture since you shouldnt use a flash? 0lease keep them coming, you have a great delivery!

[@terrybowers4192]

Great tips Rob! Making sure to level, I usually level to the field. I’m shooting lacrosse now, and sometimes this makes the goal look off, or a rail or stands look askew. You shoot football (soccer on my side of the pond) so how do you resolve conflicting background to level. All the best!

[@RobSambles]

In those situations I would try to level with the uprights like goal posts

[@fasttracksportsphotography6311]

My favourite videos

[@r1kuexposures]

Are you going to do a new photo critique video any time soon? Just shot a couple of basketball games for the first time in years and would be fun to send in some pictures from them to be critiqued. 🙂🏀🔥

[@RobSambles]

Yeah will do, honestly though those videos weren't very popular

[@wellbrock]

Loved these tips! I try to apply these to my own work (shoot mostly high school sports), I will sometimes keep a less-worthy image if it's the only one I got of a particular player, or they rarely get in the game, etc. Love your channel!

[@RobSambles]

Cheers Jim

[@Technologyadvisor1]

hello rob hope your well what are your thoughts I just bought a 300mm f2.8 II EF lens on my EOS R and R6 I have all the mk3 extenders so get a 420mm f4 and a 600mm f5,6 lens. I am considering also putting in the mix a R7 changing the 300mm to a 480mm F2.8 with the crop factor what are your thoughts ?I photograph wildlife most of all but some time motor sports. and aircraft shows.

[@RobSambles]

Sounds like some fantastic combinations

[@cdiderich]

I am missing any comment on backgrounds!

[@jarlathmcnee3833]

I can be so harsh to my own lol. I start with maybe 1000 shots in a football game, then 300 get to the computer and then edit 30ish! 😆 and I am still not at what I call a good level yet

[@RobSambles]

Keep going after it and you will be fine

[@_SYDNA_]

Yep. I'll start with 400 to 2000, usually around 1000, identify 20 to 80 keeps depending on the time and mental intensity I was able to bring to that game, and end up 8 to 40, usually around 25-ish. Hopefully a couple are portfolio-level quality. The other day a newspaper editor said "Your photos are really clear. You must have a really good camera. I can drill down really far to pull out the portion I want and it still has good resolution." Yeah, wouldn't it be nice if all it took was a good camera? When you wrote this a year ago you mentioned culling down to 300 before anything got to the computer. In those early times you needed immediate feedback on what was working and probably wanted to enforce high standards on yourself. If you are still culling that much in camera, however, I would encourage you to go listen to the Kenney Roger's song "The Gambler." Unless you're shooting with an R3 it's not effective to cull in camera. There will be time enough for culling and counting when you get home. At the game your mind needs to stay on the game. I suspect you'll also find it less demoralizing and more productive if you can seek the best few rather than piramidally weed up from the bottom -- once you're satisfied you have the basics figured out.

[@papje]

My thoughts are not far off except the faces but maybe because I shoot a different sport

[@tollarplennie]

Less is more, I like it:)

[@rickandkarenbaker6152]

not all sports have a ball

[@SJHFoto]

There is one more thing-Rob, what do you do with your images? You mention culling them and keeping only a few "in the set". How do you sell those? For me, honestly, the parents of the players have bought images many times that I would have discarded if I had the time to look at them. So, if you are selling pics directly to the players or their parents, I think you are simply throwing money away

[@RobSambles]

Yeah selling to parents is a slightly different thing but the tips are exactly the same if you want the photos to be as good as possible. In this video the set of images was for the team as I'm the direct club photographer for these games.

[@superemesean5907]

You need a hairline replacement my guy 🫠🫣