The EASY Way to Improve Your Sports Photography

The BEST way to improve your sports photography is through dedicated practice. I know its not an easy trick or tip, but it is the only way to improve. I'll show you my thought process on how to improve your sports photos through practicing. You can't just show up and expect to get better, you need to think about what you are doing and focus on a single skill each time.
0:00 - Intro
0:20 - What Practice Means
1:32 - Best way to Practice Sports Photography
4:40 - Finding Situations for Practice
6:52 - Progression Plan for Sports Photography
7:53 - How I Improved my Sports Photography
Follow along on Instagram @paulrutherford_
Check out my images at www.paulrutherfordphotography.com
As always, leave any questions in the comments!

[@Paul_Rutherford]

What do you need to practice most?

[@luisleon9815]

Just this video, I started watching your videos because I wanted to learn, to improve, now Im getting ready for my second season in mexican baseball league 🤙and still practicing every day

[@Paul_Rutherford]

@@luisleon9815 Nice! Let me know if you have any specific questions!

[@luisleon9815]

@@Paul_Rutherford Sure! Thanks a lot man !

[@kingblaze2274]

I'm your 5,000th Subscriber! Just found your channel and wanting to start sports photography I love the content you create! Keep grinding and growing friend! Love from Australia

[@Paul_Rutherford]

Thanks for watching and subscribing!

[@dcarson]

Ultimate frisbee! What a great tip!

[@Paul_Rutherford]

Glad it was helpful!

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Great points! I try new things (angles, settings, editing techniques) all the time, just to see if they work. Sometimes, they don't - and that's fine. Sometimes, they do work or I figure out how to make them work better the next time. At 57, I'm still always trying to add something to my photography skill set.

[@Paul_Rutherford]

Thanks! Photos that don't work just get us closer to the ones that will. Never a bad time to be adding to the skill set.

[@simoneciani316]

Wow. really greats tips, Paul. Thank you. Subscribed.

[@Paul_Rutherford]

Thanks for watching and subscribing!

[@pauldanesiphotography]

I've recently watched a number of your videos and I have gotten so much out of them. I am a retired CFO in RI and I took up photography about 6 years ago while working at a local private high school. There were plenty of games with varsity, JV and freshmen games in each sport. But all I was shooting was game action and never took into consideration some of the other things that you brought out in your videos. One piece I had missed was celebrations after a score, big defensive play, etc., as well as the reactions of the coaching staff and players not in the game. Thank you for making me aware that a great photo doesn't have to come from game action and that I should open up my eyes to other things going on during the game. Keep up the great and useful videos.

[@Paul_Rutherford]

Hi Paul, thanks for watching and so glad it helps! I remember hearing other sports photographers talk about getting those other types of photos and it finally clicked!

[@nbigman11]

Also when I look at my past photos, like a year ago from current day, I see improvements on my photos hehe. Very little but I notice.

[@Paul_Rutherford]

Haha, I'm sure they are much better than you think!

[@nbigman11]

@@Paul_Rutherford LOL Thats always happen when im shooting. Im like im doing okay. Look on macbook, ah not too shabby xD

[@OlliHue]

I've been to a few Ultimate tournaments this year as a photographer. You have so many games and different situations. I always try to find good positions on the field. Always like to use your tips as well. Was recently with Nathan in Wroclaw at the JJUC. ☺️ Thanks for your videos

[@Paul_Rutherford]

Thanks for watching and hope it helps! Nathan is the best!

[@tedk2814]

Hi Paul, I just now discovered your channel and love your videos. I'm retired from a career in anesthesia and have been shooting high school sports for four years so I still have tons to learn but love every minute. Since I've always been a Nikon shooter I transitioned to mirrorless bodies like Z9 and Z6 but...after using a 120-300 2.8 for night games, I just purchased a 400 2.8 G, actually from an ESPN photographer. Raining so much in Florida, fields are soaked, I haven't used it yet !! You videos are inspiring and your cadence and tone are perfect for teaching. Thanks so much, Ted in Sebastian, Fl.

[@Paul_Rutherford]

Hi Ted! Thank you for watching and the kind words! I hope you can get some cool muddy photos with all that rain! Stinks so many fields are turf now you can't get those fun mud shots. Let me know if you have any specific questions!

[@bquinn722]

A lot of great points. Definitely have to practice. I also had to learn to be honest with myself when critiquing my own work and what I need to work on. That can be hard, especially because a parent tends to love any photo of their kid, lol. I’ll look at a photo and think it is no good but someone else loves it.

[@Paul_Rutherford]

That is always tough and a topic I want to make another video about soon! Definitely tough to critique yourself when shooting for other people because you are right, you never know what photos they will like the most! And sometimes we have a personal attachment to an image and can't see that another one is better.

[@johnkofi-theultimatelife1315]

Great tips, I will definitely focus more on a single skill and try more manual shooting. 👌 I would add a couple tips : take the time to warm-up and be aware of the tiredness. Pre-game shots to warm up and maybe find nice settings. Start shooting and then practice some skills when focused and comfortable. Back to normal shooting while still focused. Then finish with routine shots when tired. Also stay hydrated, in the shade and eat some stuff.

[@Paul_Rutherford]

Warming up during pre-game and testing out settings and techniques there is a great tip! Nothing to lose and gets you in the mindset of shooting!

[@nbigman11]

When you mention about body position, I didnt recognize how of a habit I had during ultimate frisbee shoot so I tried stay conscious when I was at us open hehe. One day double exposure seems cool to learn for ultimate! Your photos looks so amazing.

[@Paul_Rutherford]

Thanks!!!

[@tollarplennie]

I am leaving for two soccer games in 30 minutes:) Practice, practice, practice

[@Paul_Rutherford]

Amazing! Keep working!

[@billyd9955]

I stopped watching 10 seconds in when you told me to stop lol. hope the rest of the video is good :)

[@Paul_Rutherford]

Haha, Well I hope you got a lot out of the first ten seconds!

[@marianofigueroa8458]

Hi, Paul! How do you do the 6 exposure in one in camera? I've never managed to do it (or find the option in my camera lol)

[@Paul_Rutherford]

Some cameras may not have the option to do multiple exposures in camera. But the is a multiple exposure option in my menu and it allows me to change the number of exposures I want.

[@angelogarciajr5356]

Thanks. After all these years my biggest problem continues to be sharp focus failures. I put the focus spot on the runners numbers and push my back button focus and sometimes the camera wont even focus and evidently sometimes not 100% sharp. Fuzzy eyes for instance. Very slight blur? I am not sure if the button needs cleaning or just operator error. Daylight, ISO 1600 F8 with 3200 shutter should give me sharp. Pretty frustrating. With my eye site getting worse as I age, a lot of times I miss a couple of photos with the slight problems I mentioned and the whole gallery gets rejected. Then I have to review the whole thing again and resubmit. Frustrated.

[@erik5024]

I'm with you there Angelo! I've managed to get a lot of practice shooting (high school) basketball, track, cross country, baseball, and some football. All in varied lighting, with pro gear (some of it is a bit older) and sharp focus is elusive. I even bought the Reikan Focal program to microadjust my lenses to my camera bodies, yet my 400 2.8 is still not as sharp as I think it should be. Same with my 300 2.8, but not quite as much. I know people produce fantastic images with the same gear, yet it's a real struggle. I'm about to take my gear to the local camera/repair shop for them to clean and look at the focusing. Not sure if my camera bodies need work, my lenses need work, or if I need more work. For example, I went to my son's high school football practice yesterday for me to get some shots and work on my settings, focus and such. Lighting was decent, enough that at 1/1600 at 2.8 the ISO was well under 1000. I took shots of players standing still, using the 400 and 300, and I'm disappointed with the sharpness of the images.

[@Paul_Rutherford]

If you've tried everything then maybe it could be your gear. Sometimes the tiny screws on the mounts come a little loose and can effect the image quality. Or it could be shooting on hot turf. Or maybe even your gear is just a little broken. Either the lens is malfunctioning or the shutter on the camera might be nearing the end of its life. Although in Daylight I might try shooting at ISO 400, F4, and shutter the same.

[@erik5024]

@@Paul_Rutherford I normally run auto ISO with biggest aperture and shutter speeds of 1/1000 or faster. I seem to remember some awesome baseball shots I took last spring (1/3200, 2.8 and ISO 100), so I know the gear is capable, but those are the exceptions. I'm shooting a high school football jamboree this afternoon, and I'll play with the settings to see how it works out. I did check my screws (after watching a video of yours recently about this issue) and they are fine. Both my camera bodies are nowhere near their estimated shutter life, they have never done anything strange, and the lenses seem to be functioning fine and show almost no visible external wear, so they have been well taken care of before I bought them. The picture quality looks super sharp via the viewfinder, but the resulting images, when zoomed in, are not to my satisfaction. Depending on today's results, I may take my gear to the local shop to see about fine tuning them and to see if anything needs work. I know each lens has a sweet spot for sharpness, and it may not be at 2.8.

[@erik5024]

@@Paul_Rutherford Had a great time at the jamboree, although it's a tough format to get a lot of good shots. The biggest takeaway from the day was I got to try each of the bodies (1Dx and a mk2) with each of my lenses and found my 1Dx doesn't get along well with the super telephoto lenses. The 1Dx struggled with autofocus in those conditions. Played around with white balance, shutter speed, focus modes and aperture. I also got some (what I thought) were decent kneepads, but they made things worse. It was several hours of up/down, moving on the sidelines, practicing transitioning to my backup camera, etc.... a lot of work, and I learned a lot.

[@DAVE_WHITE]

Practice is exactly what they do not do they sit on the pc and bla bla bla about gear.... Get out and shoot Hell I shot football baseball and motocross with a D50 learn your sport practice and learn some more..

[@Paul_Rutherford]

Practice is where you put your learning to the test!