Tips: Sports Photo's and Shooting Indoors

The image above was taken by a collegue at work. She was formerly the photo buyer for Walmart and she has a new Nikon digital camera that she loves. Her comments on the image are below:

Tips from an Expert

My name is Debby and I love to take digital images. I was formerly the Photo Buyer for Walmart, so I got to see lots of new and cool stuff. I shoot a Nikon D300 and just love it.

My daughters are sports “nuts” and I love taking pictures of them running, hitting and overall being your everyday sports hero.

I shot the image above and was it a challenge. Indoor Volleyball is fun but photographing the athletes can really try your patience. First the lighting is bad, second they don’t let you use a flash (imagine the spots in the athletes eyes) and third, there’s a ton of action out there and freezing the moment requires the right shutter speed.

I had to experiment and complete with about a half dozen other parents jockeying for the best shot. I’d like to share what I learned.

Invest in a good camera and read the instruction manual.
Digital images are FREE. Take lots of pictures. Some will be bad, but there will be some real gems!

Try different shutter and aperture settings on your camera to get different effects. Bad pictures are free too.

Lighting in a gym is horrible. You will have to play with the ISO settings on your camera to get the best shot. You may have to decide which is more important, the perfect density on a picture, or stopping the blur on a subject.
Buy a Photoshop program. My favorite it Adobe Photoshop CS3. My daughter prefers PICASSA.

My favorite trick…if your favorite picture was taken under poor lighting and seems washed out, turn it black and white!

As the technology of digital cameras improves and becomes less expensive more and more parents are becoming sports photographers. Have you been to a Little League game or High School volleyball match lately? At least a half a dozen parents are clamoring for the best shooting position. I am one of those proud parents. See you in the bleachers!!!

Creating Interest with Image Framing

Creating interest in an image can be the result of many factors. In the image above a simple boat ride down the calm river signals impending doom. In this example, the image takes on special meaning because the children are "framed" by the open mouth of the whale.

By using simple surroundings to frame the image, you can create new meaning and make the image memorable for the future to come. The picture has elements of place (where the image was taken), emotion (fun, excitement) and persons. It also has a little satire in the idea is that the children do not yet have any idea of the fate that awaits them. This technique is commonly used to great effect in Hollywood movies.

Use interesting place, positioning and camera angles to add new meaning. You'll need to keep your eyes open and explore camera placement to get the right effect.

Red Rock Hotel Lobby Images

Images from the Red Rock Hotel

Slideshows, DVD's and More

We live in the age of multimedia. Our lives are supplemented with wildly vivid imagery. Have you noticed the change in television studio sets since the introduction of High Definition? I took the picture above in ESPN's Digital Studio.

One of the best ways to showcase your digital images is with a slideshow. Now personally, I hate the word slideshow, but it is a word to which people relate (sometimes badly). When I was young, world travelers would come by the Elks Club with their travel photos and put on a slide show. "Here I am in front of the Eiffel Tower" was quickly followed by "My dog jumps in the Seine".

We've come a long way from simple slideshows. Here's a link to http://www.avincistudio.com/ where you can create a movie of your images in mere seconds. Just download the software and in minutes you'll see how great your images look in a full motion production.

What's more, if you'd like a couple of secret promo codes, I'll post those too if you ask.

I provided a sample above of a Wedding Production that was made in seconds using aVinci software. All you do is supply the images! Good luck.