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Sports Photography Tips

Capture the moment at Wimbledon

It's upon us, the oldest and most prestigious grand slam, the most stylish and gossiped tennis event of the year, yes, we mean Wimbledon.

One of the few major sporting events of the year that allow the general public to take their cameras in to capture the action. While sports photography is sometimes considered as being too niche to get right, or there’s a feeling that you need specialist equipment to take a decent photo, we’re here to tell you that’s not the case!

Continue reading for our top tips for capturing the moment at sporting events, such as Wimbledon.

Know The Sport You’re Photographing!

When it comes to sports photography in general, it’s a good idea to have a basic knowledge of how the match or game works. At Wimbledon, for example, you’d want to be thinking about the layout of the court and the techniques used by the players, this will allow you to pre-empt where the most action is going to be so you can make sure you’re in the right place at the right time for a particular type of shot.

Look for the Moments that Make the Sport

It’s important to remember to capture a narrative, or for your shots to be able to tell a story, so keep an eye out for the moments of the sport that really represent it. For tennis, this could be the moment of a serve, the added drama of a player diving to reach a deciding point or the frantic run towards the net for a drop-shot.

Don’t forget to look out for the sometimes-overlooked shots, like the reactions from the crowds or iconic staples like the strawberries and cream.

For a camera that does all the hard work for you, leaving you to enjoy the thrills of the championship, the Sony ZV-1 is an ideal choice.

Featuring a 20.1 megapixel 1.0-type stacked CMOS sensor (as found in the acclaimed Sony RX100 IV) for high quality images and the advanced image stabilisation helps to keep your photos and videos blur free so you can spend more time concentrating on the fun than worry about whether your footage is blurry or not. The bonus treat is the 4K video recording. Thanks to its high-speed sensor LSI, the Sony ZV-1 uses a full-pixel readout, resampling around 1.7x the number of pixels required for 4K, to condense astonishing detail into each and every frame.

Use A Fast Shutter Speed

If freezing the action is the shot you want, then you’ll need to be using a fast shutter speed, along with a combination of using a fast lens, high ISO setting and have good natural light, as the use of flash is forbidden at most sporting events, including Wimbledon.

When it comes to the shutter speed, for example, anything from around 1/500s of a second or higher should freeze your subject in motion. This will be trial and error, so be prepared to play about with it until you find the right speed for you.

Use a Telephoto Lens

The flexibility in shots you can get from a telephoto lens will be a huge benefit to you. Aim for something that gives you up to at least 200mm to enable you to really zoom in and isolate your subject.

For those of you that shoot on Sony then the Sony FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS Lens is a great choice where light isn’t going to be an issue. Offering high resolution throughout the zoom range and featuring direct drive SSM for quiet, precise focusing.

For the Nikon shooters, then the Nikon Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S Lens would be ideal and covers all the bases for stills and video. Focusing is fast, smooth, and silent. Sharpness is outstanding throughout the frame, even when shooting at the widest aperture.

Use Continuous Auto-Focus and Burst Mode

To make sure your camera is able to keep up with the action, and focus on it, switch your focusing mode to continuous or subject tracking and turn on burst mode!

Take lots and lots of Photos!

In our opinion it’s better to have too many than not enough, so if it’s match point and you’re hoping to capture that winning shot, once you’ve got your focus sorted just hold that finger down on the shutter and shoot away to your hearts content!

Overall, don’t forget to have fun and make your photography a unique work of your perspective and Wimbledon experience; you’ll be amazed by the power of your own creativity: all you’ll want would be celebrating your talent with a wonderful photo book that will be the showstopper at any dinner party.

Don’t forget to tag us @jessops #jessopsmoment if you share any images online!

     

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