Photography is a never ending journey.
There are no one way roads and many exits to explore on your travels. There have been many changes since the first known photo and there will be many more. Be that change.
THE BETTER THE SPORTS THE BETTER THE PHOTOGRAPHY
I had mentioned earlier that the youth sports especially when starting out in their sports foray they are in a learning mode and they have to think things out. Action can be slow most of the time with a lot of standing around waiting for the coach to tell them what to do. As they grow up the plays become more habit and the kids get much bigger. They run faster, hit harder and run plays that can be followed. The game is much faster. If you cut your teeth on little league and expand over time you get a lot of the basics down just like the kids. If you pick up a camera and show up at the college level for your first try humble may come to mind. Those 10,000 clicks you shot before will make it much easier not having to think about the camera and can follow the game. The ability of the athletes have a direct bearing on the quality of photo. A great athlete will provide ample opportunity to capture great images. I could pick the player of the game by the pictures I get. Being on the team doesn't mean a player will play or if they are in the game you will get a shot. I have struggled to get a photo of each of the seniors on the team to do posters. Sometimes they don't ever get in the game.
Adam Gieger now at Penn State.
SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY WILL TEST YOUR PATIENCE
Do you want a photo with the action as the main focus or the the perfect position of the ball? Maybe the person is the only thing that matters. To get all three takes patience, practice and timing. Tennis is one of those sports that you may think would be easy to shoot. The weather is nice, plenty of sun and the movements can be somewhat timed because after all the ball bounces back and forth. Well you can have too much sun causing shutter speeds to exceed the F stop you may want giving too much dept of field. That can be fixed with neutral density filters to block light. You may have to shoot through the fence. You have to place your lens against the fence and line the hole perfectly trying to center the hole as best you can. This is another reason to shoot a wide open F stop to blur the what fence creeps into the shot. This will also limit the movement of the camera and shorten the view of the field. Sometimes the layout of the field presents limited access so you stand around waiting for the people to shift to the other side. It can also make camera settings difficult when shooting into the sun if that is your only angle. Catching the ball is only part of a picture. Showing the intensity of the player even if the ball is not on the racket may mean more to the person viewing the photo than the person taking the photo. Try to have the ball somewhere in the frame. For better photos scout the different locations the game is played. One of the other fields may present better opportunity. The below photo was shot at an away game which had multiple entrances on both sides of play. I could open the gate and have more movement of the camera to follow the player. This was the only time I had a ball ricochet in the lens.
Fast frame shooting will be a big plus here. Never below 1/400 shutter speed and the faster the better.
SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY WILL HONE YOUR SKILLS
Not only is sports shooting great practice it hones your skills for target acquisition and focusing. If you understand the sport you can get ready by pre-focusing in the general area of the action about to happen. This is where the good glass comes in. The best lens will focus a lot faster than a kit lens. Kit lens tend to search for the subject causing a delay and a missed shot. Shooting the camera in auto mode can be a problem if the shutter speed is too slow. If you are still shooting auto mode there is usually another choice to use called P for program mode. Program will still be auto except you set something like the shutter speed and the other settings will adjust automatically. (Read the manual.) Baseball the batter is standing at the plate you just have to time the shot. Not easy either. When they hit the ball you have to get the camera into position to either show the fielding of the ball or maybe the runner action at a base sliding or the tag. Football has a signal that the ball is hiked into play and the play is run. Then you get a break till the next play. If they throw a pass you follow the ball and try to shoot the reception. Trying to follow a pass play, HARD. Soccer has a field larger than football and a ball getting kicked long distances till it is played. Following the ball on a large area is tough. Large lens small view. Lift your head to see where to go and then get the camera pointed in the proper direction!!! Anticipation of the action can put you right where you want to be or 1/4 second behind or ahead of the shot you really want. You can set the camera to just shoot one thing such as watching the goalie. The above photo isn't bad but the ball against the head would be a preferred shot. Can you tell if the ball is inbound or outbound? The ball shake is from leaving after she hit it. I like to ad some weather when I can. In fact I prefer it.
Each sport provides a different challenge.
SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY FOR BEGINNERS
You have to start somewhere and why not start at the beginning. If you have kids or know kids they have to start somewhere too. This also provides the opportunity to shoot during the daylight hours and lets you use the equipment you have. Here the most important thing is where to be when you take the photo. Baseball has several key shots that are nice to have. This is one of them. Right hand you head for first base and lefties down third base. Timing this shot takes some practice, anticipation of the swing, high shutter speed and luck. What mom wouldn't love this. Who cares, I like it. Lens selection is also a factor. You can't get real close so somewhere around 200 mm will do the job. As you advance to older kids the distances grow and umpires are fussy about where you stand. I have been chewed out on occasion. Baseball provides a single moment for a portrait like photo at any age. Other sports may not be that kind. Kids are learning more than doing and in group sports they form groups during the action. I call them worm balls. Getting a clean shot may not happen but when it does you have to be ready. I watch the game through the lens. As any sport I follow the action or at least attempt to. The most important thing is something has to happen and if the person isn't doing anything there will be no photo.
GETTING STUCK IN A RUT WILL NEVER GET YOU TO THE 10,000 CLICKS.
Everyone does at some point. That's what I like about photography. I started chasing wildlife and did nothing else forever. My first big change came when my nephew started playing sports. It's also when photography got really expensive for me. At least here local high schools play Friday nights and the stadium lights at the school were less than adequate with good equipment. My first outing was not what I had hoped for with the low light and ISO capabilities my first outing humbled me. On Monday morning I made my first large purchase, Nikon 400 MM F2.8 lens. The photos were to say the least night and day in quality of focus and getting more keepers. The D200 would soon fall to another. Yes another call to the favorite camera store and a D3 showed up. I have been doing this more than a few years so I can say that I show up, set the shutter to 1/400, F2.8, and ISO 6400, continuous focus and follow the ball. I like shooting sports. You never know what is going to happen. It's not like shooting people who you have to pose. It just kind of happens. You will do better in the right position and understanding how the sport flows. Another advantage of the sport venues is it starts at a certain time and pretty much runs for a certain time and then ends for the day. Wildlife is unpredictable and you may not get anything on any given day. When a person says it's not the camera it's the photographer they are partially correct. HOWEVER, there are times when you need special tools of the trade. For night sports a good camera with high ISO because shutter speed needs to be at stopping speed and a lens with a wide F stop to gather the light and help with fast focus. If possible lighting up the subject if allowed. Anytime there is low light you need to rethink. Do you want the photo to look like it is daylight or capture all the glowing lights. Landscape low light photography will teach you a lot about shutter speed, ISO, and F stops. Some of the specialty things will be a tripod, shutter release, flash light and maybe a timer. Now is when you may need what you have learned about manual settings. Most camera and lens will work so you don't need to have something expensive but you will need patience.
I didn't give up wildlife I just added sports and pretty close to the 10,000 clicks.