Most of the action takes place at known points-the bases and the batter’s box-but distances are great, and a 300mm or 400mm telephoto is usually necessary. Flood-lit games at night are common, and call for high-speed film and ideally, a wide-maximum aperture. One of the classic baseball shots is of a player sliding into a base in a cloud of dust. This is best caught with a ground-level position. Pre-focusing on the base may help.
Sports photography is different than candid photography Photographers need to keep in mind certain guidelines: Shots, photo ranges, techniques, lens and sports, and films.
Photographers and staffers should understand how to use the four basic types of photographs that appear in yearbooks.
Photographs continue to occupy from 60-70 percent of the space on most spreads of an average yearbook; that is too large of a percentage of space not to consider very critically.
Talking with students about the 5 Ws and 1 H used to mean that the news lead most certainly was the topic at hand. No longer. Talking about the who, what, when, where, why and how could also mean you’re discussing the writing of in-depth captions for your yearbook.
To most of us who produce the yearbook, club and organization pictures are significant because they show what your campus offers and what activities students participate in throughout the school year. To handle such a monumental task, we hold a club picture day on campus to get these important shots for the yearbook. Here is a plan to help you run your picture day smoothly.
To illustrate the use of these focal lengths in a typical classroom setting, I visited Rob Davenport’s science class at Platte County High School in Platte City, Mo. The students were testing the weight-bearing strength of their recently built Popsicle stick towers. Very simply, I was trying to tell a classroom story while using a variety of lenses to show what can be done at your school for your yearbook coverage.
Students readily understand the power of having a camera in hand. They see that it can make people do one of three things: hide, mug, or go on with their business but direct their activity to the camera. I teach my students that with power comes a responsibility to be above reproach at all times. To this end, my students are given lessons in manners and protocol when out of the class and on assignment.
Much teaching time in photography – especially on the high school level – is spent on looking for the right moment to shoot. But examining the fl ip side of that concept – what not to shoot – may be just as helpful in pursing good images, so that photographers understand what does not work, what has been overused or what may put us on shaky ground legally or ethically.
It does not behoove the modern yearbook adviser to exercise extreme control over the middle school photographer. Granting permission to shoot the scenes as they see them can afford fantastic results. Better still, encouraging artistic license will ensure a yearbook that is thoughtful and exciting for the consumer.
Capturing sports photographically has always been one of, if not the toughest, assignment faced by any photographer. For some students, the challenge is welcomed. For others, just the word sports puts fear into their hearts. However, patience and practice can help any photographer become less afraid of the dreaded sports assignment.