Touchdown Shouting Tips to Shoot Digital Photos of American Football Part 1
American Football – a game of high stakes and even higher emotions, whether it’s the joy of watching an immaculate catch, the anguish of losing a game by a “wide-right” field-goal, or the worry of seeing your quarterback blindsided by an angry lineman with something to prove.
What makes football a high-paced, anything-can-happen event also makes it very difficult for digital photographers. You must deal with 22 players on the field (not to mention referees and coaches trying to get their points across), plus the midday sun outside or inconsistent lighting inside domes. Unless you have a press pass, you also must deal with nose-bleed seats in large stadiums and shouting and screaming fans ready to jump up at a moment’s notice to block your shot. Whew!
To help you score a touchdown with your digital photos I’ve listed 9 digital photography tips. The first five are mentioned in this article with tips 6-9 listed in Part II.
1) Don’t Get Your Hopes Up
This sounds like a lousy tip to start things off, but hear me out. If you’re sitting in nose-bleed seats and don’t own a digital camera with a large optical telephoto zoom (digital zoom doesn’t matter), football players will likely appear as just large dots in your photos. And if you’re sitting behind a tall person that loves to stand up and cheer after every play, good luck taking great photos from your seat without getting a shot of the person’s head in the way.
