And so begins the "blog-of-sorts"

The other day a well-meaning friend asked me "so, why would someone other

than a newspaper or a magazine hire a professional sports photographer these

days?  After all, Canon and Nikon are putting out pretty good consumer cameras,

right?"  Honestly, before I started doing this work I wondered the same thing. 

Then I started trying to do the work with consumer (as opposed to pro)

equipment, before finally making the investment in pro equipment.  I can tell you

now there are several reasons why you might want to consider hiring an

experienced sports photographer with professional equipment.

Reason 1: focusing speed! 

Pro cameras focus so much faster than amateur cameras it's hard to describe

without letting you experience it for yourself.  While the picture quality of Canon's

20D, 30D and 40D cameras is exceptional (and in some cases better in low light

than the professional Mark IIN) the difference in focusing speed between these

cameras and Canon's pro cameras is amazing.  The biggest difference is in the

time it takes a pro camera to lock on to its subject.  The split second it takes the

consumer camera to lock on to it's subject is often the difference between "just

missed it" photo and a photo that makes folks say "wow, you nailed that one!" 

Another difference is in the camera's ability to continually focus on a moving

subject.  Back when I was shooting with a 20D it was frustrating to me how often

a player would "run out of focus" - i.e., run faster toward me than my camera

could focus.  With pro equipment, the number of shots that are "tack sharp,"

even when a running back is sprinting at you, is impressive. 

Reason 2: creamy soft backgrounds!

Do you ever wonder how it is that professional photographers are able to get

shots of athletes with those nice blurry backgrounds that makes the player stand

out?  Again, it's all about the equipment.  Most consumer camera lenses do a

great job of creating nice creamy, blurry backgrounds when the subject is nice

and close.  But sports photography requires a lens that gets you that same

background when the subject is far away!  And for that type of lens you have to

make quite the investment - it's a lot cheaper to hire a guy like me!  (hint, hint)

Reason 3: Frame rate!

A good consumer camera will take about 5 frames per second.  That's actually

pretty good...but the difference between 5 and 8.5 frames per second is head

shaking when you consider how quickly a ball leaves a hand or facial expression

leaves a face!  When I first started shooting sports I worked with a Canon 20D

(which shoots 5 frames per second).  I was both envious of and amazed by the

speed of the pro cameras.  Then I bought one.  Basically, you increase the

chances of catching that perfect moment by a factor of three frames every

second.  For the little guys, who aren't very quick yet, this often isn't a big

deal...but when you move up to even 7-8th grade sports it can really make a

difference.

Granted, you still have to have a good eye, good timing, and a feel for the game,

but great equipment makes it a lot easier to shoot great sports photos.

The final reason...

Let's not forget one important factor - you're there to watch your kid's game with

your eyes, not your camera.  If you've ever focused exclusively on taking photos

at a game, you probably already know two things: you don't really get to take in

the whole game (the camera limits your peripheral vision); and, it's exhausting!

So there you have it...four reasons why I think folks invite professional

photographers to take photos of their kids playing sports.  If you're interested,

drop me an email and we'll figure something out!