Sports Photography - Women - Men Tennis

Today, I took some Tennis matches photos. To take Tennis' photo, we'll need at least 70-200mm or 70-300 zoom lens.

Since tennis players usually stay in the certain position (not like soccer/football where the players are running around), using prime lens such as 85mm to 200mm will not be a problem.

Lens with fast focusing motor will be helpful. Image Stabilization is not required and if you have camera or lens with that capability, I recommend you to turn it off.

To stop motion, we need at least 1/400, to stop the movement of arm and freeze the tennis ball, we need at least 1/800.

What is the recommended cameras?
For the camera, I recommend SLR with highest continuous burst rate and fast focus as possible such as Canon 40D, 50D, Olympus E-3 or Nikon D300. Avoid Pentax K-series cameras. Don't afraid to boost iso up event though you are shooting at bright light. ISO will help on raising the speed to desired sharpness 1/400-1/800. This is especially important in cloudy day. Some entry/mid level camera such as Nikon D90 and Canon XSi will do the job pretty well.

What picture to take?
I tend to like to capture expressions, so I use to shoto close up upper body only, but I also take some full body photos. Beside taking players in action. I think getting some photos of break time such as player drink water or wipe their sweat is a good idea.



Others
It is important to take a good position to shoot, many new photographers make a mistake by positioning themself facing the sun light, that make the object back lit and dark. This is especially important if you take picture at noon. In the late afternoon, usually the sun become more diffussed and it is more ideal to take pictures, but you might have problem to keep the shutter speed high. (Two solutions: raise ISO or use big aperture / fast lens).

That is all what I can share for today.

Photos: Top Right: Ryan Sanburg, Middle: Ashley Globerman and bottom: Dara Dwojewski