Capturing the moment

The details behind the photo

There are so many things to consider when setting up to take photos of a professional game, position around the pitch, position to sit, usually the preference is behind the goal and to the side between eighteen yard box and corner flag at the end Oxford are attacking, hence to hopefully capture a goal and celebration. This can be influenced by the weather ie rain, direct sunlight and at some grounds restrictions on where is permitted. The second half would see the position mirror the first half, directly opposite, so as to capture players on the other side, that is left and right coming forward.

Camera and Lens set up.

I shoot with a Canon EOS 1DX Mk 2 with a Canon 70-200 f2.8 lens to capture close range ie 20 yards to goal line. My second set up is a Canon EOS R5 mirrorless body with 400mm f2.8 fixed lens for action in other two third of the field. 

They are both ‘fast’ lenses with a wide aperture (letting in more light) and shallow depth of field for isolating players against the back drop.

Camera settings

Both cameras I set to manual, with a shutter speed of 1250 and an aperature of 2.8 – 3.5, ISO is on auto to give the correct exposure. Both cameras I have set to back button focusing, that is the focusing and shutter release are separate buttons to enable tracking of the subject. The focus setting or tracking is on preset 4, which is for sport and football. To enable tracking of the subject the drive mode is set on A1 servo and high burst rate. The servo attribute enable the camera to ‘follow’ the subject

Focus point – expand AF area where the centre is a square with four small squares around the edges. This ensures that providing the initial focus is accurate on the player required then the depth of field with keep the player sharp, the small squares leave a bit for slight error.

Technique – locking onto the player, as in the photo, Matt Taylor as in the case about to shoot, could be to cross, get in on a header, challenge goalkeeper but to anticipate what hopefully is to follow, of course not every time do you get a good photo as you may have missed the focus due to a player crossing in front momentarily , or the defender stops the action. Once ‘latched’ on the technique is to keep the player in focus and keep the shutter pressed, zoom in (or out) to achieve the best fit frame, and to capture many frames of action that capture the moment, and hopefully a good celebration if a goal is scored, that can mean in total in excess of thirty frames with the camera shooting at nine frames a second. Below is a gif of the sequence of shots put together from the initial header to the ball in the net and the start of celebration (the file is too big to include the whole sequence)