Capturing the Intensity of Youth Sports by Chris Buhlmann
Photographer Chris Buhlmann can take up to 500 frames in one youth sporting event. What began as a simple desire to capture the emotion and intensity of his son’s football games has grown into an inter-est in recording the story of one season after another, transforming him into an instant celebrity and the most sought after spectator of the game. “The kids and parents look forward to the html email the same day to see the pictures,” says Buhlmann. “They enjoy it and it adds to their total sports’ experience.” Buhlmann uses the Pentax K20D and 10D cameras to shoot and his Tamron AF18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro. “If you are a parent photographer you do not need to spend thousands to shoot sports to get the same quality as the pros,” says Buhlmann about Tamron lenses. “Tamron mechanics work very well with Pentax; the 18-250 is very compact, focuses real quick and shoots very sharp images.” Buhlmann advises any youth sports’ pho-tographer to invest in a compact all-in-one zoom like Tamron’s 18-250mm lens. “For kid’s sports, you don’t want equipment that gets in your way. It needs to be compact because you should be moving around.” Telling a season’s story includes more than just the action. Buhlmann shoots a series of photos when the kids are warming up, including coaching moments. During an evening practice, he shot an image of the coach preaching to his team as the children intently looked on. The focal length was 250mm with an aperture of f/6.3 @ 1/400th sec. Because it was a night shot, he used ISO3200. “With the exceptional image quality at high ISO of today’s Pentax or other industry names, you have f-stop flexibility even in tough lighting conditions resulting in crisp images with little noise.
The primary tip Buhlmann insists upon for any youth sports photographer is to “get out of the stands and get on the field.” “Don’t worry about being on the opponent's sidelines either, as long as you stay neutral to the action you should have free range.” He positions himself where the best lighting is available and will sometimes use a monopod. He shoots the warm ups to fine tune his set up making sure that no matter where his lens points, it will not be into the sun. "Use the light to your advantage,” he says. “Position yourself where the best lighting is and move with the action. Don’t wait for the action to come to you.” For outdoor football you should probably have lapped the field a few times in a game. The typical technique of panning the action and shooting should be offset with other kinds of photos as well suggests Buhlmann. Capturing intimate clues to a hard fought game helps to provide context. “Muddy feet define the experience of the game,” he says. His image of the nameless legs with scattered dirt and mud was shot at a focal length of 250mm using ISO500 with an aperture of f/6.3 @ 1/250th sec.
Another important approach in capturing the determination of youth sports is to make contact with the player’s eyes. According to Buhlmann, the grit and resolve that is part of a player’s drive is always apparent in the eyes. His photo of the running back being chased by two linebackers offers a telling narrative. The player looks intently at his pursuers, keeping his left arm poised between them and the ball. He froze the action using f/6.3 @ 1/400th sec. with a focal length of 250mm, ISO200.
Buhlmann sets up his cameras for the sRGB color space. “sRGB more accurately represents the colors as you would view or print them” he says and as such will keep certain jersey colors like reds from appearing oversaturated. For white jerseys, using a camera’s fine tuning color balance ability can help you fine tune your image making. As a game changes between daylight to night time Buhlmann suggests updating your white balance and continue to consult your histogram to tweak your expo-sure. “Don’t let the camera do all the setting,” he advises “Remember that a camera is still shooting to match to a standard 18% gray card. During transitions from daylight to night field lighting your camera may need a bit of your attention to get the right exposure and the right white balance. Buhlmann generally uses center-weighted average metering when shooting because of the many variables associated with sports including jersey colors, bright lights, speed of movement, etc. In youth sports, spot metering on any one subject could over or under expose other areas of the shot. Once the center-weighted average is determined, he manually adjusts accordingly usually not needing to change by more the + or – a 1/3 or a stop. With the exception of lightning, youth sports are played rain or shine. Buhlmann’s image of number 20 leaping for a pass in a heavy downpour is a testament to the commitment of the game. No doubt some great plays are made in heavy downpours requiring loyalty and devotion on the part of the team photog-rapher. Buhlmann credits Tamron lenses for their durability and exceptional glass in challenging situations like inclement weather. He works regardless of the conditions. He employed a focal length of 200mm with an aperture of f/6.2 @ 1/400th sec., ISO800.
For a telescoping zoom like the Tamron 18-250, he has used a Ziploc bag to cover the lens, opening up a hole on the bottom and wrapping it around the lens body for extra protection. Most importantly, Buhlmann captures all the kids, “Be inclusive of everyone,” he says. It will add to the story of each season and provide smiles and memories well into old age for each participant. On a bright, sunny Saturday afternoon, one young receiver breaks a tackle and looks sure to outrun another. It may be his greatest moment and it has been frozen in time. Buhlmann used ISO320, a focal length of 250mm with an aperture of f/8 @ 1/500th sec.
Youth sports is loved by the parents as well as the players. Capturing the great “fish stories” of amazing strength and superhuman moments are what Tamron lenses have been doing season after season.
SPORTING TIPS 1. Use a big Memory Card. Most photographers who shoot youth sports shoot hundreds of images in one afternoon or evening. 2. Get out of the stands and get into the action. 3. Uniform colors and background hues may be challenging. Understand your cameras controls for color space, white space and metering to get the best image possible. 4. Make sure your lens is panning and focused on the action. Don’t wait for the action to come to you. 5. Use a compact all-in-one lens with an expansive focal length like Tamron’s 18-250mm. The speed of sports makes changing lenses in mid-game often prohibitive. |
