Photography Tips

Take better sports photos

July 24th, 2020

Learn to take better sport shots with your smartphone

Double check your camera settings

There’s nothing more fun that watching an action packed sports game. Whether you’re supporting your kids, a local team or attending the Superbowl (you lucky thing!), you’ll want to make sure that you catch that action on your phone. In a rush?

You won’t know the right tricks unless you really know your phone’s camera. It’s important to take in your phone’s settings and features, and capacities as a camera. Test everything out before the big game!

Understand your sport

Getting to know the sport that you’re shooting will help you anticipate those photo-worthy moments.

Use burst mode

The advantage of turning on burst mode is that you won’t miss a thing. You don’t need to know when exactly the right moment is to take your photo and catch a perfect mid-action shot. This feature allows you to take a lot of photos in quick succession at the moment of your choosing.

Just hold your camera button down. Your phone will continue snapping until you take you finger off the button. But remember – the longer you hold the button, the more photos you’ll have to sort through later on 🙃

Don’t zoom

It’s better to move in close if you can. This way you’ll get a close-up without ruining the quality of your photo. When we get zoom happy we are literally reducing the number of pixels in our photo. Avoid this by taking a zoomed out photo and then cropping it close.

However if you have a more up to date phone with multiple cameras, it is likely that you have optical zoom. In this case, zoom away! Your phone’s camera is adapted to be able to zoom up to 5 times without damaging your image’s quality.

Check your lighting

Take a few minutes pre-game to take some test shots. The lighting is bound to be different in each venue so it’s a good idea to check that you have enough light. Adjust your phone settings to ensure you’re under-exposing your images.

Don’t just photograph the players

I think you’ll agree that a lot of what makes watching live sport great is the generally great atmosphere. Take a look around you. Spectators also make great photograph subjects. Whether they are gunning for their favorite team or are supporting their kids, they’ll wear many different emotions throughout the game: anxiety, pride, joy…

Don’t edit your photos

It can wait until you get home! You don’t wanna miss out on the game.

Here are our top tips for taking better sports photos with your cell phone

Understand your sport so that you can learn to anticipate those great moments.
Use burst mode: it allows you to take a lot of photos in quick succession so that you don’t miss a beat.
Forgo the zoom and move in close (if you can). This way you’ll get a close-up without ruining the quality of your photo.
Take a few pre-game shots to check whether the lighting is good enough and adjust your phone settings accordingly.
Don’t forget the spectators! They also make great photograph subjects.
And lastly, leave the editing for when you get home. You don’t wanna miss out on the game.

Did you know? With the Picta Photo Print app you can send your photos to print before you leave the game and pick them up on the way home at your local store and enjoy a one hour printing service.

Print photos