Sports Photos

[Littlebike]

I know there are a few of you out there taking pictures at high school sporting events and selling them in an effort to support yout photo addiction.

I too am thinking of doing this to offset some of my costs.

I have a few questions though:
-what are you average success rates (pictures per week sold)?
-What do you charge for 5x7, 8x10 and 11x14?
-do you ever sell the digital image on a CD to the customer, if so, how much?
-For soccer and football, is a 200mm a long enough lens?

Have I not asked a question that I should have, if so, what is it? (with the coresponding answer please).

[robertwgross]

Didn't we just cover most of this within the last week?

---Bob Gross---

[Littlebike]

Not that I am aware of, if so I spologize.

[JABACo]

LittleBike,

Click or copy this link. As Bob mentioned, we covered this last week or so. You should be able to get an idea of what to charge.

Good luck

Bradley

[JABACo]

Sorry, I forgot to add the link. Here it is.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=18272

[Littlebike]

That did answer some of my questions but ones in regards to:
- equipment
- Frequency of sales
- Or selling the Digital Images outright

I live in a very well to do area, though I am not very well to do (read, just getting by). There are dozens of Soccer Fields, the Football Fields are as well lit as a pro field (Six Banks of lights on each side) with up to 1000 people attending each game, Cheerleaders, huge band, Tennis Teams, Baseball Teams, etc.

These people take thier children seriously and have no fear in spending money on sports, etc.

As for equipment I have a 10D, Sigma 24-70 2.8 EX, 550ex, Vivitar 285HV and I am about to buy a 70-200 2.8 and most likely will need a monopod.

If I get a 1.4 converter I will be at F4, will this be fast enough for a very well lit night game?

You folks are really the only people I have to turn to with questions like these and I really appreciate your responses.

[robertwgross]

I don't think that anybody here is in position to judge how well-lit the sports fields are.

I guess if you are there, get out and shoot some tests. Be prepared to crank up your ISO setting fairly high for two reasons:
(1) due to distances required, a flash may or may not help much
(2) some sports do not allow flash photography, as it might startle a player
(3) sports action is fast, so you have to use fairly high shutter speeds to capture it without blur, so you may "use up" a lot of the ISO sensitivity by fast shutter speeds
(4) I assume that you would be standing along the sidelines, and not shooting from bleacher seats. That 200mm might be enough, but I would not assume that. Look at what the Sports Illustrated photographers use when standing on the sidelines at a pro football game (three-foot long chunks of lens).

Also note that sports photographers tend to get knocked down a lot by the players. If somebody breaks your lens, it is not their fault.

Hey, give it a try.

---Bob Gross---

[CyberDyneSystems]

300mm seems to be the usual bare minum entrance fee into sports photography. One of the "Standards" is a 300mm f/2.8 prime. And thats the short cheap lens for the pros :D


If you can get right into the diamond a 200mm (or 70-200mm) will start to bring you into "the ballpark" for baseball/ little league particularly with a teleconverter at the cost of some speed or ISO...

but football = larger feild = longer lens really.

[fotog]

Go for it. A 200 X 60% lens factor will get you started. Add to that a 1.4 doubler and you will be fine. The larger the lens equals more of the field you can cover. I was just hired to shoot 5 high school football games. My 550ex throws light across the entire field.
To try to get some more $ out of it I have just started to make my images available to parents. I'm doing this through my web site. An alternative is to make a book of 4x6 prints and pass it around for orders. It does generate $ and shooting sports is fun.
As for price, it kinda depends on how strong your images are. Parents are known for spending a fair amount of $ trying to do it themselves, and usually with so so results. I charge $28 for a 8x12 and $42 for a 11x14. You may be limited by a 200th of a second sync speed on your flash. This will work. Normally flash is allowed on any sport except collage and pro. You can see some examples at www.coronadophoto.com and click on chs sports (lower right) of my opening page. Try to shoot someday games also.
Don't sell CD's of your images cause that's the same as giving your negs away. Every instructor going through school said DON'T GIVE UP YOUR NEGS!!! (files) I hope this helps.....
Bill

[Littlebike]

Defenitely some nice shots there. Looking at your website I noticed you do not list an email address anywhere, or at least I could not find it. Is that an oversite or by design.

What printer are you using?

[fotog]

There is an ( email us ) hyperlink on every page. As for printing I burn to a cd and have my lab do the prints.
I use an home printer for temp. stuff. Home made prints fade too fast, least mine do.
Sports are a blast, the more you know about the game the better the shots. Study the sports page of any big newspaper to see what a good photo editor wants. Have fun.
Bill
coronadophoto@aol.com
coronadophoto.com