Do rules such as the rule of thirds apply to sports photography?

[Stewx]

Is it okay to fill the frame with the action in sports photography, rather than concentrate on leaving "open space" and using the rule of thirds?

When I photograph sports I tend to place people's bodies in the center of the frame. Is this bad?

[pagnamenta]

That's how I shoot sports. All major magazines and newspapers have tight crops and they through the rule of thirds out of the window. There are times though when you can compose a shot with the rule of thirds, but those tend to be more artsy shots. It really depends who your audience is. If you need to sell photos, you'll probably do tight crops. If you're experimenting with shots from different angles, why not see if the rule of thirds can be applied.

[cosworth]

Tight crops, show faces/logos. Nice and sharp. Unless shooting extreme sports avoid shutter drag.

[Stewx]

Arright, that's what I thought... Hope you guys don't mind if I ask another question: Today I was shooting Track & Field and it was very cloudy and rainy... I had my Rebel XT's ISO up to 1600, and had shutter speeds around 1/200-250, but still have some blur and fuzziness. Is this my shaky hands, or is there something else? Am I right in thinking there shouldn't be too much motion blur at 1/250 of a second?

[ACDCROCKS]

I have no almost no rules, just pretty much keep everything "neat".

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g146/The_CAMERA_KID/1228702062_l.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g146/The_CAMERA_KID/1349534118_l.jpg


http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g146/The_CAMERA_KID/1349533399_l.jpg

[ACDCROCKS]

Arright, that's what I thought... Hope you guys don't mind if I ask another question: Today I was shooting Track & Field and it was very cloudy and rainy... I had my Rebel XT's ISO up to 1600, and had shutter speeds around 1/200-250, but still have some blur and fuzziness. Is this my shaky hands, or is there something else? Am I right in thinking there shouldn't be too much motion blur at 1/250 of a second?


Wow..You should be using 1/1000 atleast, depending if your doing the jumps etc, but atleast 1/500

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g146/The_CAMERA_KID/IMG_9354.jpg

[pagnamenta]

I use 1/800 as a rule of thumb for track. You need a higher shutter speed to get ride of the blur. If the legs or hands are the only body part that's blurry, then it's motion blur. You need a higher shutter speed to stop the motion perfectly.

[Stewx]

So should I shoot on Tv mode, set to 1/800 or 1/1000?

[Stewx]

I should add that my lens is 35-80mm 4-5.6... so I find it pretty hard to shoot at 1/1000 in cloudy rainy weather, especially at 5.6.

[pagnamenta]

You definitely won't be able to get the shutter up high enough with the clouds.

If Av isn't working for you, try Tv. When the image is too dark and you can't shoot at a lower aperture, the aperture will blink in your viewfinder. Perhaps consider investing in an 85 f1.8 or 50 f1.8. The 50 f1.8 is really cheap, around $80.

[Hellashot]

If you're shooting with ai-servo, you HAVE to have your subject in the center of your viewfinder, otherwise your focusing will be questionable.

[Croasdail]

Arright, that's what I thought... Hope you guys don't mind if I ask another question: Today I was shooting Track & Field and it was very cloudy and rainy... I had my Rebel XT's ISO up to 1600, and had shutter speeds around 1/200-250, but still have some blur and fuzziness. Is this my shaky hands, or is there something else? Am I right in thinking there shouldn't be too much motion blur at 1/250 of a second?

I would put money on camera shake. T & F does not have high speed motion like a pitchers arm or the swinging of the stick in hockey. You should have been able to come up with something.

[EOS Man]

I should add that my lens is 35-80mm 4-5.6... so I find it pretty hard to shoot at 1/1000 in cloudy rainy weather, especially at 5.6.

It'll be real hard to use the rule of thirds in constantly moving action and not much time for extremely precise composition. Seeing that you probably use the tele end often of that lens (f5.6), maybe pick up a 100mm f2 for a little more reach and 3 stops faster.

[Drk Orange]

The "rule of thirds" cares not for the subjects, it is an aesthetics thing. It works well for photographs you want on your wall, and I can imagine that a good sports image for hanging would do well to observe the rule.

Having said that, sports images are generally for consumption. The final viewers generally want to see details such as emotions on faces, and human bodies in full-swing. Working to the ROT would generally remove these details and introduce too much wasted space, a comodity in the print industry.

In short, I can see how the ROT would be difficult to impliment in sports photography, but your shots will probably look better if you can do so.

[gasrocks]

If I never heard any one mention "rule of thirds" again, I'd be quite happy, ok, happier. ROT is composition for people who do not know what they are doing. Take a class in composition or study a book or even a great series of images and learn composition. ROT suggests that there is only 4 places to put the subject in the frame. The real answer is infinite not 4.

[liza]

Arright, that's what I thought... Hope you guys don't mind if I ask another question: Today I was shooting Track & Field and it was very cloudy and rainy... I had my Rebel XT's ISO up to 1600, and had shutter speeds around 1/200-250, but still have some blur and fuzziness. Is this my shaky hands, or is there something else? Am I right in thinking there shouldn't be too much motion blur at 1/250 of a second?

So should I shoot on Tv mode, set to 1/800 or 1/1000?

I should add that my lens is 35-80mm 4-5.6... so I find it pretty hard to shoot at 1/1000 in cloudy rainy weather, especially at 5.6.

You need to shoot at 1/500 or faster to stop motion. The suggestion for 1/800 is a good one. I usually shoot baseball at 1/2000. As for the lens, you need a faster one. To paraphrase a statement I saw yesterday, sports lenses and budgets do not mix. You might try a fast prime instead of a zoom for an alternative with good IQ that's within your budgetary limits. You'll just have to learn to zoom with your feet. :)


Having said that, sports images are generally for consumption. The final viewers generally want to see details such as emotions on faces, and human bodies in full-swing. Working to the ROT would generally remove these details and introduce too much wasted space, a comodity in the print industry.



Well said and very true. My newspaper editor often crops my submitted images for economy of space.

[Stewx]

Thanks so much for the help guys... I was able to get much better pictures on Day 2 of this event, using a 1/1000 shutter speed on Tv mode.

I'm planning my next lens purchase to be the 50mm 1.8 lens, so that will be good for this type of event and weather.

Here are a couple pictures that turned out alright from the 2nd day:
http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/9880/track2k7day23742editel6.th.jpg (http://img472.imageshack.us/my.php?image=track2k7day23742editel6.jpg)
http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/9599/track2k7day23718filterelm6.th.jpg (http://img375.imageshack.us/my.php?image=track2k7day23718filterelm6.jpg)
http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/5017/track2k7day23761editsk1.th.jpg (http://img511.imageshack.us/my.php?image=track2k7day23761editsk1.jpg)

[airfrogusmc]

Rules like the rule of 3rds, golden rule, rule of 4/5ths blah blah are pretty much for all 2 dimensional pieces. Most of the really great photographs/ paintings/2D pieces break those rules. I always say that rules and labeling creative work is so the left brain world can put what right brainers (creatives) do in something that they can understand. Just create and use the rules as a starting point but never get locked in because you can limit yourself to something really special.

[Bill Boehme]

Is it okay to fill the frame with the action in sports photography, rather than concentrate on leaving "open space" and using the rule of thirds?

"It's not really a rule ... it's more like a guideline" -- Capt. Jack Sparrow

[Kiddo]

I have no almost no rules, just pretty much keep everything "neat".

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g146/The_CAMERA_KID/1228702062_l.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g146/The_CAMERA_KID/1349534118_l.jpg


http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g146/The_CAMERA_KID/1349533399_l.jpg
Those football pictures are sooooo cool!!!

[PhotosGuy]

So should I shoot on Tv mode, set to 1/800 or 1/1000? Your 1st shot includes sky & the 2nd one doesn't. Put your cam on Av or Tv, go outside & point the cam at a similar situation. Does it show you need 2 different exposures? I'm betting that it does. You could use exposure compensation, but I prefer shooting on "M" & this works best for me. Need an exposure crutch? (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=89123)

[Croasdail]

There are two kinds of sports shots. The most basic and most commonly used is an image simply there to fill in a face or number with the person being referred to the article. These don't always follow the rule. On the other hand, if you look at most feature style images you will find in SI or ESPN magazine, they do follow the rule of thirds to some extent. It's just about balance, and that really doesn't change no matter the subject. Shooting to keep the thirds rule in play is no harder then selecting an offset focus point and keeping your subject under that focus point. So no... just because you are shooting sports, the basics of photography (or composition) are not tossed out the window. It is just sometimes the event captured is significant enough that they will take any shot lacking a will composed image.