Most challenging sport to photograph?

I am not a sports photographer but I admire everyone's work. What sport is the most challenging to photograph? For example, is it volleyball because of the speed of the game? Or high school football with the lighting challenges from night games?

I interested in reading everyone's opinions.

Im sure Hockey would be a challange!

My daughters were all gymnasts - most gyms are very low light, with no flash allowed. Makes for a challenge.

I think Squash is tough...

Ball hockey. Zero flow to it and ultra fast. Ice and roller hockey have flow and some grace. Ball hockey has no ice, ultra low light and is iso 800 for me.

Ball hockey is like 15 cockroaches chasing the same chunk of food in a empty case of beer.

I just spent 3 days shooting a tourney and my finger hurts, my shoulder blade muscle hurts, my eyes hurt. I was sitting with a monopod even.

BMX and skateboarding, I thought, were tough since you have to get close and the risk of injury from flying debris was high. You can set everything up like portrait with those guys. Hockey makes bmx and sk8 look like a family sitting.

Now I get a luxurious and lazy week of shooting a beach volleyball tournament. I hope I don't fall asleep.

rmwaterman wrote in post #2184944
What sport is the most challenging to photograph?

A sport that the shooter isn't familiar with -- add difficult lighting and fast action and it's even more challenging.

fslshooter wrote in post #2185237
A sport that the shooter isn't familiar with -- add difficult lighting and fast action and it's even more challenging.

I was also thinking the same.

Night football. Baseball is difficult for me, too. You never know where that ball is going to go!

IMO I think paintball is one of the most difficult sports to photograph, I can not think of any other sport where the photographer and equipment takes such a beating. After a photographing a professional tournament like last weekends NPPL Commanders Cup and am covered with bruises from paintball hits. So far this year I have broken 4 filters and had two lenses damaged. My equipment is not only damaged by the high velocity of the paintball strikes but the paint gets all over your hands and it manages to work its way in to all the small spaces around the camera body buttons and CF door as you handle the camera...

I am on a first name basis with the friendly people at the Canon facility in Irvine

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Volleyball is the hardest for me because it is so quick and you almost always are trying to work around that big net.

Sometimes you get it right though:

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In my limited circle of experience, i've got to say volleyball is the hardest for me - unpredictable action (just try to catch the first bump on a serve - you have to make a split second decision on which player to focus on), and lots of people that get in the way, meaning you can only get certain types of shots from certain angles.

Night football, IMHO is easy, as long as you have the right (ahhrrLrm) equipment. Nothing screams "NOOB!!!" like showing up with a flash and a 75-300 4-5.6.

BTW, nice sequence paintball!!

Isn't it funny how the opinions differ? I think volleyball is easy.

Swimming. Tough to get good position, angles, faces etc.. I've tried long lens to reach across the pool, but following is tough due to flags, judges and spectators. Short lens don't work very well cuz you can't get tight enough. Indoor lighting can be poor, outdoor lighting can be miserable with sun angled poorly. I suppose most these issues apply to all sports, but most subjects are not 70% underwater.

I have never photographed any sports but I think extreme sports like skydiving would be difficult!

That paintball series is awesome.

I am hoping to shoot some volleyball and basketball this winter. So far, my experience has been limited to outside American Football and Baseball.