Cricket photography help

Gary Kinghorn

Gary Kinghorn

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My son has started cricket club which is bringing me in contact with my local club. I've always fancied having a go at shooting a match, but never got round to it. The club are very keen for me to come along, as they don't get much publicity. It will be non profit stuff, just a bit of fun.

My gear is likely to be 1d4 or 7d2 with 300mm f2.8 and 1.4 and X2 convertor to choose from. My style is to shoot quite tight, so portrait action stuff rather than wide.

Any help with best positioning etc appreciated. I was thinking that something like 1 o'clock from behind the bowler to get the ball arriving at the batsman. What about the bowler himself, where is best to get him from?

In fact any advice at all appreciated.
 
Most cricket pitches run north/south, so being at the southern end will help to keep the light behind you. Long on or long off (roughly 5 and 7 o'clock) will be good for batsman images and then for bowlers when the over changes.

90 degrees to the batsman is also a good position for cut shots, hooks and pulls and getting the wicketkeeper when a slow bowler is bowling.

Maybe shoot a little wide on the batsman to also get the WK and slips in, for catches and reaction to LBW shouts.
 
Have a look for posts by Kipax, as he does it professionally and has given out a lot of great advice over the years. :)

He may even see this thread and reply.

For my own Cricket pics I use a 70-300mm lens, mostly at the long end. Sit as low as I can. I take one of those little step/stools to sit on. I sit slightly off centre behind the bowler whichever side gives me the clearest view to the batter. The other batter sometimes switches sides to get in your way depending on whether the batter is right or left handed. :rolleyes: I start off with fast shutter speeds, 1000th - 2000th+ sec, until I start to get my timing a bit better, and then try slower speeds, 250th - 500th sec, as it is sometimes good to get a bit of movement in the ball. Oh, and try and get the ball in there most times. ;) :LOL: Continuous burst mode. As many Fps as I can. ;)

When I get fed up with that I move to the side of the pitch and try to get side on to one of the batters and the wickets to hopefully get some wickets being taken. Again, sometimes difficult with fielders being close to the batter.
 
londonbackpackr said:
Most cricket pitches run north/south, so being at the southern end will help to keep the light behind you.
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Most cricket is played on a bright sunny day (ahem well) starting about 1pm ...How do you combat the shadows from the batsman helmets and players hats with the sun pretty much directly above... casting a dark shadow over faces?
 
wezza13 said:
If you tag him, he will :)

@KIPAX
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haha thanks:) Been on holiday.. nice road trip round wales/

If going cricket early then my advice on a sunny day is shoot into the sun (over expose by at least 1 stop if not more) .. you get lovely clear faces which is important when shooting tight as the OP says he likes to do and indeed is how i go about it..if a choice then go later in evening ..if an overcast day then thank the weather gods :) white kits in usually white background (screens) isnt good on sunny days

you can get good shots from anywhere on the cricket pitch.. but behind the bowler or batsmn are the classic ones.. left or right of either would rather depend on left or right handed batsman

look out for batsman reachin 50 or 100 he will then raise his bat and point towards the clubhouse so position yourself over there when he gets close.. 100 he would hopefully take helmet off and raise both so getting a front on is a money shot

you can get shots of a lot of players trhowing and catching the ball as its passed from player to player back to bowler during an over after he bowls..

to break a set up get clubhouse. scoreboard (with scorers if old school in the scorebox) and any signage

once you have a couple of pics of bowler then no need to shoot every throw.. but i tend to track him in case he gets a wicket then you get an instant cele or his expresion if a close call...

when shooting batsman also look for bowler turning to umpire to try and claim a wicket

also take pics of umpires.. as in football refs they are as much a part of game and out there all same..

presuming a 50 over game.. get the drinks break at 25 overs

the rest depends on type of game.. what you want out of it and how much fereedom you have re times and movement.. simple things apply like watch the backgrounds.. steer away from car parks and bright yellow skips etc : )


well thats just off the top of my head.. BUT ... always keep your eye on the ball :)

ps some of mine at www.kipax.com/cricket its not a portfolio.. its general stuff sold to players and local papers so not much chance for arty or specials :(
 
Great post Kipax. Thank you for taking the time to write it. Will refer to it when the day comes.

Quite looking forward to it actually. I love challenging myself doing new stuff. Will post some pictures of the day when done.
 
Any help with best positioning etc appreciated.

What about between the wicket keeper and the stumps for real action shots.;)


 
realspeed said:
Any help with best positioning etc appreciated.

What about between the wicket keeper and the stumps for real action shots.;)
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Nothing wrong with that intrinsically. It just takes a few thousand quid to execute.
 
Fisheye lens (or UWA), radio remote control. And a large sprinkling of luck! The kit? Under a grand; the luck? Priceless!
 
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