Heavenly Sunday Village Cricket

[WaltonR]

Well having been given a pass from the FPO to go play with my camera last Sunday, I didn't waste a moment in deciding not to go stand in the woods, sweating me cobs off, photographing furry critters, but to go see if the nearby village of Eversholt were playing cricket. It's one of those things I'd often thought would be a really nice way of spending some quiet downtime. To my delight, they were just about to start a match, Eversholt versus Flitwick, and there was time to set up my gear in the shade of a tree right on the boundary line.
I asked a couple of the players if they minded and they said they were more than happy for me to be there. Particularly as I promised they could have copies of anything worth keeping, if they gave me some email addresses etc.
It was a beautiful sunny day. Eversholt, for those who don't know it, is a gorgeous village just out the back of Woburn Safari Park, in Bedfordshire. Your typical English village, with a well kept cricket pitch, church and a pub etc.. I sat up against the church wall, in the shade of my tree, looking out over the cricket pitch. Every now and then the church clock struck the time, while I sat there snapping away.
I set my D850 up on the tripod set at about 3', just the right height for me to see through my 200-500 F/5.6 lens in comfort. Perfect. Only things missing were a pint of Doom Bar and the good lady herself.
Sadly, as my pass was due to expire at 15:00, I didn't stay for both innings.
In all I took about 535 shots, of which 160 odd were keepers, with 102 shots containing a ball as well as batsman and/or keeper. To be frank, an even more to my amazement, most of the 535 shots were usable. However, the opposite side of the pitch had a road behind it and nearly all of them had a car or a van in the background. Being a picky sort of person, I thought that wouldn't do, so they didn't make the cut.
Anyway, here's a selection of my favourite images. Let me know what you think, good or bad. ​

1)
BIS-98 by Richard Walton, on Flickr

2)
BIS-89 by Richard Walton, on Flickr

3)
BIS-86 by Richard Walton, on Flickr

4)
BIS-73 by Richard Walton, on Flickr

5)
BIS-67 by Richard Walton, on Flickr

6)
BIS-44 by Richard Walton, on Flickr

7)
BIS-20 by Richard Walton, on Flickr

8)
BIS-39 by Richard Walton, on Flickr

There's a lot more in my Flickr album, feel free to pop along.

Thanks for looking.

 

[boogie 16]

Some great shots. Pity that both teams were playing in blue, different coloured strips would have had more impact.

 

[Pound Coin]

Nice set!

Cricket is interesting, because you don’t really get much warning that something is going to happen. So you have to click every ball, and quite often things happen when you aren’t concentrating.

I’d get much more behind the bowler. From the sides the stumps are far from the batter, and the wicket keeper too. You get to see the eyes of the batter and wicketkeeper too. You need to make sure you aren’t in the batter’s eye-line though. Also, you are really only going to get shots every other over.

 

[woof woof]

Great pictures Richard! Well done for capturing the ball in flight so well too.

 

[Crotal Bell]

Well having been given a pass from the FPO to go play with my camera last Sunday, I didn't waste a moment in deciding not to go stand in the woods, sweating me cobs off, photographing furry critters, but to go see if the nearby village of Eversholt were playing cricket. It's one of those things I'd often thought would be a really nice way of spending some quiet downtime. To my delight, they were just about to start a match, Eversholt versus Flitwick, and there was time to set up my gear in the shade of a tree right on the boundary line.
I asked a couple of the players if they minded and they said they were more than happy for me to be there. Particularly as I promised they could have copies of anything worth keeping, if they gave me some email addresses etc.
It was a beautiful sunny day. Eversholt, for those who don't know it, is a gorgeous village just out the back of Woburn Safari Park, in Bedfordshire. Your typical English village, with a well kept cricket pitch, church and a pub etc.. I sat up against the church wall, in the shade of my tree, looking out over the cricket pitch. Every now and then the church clock struck the time, while I sat there snapping away.
I set my D850 up on the tripod set at about 3', just the right height for me to see through my 200-500 F/5.6 lens in comfort. Perfect. Only things missing were a pint of Doom Bar and the good lady herself.
Sadly, as my pass was due to expire at 15:00, I didn't stay for both innings.
In all I took about 535 shots, of which 160 odd were keepers, with 102 shots containing a ball as well as batsman and/or keeper. To be frank, an even more to my amazement, most of the 535 shots were usable. However, the opposite side of the pitch had a road behind it and nearly all of them had a car or a van in the background. Being a picky sort of person, I thought that wouldn't do, so they didn't make the cut.
Anyway, here's a selection of my favourite images. Let me know what you think, good or bad. ​

1)
BIS-98 by Richard Walton, on Flickr

2)
BIS-89 by Richard Walton, on Flickr

3)
BIS-86 by Richard Walton, on Flickr

4)
BIS-73 by Richard Walton, on Flickr

5)
BIS-67 by Richard Walton, on Flickr

6)
BIS-44 by Richard Walton, on Flickr

7)
BIS-20 by Richard Walton, on Flickr

8)
BIS-39 by Richard Walton, on Flickr

There's a lot more in my Flickr album, feel free to pop along.

Thanks for looking.

Why are they wearing pyjamas?
Joking apart, I have been planning the same photo project at the local sports club just up the road from you, Cutler Hammer, Kempston. They often have a Saturday game of cricket.
I'll be using Lumix G80 MFT with 12-60 and 100-300 lenses. Any advice you can give me in how to go about it would be gratefully received, thankyou.
Great images !!

 

[WaltonR]

Why are they wearing pyjamas?
Joking apart, I have been planning the same photo project at the local sports club just up the road from you, Cutler Hammer, Kempston. They often have a Saturday game of cricket.
I'll be using Lumix G80 MFT with 12-60 and 100-300 lenses. Any advice you can give me in how to go about it would be gratefully received, thankyou.
Great images !!

I have to admit that I was rather hoping they'd be wearing traditional "whites". That would have topped it off the whole archetypical English village cricket thing for me.

Wow! That's a first! Someone, asking me for photographic advice. It's either me doing the asking, or someone telling me where I could improve. Ooh nice warm feeling.

I was using a D850 with the 200-500 F/5.6 lens on a tripod. 200-300mm would be suffice, but to get that feeling of being out there amongst them, you'll need around 400mm.

Before the match started, I tried various apertures to see if I could get a reasonable depth of field. My camera was only 3 feet off the ground and I was hoping for some separation of my subject. Sadly, that lens has a minimum aperture of F/5.6 so I couldn't go any bigger than that. It seemed to be just about right though, and I noticed that some of the ancillary players around the batsmen/bowlers were just ever so slightly soft.
Camera settings were:

• Auto ISO but it stayed around 200
• Aperture priority set at f/5.6
• Shutter speeds were around the 1000th sec
• Continuous shutter (I get around 7fps)
• Matrix metering
• Continuous auto focus, Dynamic 25 points.

You need to be shooting almost every ball. Things happen so quickly and you'll not be quick enough to get that catch or wicket when it happens.

I found that when shooting the batsman, line up your shot, watch the bowler start his run-up, then look back through the lens. The batsman will then start preparing for the stroke. You soon get to know by the batsman's movements that a ball is incoming. As he starts to move, usually he raises the bat backwards, start shooting and release when you've got what you need. I found it was all over in around 1-2secs.

Oh, and watch where the ball is going, I had a few come straight at me but luckily a fielder was there to stop it.

As for the bowlers, use the same settings, but track the run up and start shooting just as he starts to skip and hop and follow him right through until he stops moving after releasing the ball. I got some great floating bowler shots and it's really comical to see some of the shapes and expressions on the faces.

I hope that gives you some pointers. I'm not saying its right, or how the pros would have done it, but that's what worked for me on that day.
Enjoy your cricket.

 

[WaltonR]

Some great shots. Pity that both teams were playing in blue, different coloured strips would have had more impact.

Thank.
Yes I was hoping for traditional whites. But there you go.

 

[WaltonR]

Nice set!

Cricket is interesting, because you don’t really get much warning that something is going to happen. So you have to click every ball, and quite often things happen when you aren’t concentrating.

I’d get much more behind the bowler. From the sides the stumps are far from the batter, and the wicket keeper too. You get to see the eyes of the batter and wicketkeeper too. You need to make sure you aren’t in the batter’s eye-line though. Also, you are really only going to get shots every other over.

That's good advice. Thanks very much.
Next time I think I'll take the monopod and rove around the boundary rather than remain static.

 

[Tysonator]

Some pretty damn good photos ! !

 

[KIPAX]

Also, you are really only going to get shots every other over.

hahaha do you do much cricket photography ?

 

[KIPAX]

Batsmen
Normally face on/ish but you can get good shots side on as well.. Even from behind... Watch for the score.. if he is reaching 50 and moreso 100 get yourself towards the clubhouse as thats where he will raise his bat to.. so a good face on... some dont at 50 but all will at 100

Ballers
As with Batsmen face on or side on or slight angle.. Also at different moment of chucking the ball... When you ahve enough of the baller.. still focus because if he gets a wicket you can click and probably get one of the best shots of the day when he knows he got the wicket and celebrates

Fielders
between overs and between balls the fielders will pass the ball between themselves before it gets back to the bowler.. you have shots of fielders catching and chucking the ball

Wicket keeper
When the ball has been hit most of the time the ball will be thrown back to the wicket keeper and not always perfecty so you get good shots of him struggling to catch a wide or high ball coming back from the boundry

Crowd
Dont forget the crowd even if it is one man and a dog.. get pics of them enjoying the cricket

Umpires
Even just a hand up or wide decision its always good to get a at least one

Celebrations
End of an innings most wickets go so should gtet the wicket cele shots.. start of an innings is usually wearing the bowler down.. thats 50+ over games not t20.. for most action shots at cricket i would suggest t20 games

Misc
If it moves take a pic.. If it doesn't move take a pic... Club house. scoreboard and anything else...

Thats just off the top of mu head while writing.. I have posts in these forum on how to take cricket shots that are based on my experiences and as usual not meant as rules or how to especially whites on a sunny day

www.kipax.com/cricket : i dont do as much cricket nowerdays as the papers stopped paying.. but this is my list

 

[WaltonR]

Batsmen
Normally face on/ish but you can get good shots side on as well.. Even from behind... Watch for the score.. if he is reaching 50 and moreso 100 get yourself towards the clubhouse as thats where he will raise his bat to.. so a good face on... some dont at 50 but all will at 100

Ballers
As with Batsmen face on or side on or slight angle.. Also at different moment of chucking the ball... When you ahve enough of the baller.. still focus because if he gets a wicket you can click and probably get one of the best shots of the day when he knows he got the wicket and celebrates

Fielders
between overs and between balls the fielders will pass the ball between themselves before it gets back to the bowler.. you have shots of fielders catching and chucking the ball

Wicket keeper
When the ball has been hit most of the time the ball will be thrown back to the wicket keeper and not always perfecty so you get good shots of him struggling to catch a wide or high ball coming back from the boundry

Crowd
Dont forget the crowd even if it is one man and a dog.. get pics of them enjoying the cricket

Umpires
Even just a hand up or wide decision its always good to get a at least one

Celebrations
End of an innings most wickets go so should gtet the wicket cele shots.. start of an innings is usually wearing the bowler down.. thats 50+ over games not t20.. for most action shots at cricket i would suggest t20 games

Misc
If it moves take a pic.. If it doesn't move take a pic... Club house. scoreboard and anything else...

Thats just off the top of mu head while writing.. I have posts in these forum on how to take cricket shots that are based on my experiences and as usual not meant as rules or how to especially whites on a sunny day

www.kipax.com/cricket : i dont do as much cricket nowerdays as the papers stopped paying.. but this is my list

Awesome! That's given me quite a bit to think about for next time.

 

[Pound Coin]

hahaha do you do much cricket photography ?

Yes thanks.

If you are set up at one end, then every other over you are facing the bowler. Bowlers bowling are harder to get the timing right, and limited options for shots. Certainly possible to get photos of the arses of the batter and keeper.

The OP reads like he has one body/lens combo, on a tripod. Not easy to get that manoeuvred for other shots...

 

[KIPAX]

Yes thanks.

If you are set up at one end, then every other over you are facing the bowler. Bowlers bowling are harder to get the timing right, and limited options for shots.

100% disagree...but i guess thats what makes the world go around

and what harder got to do with it.. if we all only take the easy shots and dont learn how to take the harder shots that then become easy then ...well...

 

[WaltonR]

Yes thanks.

If you are set up at one end, then every other over you are facing the bowler. Bowlers bowling are harder to get the timing right, and limited options for shots. Certainly possible to get photos of the arses of the batter and keeper.

The OP reads like he has one body/lens combo, on a tripod. Not easy to get that manoeuvred for other shots...

Yes the OP - does that stand for old person? - has only one camera lens combo. He does have a range of lenses catering from 24mm right up to 500mm, but on this occasion he was using just that one lens.

100% disagree...but i guess thats what makes the world go around

and what harder got to do with it.. if we all only take the easy shots and dont learn how to take the harder shots that then become easy then ...well...

Just to be clear guys. This "old person" is purely an amateur tog and was just there for the fun of shooting a cricket match. I'll definitely be having a few more goes at it in the future as I really enjoyed the experience. Only next time, I'll use a monopod and be more mobile. This time however, the sun was really hard and I didn't fancy getting a baking for my art.

 

[Pound Coin]

OP = Original Post(er)

 

[Pound Coin]

Sometimes shots from behind work...!

 

[Crotal Bell]

I have to admit that I was rather hoping they'd be wearing traditional "whites". That would have topped it off the whole archetypical English village cricket thing for me.

Wow! That's a first! Someone, asking me for photographic advice. It's either me doing the asking, or someone telling me where I could improve. Ooh nice warm feeling.

I was using a D850 with the 200-500 F/5.6 lens on a tripod. 200-300mm would be suffice, but to get that feeling of being out there amongst them, you'll need around 400mm.

Before the match started, I tried various apertures to see if I could get a reasonable depth of field. My camera was only 3 feet off the ground and I was hoping for some separation of my subject. Sadly, that lens has a minimum aperture of F/5.6 so I couldn't go any bigger than that. It seemed to be just about right though, and I noticed that some of the ancillary players around the batsmen/bowlers were just ever so slightly soft.
Camera settings were:

• Auto ISO but it stayed around 200
• Aperture priority set at f/5.6
• Shutter speeds were around the 1000th sec
• Continuous shutter (I get around 7fps)
• Matrix metering
• Continuous auto focus, Dynamic 25 points.

You need to be shooting almost every ball. Things happen so quickly and you'll not be quick enough to get that catch or wicket when it happens.

I found that when shooting the batsman, line up your shot, watch the bowler start his run-up, then look back through the lens. The batsman will then start preparing for the stroke. You soon get to know by the batsman's movements that a ball is incoming. As he starts to move, usually he raises the bat backwards, start shooting and release when you've got what you need. I found it was all over in around 1-2secs.

Oh, and watch where the ball is going, I had a few come straight at me but luckily a fielder was there to stop it.

As for the bowlers, use the same settings, but track the run up and start shooting just as he starts to skip and hop and follow him right through until he stops moving after releasing the ball. I got some great floating bowler shots and it's really comical to see some of the shapes and expressions on the faces.

I hope that gives you some pointers. I'm not saying its right, or how the pros would have done it, but that's what worked for me on that day.
Enjoy your cricket.

Thanks Richard, really appreciate the help. With my lenses being MFT I think my 100-300 is an equivalent 200 - 600 on a Nikon D850?