My first cricket match

[bpb123]

I am a massive cricket fan and play a fair bit so thought I would take my camera down. These are a few of my favourites, taken with a 70-200mm so have cropped a bit to make up for the lack of reach. Any advice/comments would be greatly appreciated.

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Taken a fraction of a second longer and I would of got the off stump being knocked out and had a much more impressive shot
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[Gary Coyle]

First off, you cant see a single batsmans face, your angles are all wrong, get on the right side of the batsman, no wickets in 1 or 2, try to keep things straight, these are wonky as hell and over exposed.

 

[Rinaldo1711]

First off, you cant see a single batsmans face, your angles are all wrong, get on the right side of the batsman, no wickets in 1 or 2, try to keep things straight, these are wonky as hell and over exposed.

Harsh but true - good on you for trying though.

 

[Photodiva]

Hi Barney. There's a world of difference between being a fan of and playing a sport and taking good shots of it - I found that out the hard way! Gary's right, but a bit blunt! Next time you go with your camera look to see where you can get the best angles from, which side of the pitch, where the sun (!!) is in relation to you, can you see the batsman's face, or the bowler's face, depending on which one you are focussing on. Watch your backgrounds, try and avoid clutter. I tried to shoot some cricket last year, but my 70-200 is too short, so haven't pursued it. I found what I thought was a good spot, sat on the grass, tried to get the batsman and then when they changed ends, concentrated on the bowler. You can always get some shots of them walking back to the club house, and get yourself a cold beer at the same time!

 

[Tugster]

Barney, I've shot a lot of different sports but I find that cricket to be one of the hardest to capture all aspects of the game. Maybe better just to concentrate on one aspect, say batting first...that way you are not trying to cover too much at once.

The points Gary and Carol are making are so very true....Faces and expressions are the order of the day...In order to capture any decent images you really do need to have a long lenses....300mm minimum and on a nice clear bright day you wont need a fast aperture either....If you understand the game and can anticipate the next action, then you are on to a winner. Try doing junior games where the boundaries are pulled in so you will be closer to the action..

The last time I was out shooting cricket, I had a long lens on and a 1.4 converter, I was trying to capture the batsman with the ball in the frame and also trying as much as possible to fill the frame....As I could not see the bowler running up and starting his bowling, I had to read the batsmens body language to guestimate when the ball would be in shot....Not easy when all the batsmen have different actions and twitches just before they are about to hit the ball or in fact allow it to pass by as it is not going to hit the wickets.

Trial and error and learning from the advice given on here will help you no end but it stilll needs a little bit of magic too!!! Some call it Luck !!