Tennis: Aegon Open Nottingham 2015

Deckard

Deckard

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Ben
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Just enjoyed a couple of days tennis up the road in Nottingham. Got a bit singed, seems that Summer decided to finally put in an appearance.

Last year at Wimbledon it seemed like the ATP where clamping down on taking larger lenses into the ground, so I went along armed with my 24-120mm f4 VR lens and D800 on the grounds that it got in last year. Not exactly a marriage made in heaven for sports photography, but I knew I'd got front row seats so could work with the limited focal length.

Anyway, here's a selection of shots from yesterday:

James Ward by Ben Goddard, on Flickr

Marcos Baghdatis by Ben Goddard, on Flickr

David Ferrer by Ben Goddard, on Flickr

Sergiy Stakhovsky by Ben Goddard, on Flickr
 
all samey samey and uninspiring.. pics taken as a spectator from the seats usually are as you cant really choose your backgrounds...

Decent enough .. but 16 pictures and none of them go WOW ..wish I had taken that one...just bog standard tennis pics and didnt need 16

sorry but........
 
Fair enough and criticism well received!

Any pointers then mate? As you say, positioning not really flexible from a spectator seat but any tips on comp/timing etc?
 
photogrpahing the last of the action in each set rather than first or middle.Am guessing any pro photogrpahers there would not have photogrpahed the whole game.. just appear late on.. they do at the tennis I go to and with good reason . there will be more urgency and that shows on players faces..... position so that ugly empty corner isnt in view and post a couple of different shots from different angles rather than nearly same shot just different players.. if at least one of the pics is a player half killing themselves to get to the ball then your on a winner :)
 
Thanks for the feedback!. Yeah, the ugly corners I was stuck with really due to our seats and at f4 with the 24-120 I was never going to be able to blur it out or zoom in tight enough for it not to be an issue.

Truth be told, there was an awful lot of baseline hitting [i.e. lots of the same shots] with very little net play or players launching themselves around except the rare occasion when they did so in front of the television cameras in front of me!:mad:
 
Deckard said:
Thanks for the feedback!. Yeah, the ugly corners I was stuck with really due to our seats and at f4 with the 24-120 I was never going to be able to blur it out or zoom in tight enough for it not to be an issue.

Truth be told, there was an awful lot of baseline hitting [i.e. lots of the same shots] with very little net play or players launching themselves around except the rare occasion when they did so in front of the television cameras in front of me!:mad:
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i find tennis quite boring to photograph ..you have to take a lot of pics and be patient to get the best ones.. unless yoor a regular and you know exactly how each player plays and you know best time to take the shot..
 
Great pics. When comes to the likes of Gael Monfils, be prepared cos he likes to dive..... would make a great pics!
 
KIPAX said:
i find tennis quite boring to photograph ..you have to take a lot of pics and be patient to get the best ones.. unless yoor a regular and you know exactly how each player plays and you know best time to take the shot..
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Tennis is one of my favourite sports but I do agree that photography tennis is quite boring compare to other sports! Be glad it isn't golf photography!!!
 
As mentioned, you're pretty much let down by the angle on all of these.

The Granollers shot with all the dust could be good from a totally different angle (and having the ball a bit closer wouldn't hurt).

The shot of Ferrer would be good with a much longer lens / tighter crop.

With flat light, a slow, short lens, and a poor position, you're never really in with a chance of anything more than record shots.
 
Yes, you are hindered by having to stay in the one spot but, trust me, the pros tend to not do much better at events like this. The more 'side on', of course, the more difficult it is to get the ball in the frame.
I covered the Birmingham Aegon event and the photo positions were all on one side, either side of the net post, so there were inevitable problems with fussy backgrounds in the corners etc for anyone sat there. Some snappers would occasionally go higher up from one end or the other (the same as the TV cameras) but even the pros take very 'samey' pics so don't be put off. If you're very lucky there may be other locations you can get to where you can choose a different height and angle, even as a spectator. The outside courts at both Wimbledon and Roland Garros can be good on this front, especially when the light gets more interesting in late afternoon or early evening.
 
Heres some images from court side at Aegon International at Eastbourne

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