How slow can you go?

This shot was taken with a Canon Eos1d Mk2 and a 400mm f2.8 lens with a 1.4 convertor. That gave me a lens of 560mm. It was shot panning with the action at a 30th of a second. Some rules are made to be broken. EXPERIMENT and have fun.

That must be a really great camera!

A well known photographer goes to a dinner party at house he has not been to before. When the host opens the door she says how pleased she is to have the photographer there, how much she admires his work and thinks he must have a great camera.

The photographer says nothing and enjoys the dinner. At the end he goes up to the host, thanks her for the superb dinner and comments that she must have a great oven.

How much is that camera?

Almost always at an event when the crowd/ public interact with the photographers the first question is….What does a camera like that cost? When they find out they are amazed and go on about how their car cost less. Funny then that when they want to buy an image they say that the price is a bit steep, even at R100.

Backgrounds

What makes your pictures different? What makes you a Professional?

Someone once said to me “It’s not enough just to be there. You have to create the image”  Take a look at these two images.  If you were the guy in the photo and this was your “once in a lifetime moment” which image would you want printed and put on your wall?

He has waited all year for this moment and you get the picture of him and his hero and what happens?  You take the pic at the very moment some nutter walks into the frame.  As the shooter it is your reponsibility to look at the frame BEFORE you create the image.

The background is under your control.

That is what makes you a professional and why you get the big bucks!

Sportzpics joins Face Book

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You can use this to ask for feedback or to promote your work to clients etc.

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Deadlines

Yeah I know you said the deadline was ten o’clock but it’s only five past!

The papers have a deadline. This deadline is passed on to all photographers for a reason. YOU HAVE TO HIT IT.

What happens if you don’t?

Well nothing really.

The fact that another 20 shooters managed to hit the deadline means that the papers will not lose out. They will still have images in their paper tomorrow. They just won’t be yours.

Oh, and you lose credibility with the papers and the agency you are shooting for

Oh, and you run the risk of not being commissioned again.

Oh, and you may as well not have turned up because the others did a better job with fully captioned images supplied ON TIME!

Who is it?

Pick up the nearest paper. Have a look at the sports pages. Who is in the picture? I bet the first thing you did was look at the caption.

That caption has to come from you.

You may have the best image in the world but if you or the picture editor does not know who is in the image or where it was taken it may well be worthless.

Make life as easy as possible for your clients. When on deadline they are not going to call you to see who is in the frame. And anyway if you knew you would have captioned the image.

Anyway one day by chance they call to see who is in the picture. You don’t know and say you will get back to them and put the phone down. In the meantime a guy desperate to get his name in the paper sends them an average image from the same event. It is captioned, it is the right action and it’s free.

Sorry but you lose out!

He is a happy chappy and it cost you your freelance fee because you did not spend 2 minutes captioning the image.

Do your homework

What makes a picture saleable? Why would a publication want to use it?

Have a look at the sports pages every day. Read the articles and LOOK AT THE PICTURES. Those images have already been selected they are SOLD.

Many people think they have a new angle, a better perspective and a great shot. If it does not suit the publication you are targeting then they will not use it.

It is great to experiment and to develop new ways of shooting but, when a publication is on deadline then they will go for an image that suits their target audience.

You must do the same!

Read the Papers! Listen to the news!

What is flavour of the day? What happened today that will make the news tomorrow or even the late editions today?

Kaka being sold for £100m – gee end every paper has a picture of Kaka the next day. I wonder why?

Luke Watson speaks out. And yup you guessed it the papers all have pics of Luke Watson.

JP Duminy has the innings of his life and saves the test. You can bet the papers will be full of it the next day.

So, why send a picture of something that is not newsworthy? Don’t waste your time and more importantly the time of the picture editors who have to sift through your “amazing” pics of someone else when all they want is Duminy, Watson, Kaka……