January 2015

February 2015 | Issue no.11 | by mark shaiken

The inclination when you shoot a sports event is to grab a lens with some length and zoom in on the action.  A perfectly good strategy.  Fill the frame with a telephoto.  For football, soccer, and  baseball, 400-600mm; for basketball and volleyball, 70-200mm.   Each of these lenses has the capacity to yield great shots.  But, is that the only strategy for sports shots?  Negative.  What about the other end of the lens spectrum – wide angle?  Is there a place for a wide angle lens in sports photography?  Absolutely.

Wide angle is typically anything less than 50mm.  For sports, a little cheating is fine so I would redefine wide angle as anything less than 70mm.  The typical lenses:  24-70mm; 14-24mm; and a fisheye – usually 15mm or 16mm and funky as all get out.

Continue Reading →