Re: Leicester 10k race yesterday
Doing a shoot as a "pro" is tough. The thing is you just HAVE to get the shots, no matter what. That's really what separates amateurs from pros (apart from the whole sales thing!) - many amateurs are actually far better photographers, but as an amateur, if you have an off day and don't get anything, it just doesn't matter. To improve your chances of always getting the shot, you have to be completely familiar and comfortable with your gear (which makes renting not a brilliant option if you can avoid it), and know exactly what you're doing. And that means practice. There are parkruns most weeks, go and take your camera. If you're going to watch Tigers, take your camera. Use it as much as you possibly can until everything you need to do is second nature - it makes it so much easier when you're under pressure, even if you're tired, because all you need to focus on (sorry!) is composition. Make sure you get the simple shots before trying anything fancy - you're after good record shots, not competition winners. Try for uncluttered backgrounds where possible. Don't be afraid to use fairly high ISOs to get decent depth of field if you're capturing multiple people like this, and still freeze the action. When you have some of them, you can play around with shallow depth of field, slow shutter speeds, but above all, try to get a few interesting facial expressions up close - both first and second runners in this shot would be great on their own.
The more you do it, the easier it gets.
Doing a shoot as a "pro" is tough. The thing is you just HAVE to get the shots, no matter what. That's really what separates amateurs from pros (apart from the whole sales thing!) - many amateurs are actually far better photographers, but as an amateur, if you have an off day and don't get anything, it just doesn't matter. To improve your chances of always getting the shot, you have to be completely familiar and comfortable with your gear (which makes renting not a brilliant option if you can avoid it), and know exactly what you're doing. And that means practice. There are parkruns most weeks, go and take your camera. If you're going to watch Tigers, take your camera. Use it as much as you possibly can until everything you need to do is second nature - it makes it so much easier when you're under pressure, even if you're tired, because all you need to focus on (sorry!) is composition. Make sure you get the simple shots before trying anything fancy - you're after good record shots, not competition winners. Try for uncluttered backgrounds where possible. Don't be afraid to use fairly high ISOs to get decent depth of field if you're capturing multiple people like this, and still freeze the action. When you have some of them, you can play around with shallow depth of field, slow shutter speeds, but above all, try to get a few interesting facial expressions up close - both first and second runners in this shot would be great on their own.
The more you do it, the easier it gets.
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