Ever since the first
time I heard about the most prestigious sport competition among Nigerian
universities coming to my vicinity, I had been so eager and enthusiastic about
it. Why not take a break from shooting weddings and shoot a sporting event, so
said a voice in my mind. Even though I wasn’t going to be participating as an
athlete, my role was going to be from the sidelines as a photographer trying to
document every bit and piece of the action. Your guess is as good as mine that
the event would be as amazing as it should be. Funny enough, this was going to
be my first experience as a sport photographer.
Nigerian University Games (NUGA) as it is
usually called is a standard competition among public universities in Nigeria.
At least, it is standard to a good extent. As a wedding photographer shooting
sports for the first time, I needed a telephoto
lens. My major consideration was my wallet simply because I wasn’t
interested in investing too much into the event. Though I have had passion for
sport and wildlife photography, this was going to be a good time to know what
it feels like to shoot a sporting event. I don’t have a favorite sport photographer
but I have always loved the amazing pictures taken at big events such as the World
cup and the Olympics.
Having contacted a friend
and fellow photographer by the name Damilola of Glitterati Photography concerning the place of purchase of the
telephoto lens, I zoomed of to Lagos. Though I settled for the Nikon 55-200mm VR f/4-.6G lens, my plan
was to buy it online at www.jumia.com.ng
where it was going for a price of #38,751 ($250). I latter decided to buy it in
Lagos because it was far-far cheaper there. I eventually bought it there for
#22,000 ($141). I wondered why there was such a huge variation in price
When the event
started, everything was going as planned. I took amazing, razor sharp images of
the athletes and the event generally and I was having much fun. As the event progressed, I experimented with
various camera settings and I took more amazing shots. But unfortunately,
things would start going wrong. I had gone to one of my favorite photography
website with the address www.kenrockwell.com
and I read an article on how to use AUTO
ISO. I blindly copied the settings and started shooting the next day. I
didn’t realize that something was wrong until some athletes requested for the
printed copies of some of their photos. Had I known, I would have declined in
giving them those printed copies. What I noticed was that there was much grain
(noise) in those photos. I was dumbfounded after seeing those pictures myself.
Unfortunately, 40% of those photos were rejected and a beautiful first time
sport photography experience turned sour.
After much inquisition, I
discovered that most of those rejected pictures were taken an ISO of 1600. And normally, that ISO was
too high for the kind of camera I used because I actually shot the pictures
with a Nikon D40. I later learned my lessons, though in a harsh way. Very
simple. Never be over anxious whenever you are venturing into a new field. The
reason for this is that anxiety causes unexpected and unwarranted flops. The
mistake I made was that I used a camera setting I never really understood.
After I made the corrections to my settings, I started shooting again and this
time around, I got my usual amazingly super sharp pictures. The curtain was
finally drawn for the event and everybody returned to their various places.
Though I am going to be a better sport
photographer in the nearest future, I need more experience and exposure to
achieve this goal. The bottom line is this, never allow a first bad experience
you have in a new field ruin your passion because no matter how experienced one
is in a known field, things might not go well in the newly chosen field. I
sincerely look forward to my next experience at another sporting event. And maybe,
it might probably be the next summer Olympics. Who knows.
Here are some of the pictures i took at the event.
No comments:
Post a Comment