My First Forays into Cricket Photography
Getting the entirety of the crease in the show allows you to completely capture the face-off between bowler and batsmen. though unfortunately you can’t control where the umpires stand. 1/500s F2.8 300mm ISO 100.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog talking of the importance of supporting grass roots sport. Initially I had volunteered to take photos for the Hockey club, but with the season as its natural end there weren’t many matches left. However as one sport was finishing up another one was starting, namely cricket. It’s not uncommon for hockey and cricket clubs to be paired together as their seasons don’t overlap and it ensures that any facilities like a club house see good use all year round.
Fast shutter speeds allow you to freeze action just at the right moment to capture something with real drama. 1/1000s F2.8 300mm ISO 64.
Off the back of this I asked to be introduced to the cricket club, which I promptly was, and they were very enthusiastic for the reasons I had outlined before. It had been a long time since the local newspaper has sent down a photographer and the club were looking to get more images to promote themselves online. I’ll be honest I can’t say I am much of a cricket fan, I just about follow the results of the Ashes and that is about it. However, I am always up for doing new things with my photography and you should never underestimate the power of networking.
You have to really pay attention to capture the bails flying off the stumps. 1/500s F2.8 300mm ISO 64.
I almost got off to a false start with heavy rain preceding the first two matches I attended, but thankfully despite short delays play continued. Initially I wasn’t exactly sure where to stand or even where I would be allowed to stand. I had visions in my head of balls flying towards me as I stood on the outside of the boundary, though I needn’t have worried. At this level everyone is very relaxed about where you can stand and spectate and on the rare occasion a ball would come in your direction you can easily move out of the way or perhaps even try to catch it!
It’s worthwhile capturing a few photos of the spectators to show the hardy souls who’ve braved the weather to support the club. 1/500s F2.8 300mm ISO 125.
With hockey there’s always some fast-paced action occurring even if it is on the other side of the pitch, cricket is quite the opposite. The action is all centred around the crease, so you always know where you need to be looking but the pace of a game which lasts all afternoon is obviously slower. This wasn’t helped either by the wet, rained soaked ground, but that should (in theory) not be the case every week. Changing your position every now and then helps keep the variety and interest as you can end up taking the same shot of the same person bowling or batting ten times or more and that will just mean you spend an unnecessary amount of time deleting photos back home.
Moving position to be at 90° to the wickets allows you to better capture the bowlers in action (unobstructed by umpires). You can see here that the fast bowlers have both feet momentarily leaving the ground. 1/640s F2.8 300mm ISO 64.
I quickly worked out the two best angles were almost directly behind the crease facing down it and off to the side of the wickets at 90°. The former angle allows me to get the entire crease in my frame with my 300mm lens and get dramatic shots of the bowlers and batsmen facing off against each other. The latter allows me to get tighter shots of the bowlers doing their run up as they bowl as well as the batsmen making their runs. I even experimented with reducing the shutter speed to generate motion blur with panning and I had some success. As ever it does take a bit of experimenting, but it is a good idea to try it if you already have plenty of shots in the bag. My only real difficulty was if the sun emerged from behind the clouds, the cricket whites can easily blow out against the darker background so be careful here if you use Auto ISO. Just keep an eye out for catches, with a long lens you’ll struggle if the ball comes in your direction but otherwise you should be able to pick it out if you are paying attention.
Don’t worry he did manage to hold onto it to catch the batsmen out. It’s moments like this that you are looking out for. 1/500s F2.8 300mm ISO 64.
In terms of my setup, I have my Nikon D850 with a Nikkor 300mm F2.8 lens. This lens is really in its element here and the focal length is just right for capturing shots all round, with the larger aperture making sure there’s never a shortage of light. However, I can see why sports photography professionals are so keen on the 200-400mm F4 for not just its extra reach but also the added versatility. This is mounted to a fluid head on a tripod which usually sees work for video but doubles effectively as a cheap alternative to a gimbal head. It allows you to pan the camera in a much smoother fashion that a ball head would, but it is still fast enough to keep up with the action. Don’t fret though, as long as you have a camera and lens combination that can keep up a much cheaper telephoto lens will also do the job.
By slowing your shutter speed down while panning you can get motion blur which emphasises the speed and strength of the bowling. Just be mindful that you may struggle to change your settings back in time if someone is bowled or caught out. 1/100s F10 300mm ISO 64.
An added bonus to my work for the cricket club is that I’ve had images go straight into the match reports for the local paper. It’s always exciting when your images get shared, published, and enjoyed by others and I hope to get many more great shots of the team as the summer progresses. Let’s just hope there is less rain on matchdays from now on.
Balls coming on your direction can be tricky to photograph with a long lens but don’t let that be an excuse to miss out on capturing action. 1/400s F2.8 300mm ISO 64.
If you haven’t already you can check out my previous blog on Grassroots sport here.
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