Digital Sports Photography: Take Winning Shots Every Time

Chapter 5. Outdoor Recreation and Competition, On and Off the Water

© Amber Palmer

Shooting outdoor recreation and competition can be some of the most thrilling and challenging photography you'll encounter. Be prepared to shoot fast action in bright conditions, and often in conditions where you'll need to protect your equipment carefully — as well as yourself! Whether you're boating, standing alongside a car racetrack, or carrying your equipment on a bike trip, you'll want to take some specific things into consideration not only to get the best shots, but to make sure you get your equipment home safely.

This chapter covers some specific areas of outdoor recreation and competition, but there is a seemingly endless variety of sports that take place outside that people are doing for both the competition and just for the fun of it. I've divided this into some specific areas that you might encounter, and if you're doing something different altogether (ice sailing, anyone?) you should be able to extrapolate from what is covered and apply it to your chosen sporting pursuit.

In this chapter, some of the same principles apply for all of the sports. Then again, there are specific issues for each sport in terms of positioning, equipment, and settings. So even if you aren't planning to shoot boating, for example, you may still want to read through it to see how some of the techniques will apply ...