Foul Play

Photographing basketball games from courtside under the basket captures great close-up action coming directly at you.

Colby College basketball’s Keagan Dunbar (21) is fouled while driving to the hoop by Thomas College’s Shala Davis (24) and Anna Piirainen (13).

The Photo

Basketball is one of the best sports to photograph because you clearly see the players’ faces while sitting  courtside, adjacent to the action. One ideal shooting position is sitting on the floor directly under the basket, slightly to the right, which ensures nearly all the action comes toward you, since players tend to drive more from the left, likely because many are right-handed.  From here you can capture powerful photos of layups, rebounds, dunks, collisions, fouls, and player reactions to made baskets, missed shots, and referee calls. However, you need to stay alert to avoid airborne players or balls colliding with you.

In this women’s basketball game between Colby College and cross-town rival Thomas College, Colby jumped out early to a big lead, so Thomas players were determined to block the lane and prevent additional easy Colby layups. On this play, Colby guard Keagan Dunbar (in white) saw a clear path to the basket and quickly drove into the lane, but two Thomas defenders stuck out their arms to block the way, preferring to be called for the foul than allowing an easy bucket.  My telephoto lens blurred out the background, which more clearly highlighted the bodies colliding, the ball knocked loose, and the fouled player’s facial expression.

3 Tips

1.     Sitting courtside under the basket is a terrific vantage point to capture all types of close-up basketball action coming directly at you.

2.     Watch for players driving the lane, rebounding, colliding with one another, or reacting to shots or calls.

3.     Stay alert to avoid any players or loose balls that might collide with you.

High Beam

Gymnastics events provides photographers many opportunities to capture spectacular athletic feats.

Yale's Jessica Wang goes high when dismounting from the balance beam vs. University of New Hampshire.

The Photo

The gymnastics meet between Yale and University of New Hampshire (UNH) featured highly talented competitors on the balance beam, vault, floor exercise and parallel bars, but I quickly realized that the balance beam would give me the best pictures.  The gymnasts on the beam did numerous head-over-heels flips as they repeatedly landed perfectly on the beam, and twisted their bodies around while soaring high into the air on their amazing dismounts.  I planned to crouch down low, to make their leaps look even higher and more spectacular in a photo.  My challenge as a photographer would be to simultaneously capture their spectacularly high leaps and faces as they performed their routines.

As the young women performed, they moved rapidly, springing up and over the beam, but often turned their faces away, so I had yet to get a great photo.  The dismounts had great potential, but the athletes were moving in so many different directions at the same time, it was not easy to perfectly time their leaps, twists, and faces to capture the most powerful image. On the next to last balance beam routine, one gymnast looked my way repeatedly, and I shot several strong photos of her upside down and high in the air over the beam.  And when she dismounted, she leaped higher and spun more than anyone else, giving me another powerful photo of her winning routine.

3 Tips

1)    The balance beam event typically provides some of the best gymnastics photos.

2)    Shoot from a low angle to make the gymnasts’ leaps look higher and more spectacular.

3)    You’ll likely need to shoot many, many photos to capture both the gymnasts’ athleticism and faces in one great image.