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Once you have your equipment together it's time to go out there and shoot. A few things to remember:
Be considerate of players and spectators
Keep away from the touch line and goal line. As a rule, stay at least 1 meter back from the line, and more if officials or the coaches request it. Stay out of the way of the coaches, and out of the "technical area', if there is one designated.
Keep an eye out. Your equipment is generally more solid than player body parts. And even though they look fairly innocent, soccer balls can travel fast, and can really surprise the unwary.
Setting up the Camera: If you have a camera that allows you to program some functions, there are things you can change to make shooting easier.
Aperture Priority -- I select my aperture to get the depth of field I want. I keep an eye on the shutter speed that the camera selects. With soccer faster is almost always better, which is why I use fast film or, with digital cameras, a high ISO setting. DON'T use the "PROGRAM" mode on your camera. Never. Period.
Autofocus Control -- Many autofocus cameras start the autofocus when you depress the shutter button half-way, and then fire the shutter when you fully depress it. When I first started shooting soccer I was firing too many false shots that way. I set my F100s to disable this feature, so that autofocus is activated only by the rear AF-On button (using my thumb). With the Nikon D1 series digital bodies, the arrangement of the controls is not as convenient so I use the shutter buton activated AF.
Rear Command Dial -- For cameras with two command dials, I shift the rear dial to control the aperture. This means my thumb does all the adjustment work, while my index finger is dedicated to turning the camera on and off, and firing the shutter.
Closest Focus Priority -- You'll probably want to turn this off. Usually you don't want the camera making decisions for you regarding which object in the frame to focus on.
Select the AF Sensor -- You may be able to choose the autofocus sensor that will be in use. When you first start, you'll probably feel more comfortable with the center sensor. However, the focal point of the main subject (most of the time) will be the head -- which will be in the upper third of the frame (most of the time). Try using an upper sensor. You may also have luck with eye controlled sensors (Canon), but they may also be a little dodgy when following fast action, and may not work if you wear eyeglasses.
Position: Where you position yourself on the field will have a lot to do with how well your pictures will turn out.
Method #1 -- If your camera's autofocus seems up to the task of players heading straight for you, divide each game period into three equal segments. Stay at the same end of the field. Start shooting from one side of the goal line (e.g. "A" above) for 1/3 of the period, then shift to the other side of the goal ("B" above), and finish up the final 1/3 in an area on "your" side of the halfway line roughly in area "C". You'll be able to shoot right and left forwards, right and left defenders, and also capture midfield action.
Method #2 -- For starters, position yourself in area "C". It will help if the sun is behind you -- especially when you're just starting out or if you don't know how well your camera handles backlight.. Stay at that end of the field for both periods of the game -- this will allow you to feature both the defensive and offensive players. Unless you have a long telephoto, you'll find that most of the action that fills the camera's frame will be between the touch line and about 1/3 out onto the field. Don't worry about what you're missing on the other side of the field. If the offensive lead moves back and forth between the two teams, you may need to extend your shooting area to cover both "C" and "D". If one team clearly has a dominant offense, you'll need to shift towards the play, since even the defenders will be moving towards midfield.
Your Mileage May Vary -- Regardless of how you plan to shoot the game, be alert to changes in the play on the field. I've shot games using Method #1 and ended up with a lot of good shots. The next weekend I shot another team using the same method, and the dynamics were such that I ended up throwing out half of the photos. I really should have used method #2.
Panning: If you shoot from the ends of the pitch, you'll have players running towards you. A fast AF camera body and a fast lens...No problem. Try your equipment out and see how it works. If you are shooting a manual focus lens, or if your AF gear is a little slow, you'll find it easier to shoot from the sidelines, panning (pivoting the camera horizontally) to follow the action. This means that the human focusing mechanism, or the autofocusing mechanism, doesn't have to work as hard since the relative distance between you and the players doesn't change as fast. That means more better pictures. You'll find that your monopod works very well here. Bear in mind that with a player running towards you, keeping the autofocus patch on the subject will probably be easier.
Focus: If you are shooting with a manual focus lens, you'll end up with a few photos that are undoubtedly out of focus, some that are spot on, and some that are -- well -- somewhere in between. With autofocus things get more binary. You'll get some wonderfully focused shots of the players, and some wonderfully focused shots of the cars parked across the street. It happens to all of us.
And then there's the net. If you shoot action at the net from anywhere behind the goal line, you might be shooting through the net. That net presents a nice high contrast target -- just the thing your autofocus sensor loves -- and will lock onto. What to do? If you're following the action the best thing is to use a smaller aperture and allow that the lens's depth-of-field (DOF) to cover the goal area for you. If you have a DOF preview, you can check things visually. Or you can consult a chart for the focal length of the lens (there are calculators on the net). If you are setting up in advance, you can turn off the autofocus and prefocus manually (obviously this also works for manual focus cameras). This is another one of the situations where NOT activating the autofocus with the shutter button is a good thing. Some motor driven AF lenses have one or more buttons towards the front of the lens that allow you to lock the lens once you focus it -- as long as you hold down the button.
What to shoot: Some people try to concentrate on taking pictures of the goals. These are great shots, when you can get them -- and to get them you'll need to concentrate on just that activity. That means that 95% or more of the activity on the field -- the real drama of soccer -- gets ignored, along with most of the team members. Your choice. What do I tell people who ask "Did you get it?" Answer; "I don't shoot goals."
When to shoot: If your camera has a motor drive or winder, you can just machine-gun away. But you'll probably have better luck trying to catch peak action or decisive moments. As you learn the game (see below) you'll develop a better understanding of when to press that shutter button. When I was shooting manual focus lenses, I never used the sequence (multiple shots with one press of the button) mode on the motor drive. I wanted to capture that moment when action, composition, and focus all came together...Not just fire away and hope things happened.
Run what ya brung: (This carries over from the equipment page.) Naturally, it would be wonderful if you could go out and buy any camera body and any lenses that caught your fancy. But if you're on a budget, you'll probably need to shoot with the gear you've got. Let's take some of the pointers from above and apply them to the equipment you have to work with:
No long lens. It takes a 300mm lens to give you good reach to the middle of the field (from the sidelines). If you have a 180mm or 200mm lens, you'll need to concentrate on action on your side. A 105mm or 135mm will move your threshold even closer. It's O.K. to have one or two shots of the distant running herd, but be patient and concentrate on shooting when the players fill the frame nicely.
Slow autofocus. If your AF is slow, try to avoid situations where the players are running directly towards you. Shoot from the sidelines ("C" and "D") where the closing speed of the players is relatively slow. Also, avoid situations where the AF has to work hard. Very dark uniforms in shadow may be a problem, especially with a slower lens, since the AF "spot" wants to see contrast.
Short zoom. Some folks have zoom lenses that range from around 28mm to 70, 80, or 105mm. These are good for team shots and for candids. For action shots, you'll need to concentrate on what is happening close to the sidelines. If you need to balance out your shots among all the team members, think about shooting the game in four quarters. You can stay at the same end of the field so you can get defenders and forwards (the midfielders will find their way to you automatically) during the first and second halves of the game. Halfway through each period, switch sides so that you shoot both the left and right players. Or you can stay on the same side (lighting conditions may dictate this) and shoot half of each period with the defenders, and half of each period with the offense.
Manual focus. You can give yourself some margin by stopping down the lens to f/11, f/16, or f/22 in order to extend your depth of field. That means that you'll need faster film, because you'll need a fast shutter speed. Following our "Sunny 16" rule, you'll need to have ISO 800 film to get 1/1000 of a second at f/16 on a sunny day. As with slower AF cameras, work from the sidelines where you can pan with the action, rather than trying to focus on players as they come charging towards you. With moderate telephoto lenses you can pre-focus to a spot where you expect action, keep the camera up on that monopod, and wait for things to happen.
If you can change the focusing screen in your manual focus camera body you should consider an all-matte screen (not center microprism or split image). I found that shooting fast action with a center focusing aid was actually slower, since it added extras step to my shooting process -- moving the center to the subject, focusing, and then re-framing the shot. A matte screen looks less cluttered, and you can focus anywhere in the frame.
Learn the game, learn the team: You'll shoot better if you understand the game, and understand how "your" team plays. As your knowledge grows and you see plays develop, you'll know where to point the camera ahead of the action.
Shoot, shoot, shoot: Shoot as many frames as you can afford. You need to train your hands and eyes to work the camera controls, to get the subject framed, and to shoot the camera at the right moment. If you are using a zoom lens, initially it will seem like there are too many things going on at once. Accept the fact that some of your shots will be just plain horrible. So learn from them and move on.
Another part of "shoot, shoot, shoot" is to consider shooting two games in a row. If you're trying to get pictures of the whole team, I'll guarantee that you'll look at that first batch of prints and wonder why you didn't take many (or any!) pictures of some of the players. Life is like that. The next time out you can correct things.
Enjoy yourself: Soccer is dynamic and dramatic. Don't give up if you blow most of your shots on your first tries. Look at the photos, figure out how to do better, and then shoot again. As you get better, your knowledge and instincts will begin to form. And one day you'll be going through your prints and you'll see a picture that you shot, and that absolutely takes your breath away. It's a good feeling, and that's why I keep coming back.
(Updated October 2004)
