Pure Emotion
You can’t replicate pure emotion. Emotion comes from the heart of a moment and is gone in a split second. So how do we capture that moment of pure joy or dejection?
So the question is, what is the definition of emotion? It is a strong feeling deriving from one’s circumstances, mood or relationship with others. It’s an emotion that makes us human.
Every aspect of sports is fast, even what you would class as a slow sport such as snooker, everything happens in an instant moment. You have no control of the subject, the composition and the light. So how do we as photographers take control of a subject which can not be controlled?
There is so much more to sports photography than meets the eye. It is knowledge and the ability to read the game and anticipate a play or a reaction of a player before it happens. Luckily with today’s digital cameras, there is no limitation to how much you can shoot. I have missed so much because I have not carried on shooting by attempting to discipline myself. Yes, discipline is good in certain scenarios but when you have no control of it is always best to expect the element of surprise.
This is my top tip without even thinking about my camera settings and positioning. Camera settings is all in a matter of your surrounding light source and is the easiest part of sports photography but what is key to creating pure emotion is your framing.
So let us look at framing!
Camera framing is the placement and position of the subjects in your images. Creating that pure emotional shot is all about the composition, the lighting, surrounding, close-ups, using that rule of thirds as well as the use of negative space. By being aware of your surrounding environment and having this basic knowledge will emphasis the type of emotion that you want to portray to your subjects. It may be a cliche but a single image can speak a thousands words but it is how we create that emotion that speaks loudest to us.
For me, this is my favourite part of shooting football is capturing that extra storytelling piece which add to add to every game..
It is my job to show the invisible!
Leila Coker at Perfect Captures Photography is a Northampton based photographer creating emotive and inspirational photography since 2016, capturing sporting events from major European tournament football to Spartan and Wolf Run events across the UK creating high quality imagery to showcase an event as well as for individual competitors capturing that perfect moment.
