beginner basics
Being There
AND GETTING THE SHOT
Finishing second in the Olympics gets you
silver. Finishing second in politics gets you
oblivion.
— Richard Nixon
Be ready
Like athletes, photographers must train and
be familiar with their equipment before the
Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games begin. It is
simply too late to be reading the operators’
manual after the figure skater has landed
that perfect quad jump.
The time to purchase a new camera
in time for the Games is now. So what
camera should you buy? That depends on
a hockey sock full of variables, but as a
beginner, price will most likely be the deciding
factor.
Let’s be honest with ourselves. A highend
digital SLR body can cost upwards of
$8,000 and a pro 600-mm lens another
$10,000, plus, plus, plus. And no pointand-
shoot will favourably compare.
However, there have been a couple of
really good point-and-shoot cameras introduced
in the past year that are finding
their way into the pockets of pro shooters. Point-and-shoot cameras have their
advantages and disadvantages. A primary
concern should be the focal length of the
lens, most often maxed out at around 140
mm. If you lean toward a camera with a
large sensor, such as Canon’s G10 at 14.7
MP, you should have sufficient resolution
to provide the space to “crop” the subject
and render a more pleasing composition,
retaining a reasonable print size.
Technique
More important than the camera you’re using,
however, is the ability to use that camera
to its maximum capability. Study and understand
the owners’ manual. You must be able
to intuitively make adjustments on the fly in
order to capture the essence of the moment
before it occurs; it’s too late after the fact.
Once you understand the camera, get
out and practise, practise and then practise
some more. The two common sports
techniques used by knowledgeable photographers
are “freeze-frame” and “panning.”....
By Dale Wilson
Contributing Editor
To read more from this column please ...
BIO
DALE WILSON is a professional photographer who has been home-based and working out of Nova Scotia and/or Newfoundland for the best part of 25 years.
When he is not behind a lens he is probably writing magazines articles (he has written in excess of 100), trying to convince a publisher this book idea is the best yet (he has published four and contributed to countless others), lamenting the challenges of the stock photo industry (he is represented by Getty and Masterfile), or counting his blessings that he doesn’t know what it is like to have a real job.
You can visit his website at www.dalewilson.ca or his blog at www.dalewilsonphotography.blogspot.com
Dale is now a regular photo columnist for Outdoor Photography Canada
magazine, the first Canadian national outdoor photography magazine of its kind.
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