How to Photograph Soccer

Much like American football, soccer presents several challenges to photographers. The field is enormous, so the action will often occur far from your position, making it hard to get a good shot of one player with the ball. However, a few tricks can help you take good soccer photos.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Go behind the net. You can't spend the entire game behind the net because the action is usually too far away to get a good picture from this position. However, you need the classic picture of a goal taken through the back of the net. Use a fast shutter speed for this shot so the ball is not a blur.

2. Move to the sidelines to get action pictures. From here, you can get pictures of soccer players handling the ball, passing or just running down field with the ball. If you get close to a goal, you can also take some good pictures of the goalie tending the goal.

3. Try prefocusing to get pictures of a soccer player running down the field. Focus your camera on a spot midfield before a team begins moving across the field. Wait for a player to come into your frame and snap a picture.

4. Use a long zoom lens. Soccer is a tough sport to take pictures of with a basic point-and-shoot camera because they do not have long zoom lenses. In order to take good pictures across a soccer field, you'll need at least a 10X zoom lens.

5. Take a few wide-angle pictures. To do this get as low to the ground as possible. A wide-angle lens will help you get more of the field into the picture.