Customer Reviews

Digital Sports Photography : Take Winning Shots Every Time

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

We own a full-service photography studio in the Midwest. Each holiday season, we give ourselves a book or books on photography. This year, we decided to get two books by the same author(s): Total Digital Photography and Digital Sports Photography. We bought these after reading the reviews and looking at them at a local bookstore.

We converted from film to digital about three years ago, and workflow has been an issue for us as we've expanded and grown our studio, and dealt with all the factors involved with adding computers, archiving, etc. We do commercial, sports, and portrait photography so these books were right in-line with what we were doing.

Normally we have not written reviews on books in the past, but we felt it only fair to give these books a synopsis that we think more accurately matches the audience for which they are intended - and not all the reviews do that.

Reading the other reviews of these books, most of the complaints seemed nit-picky and not very substantial, and the overall impression was positive. A few of the technical points are well-taken, but seem a bit out of proportion to the overall spirit and gist of the books - which aren't intended to be deep technical works. We've used the books now for a bit more than a month, and we've found them both to be, for the most part, technically accurate, well-written, and very helpful for our work.

A few of the reviewers questioned the authors' use of fencing images, but we found these to be an interesting way to take an unusual and interesting subject, describe personal experience, and apply it to a variety of sports. And the images of all types were well done - good examples, well-composed, and applicable to a variety of photographers. We liked the use of a wide variety of sports photogrpahers' images in the sports book.

We must point out that these books aren't meant to be coffee-table books. One reviewer said many images are like snapshots. We disagree - they are like standard, everyday professional shots we might take, and aren't meant to be "haute" art photos. A few are of this caliber, but it's clear the authors' are attempting to reach ordinary photography enthusiasts and working professionals, not gallery artists.

One of the things we liked most was how personal and readable the books are - way more than just a reference where you'd read a snippet or two from various pages. These books have helped us understand digital photography much more deeply, and put into place a workflow and method for managing our studio more efficiently and profitably. We recommend the book to anyone seriously interested in photography as a regular pursuit-whether you're in it for the money or just as an active pursuit.

This is my first Amazon review. I was motivated to write because this book is a superb resource for anyone wishing to improve their sports photography! As a "soccer mom" with two kids heavily involved in team sports, I had been wrestling with such issues as shutter lag, exposure in fading light, fast action, etc. (You know what I mean!)This book definitely showed me the way to solving those problems and many more -- and it's packed with inspirational action shots and tips from pro sports photographers. It's important to note that it doesn't just cover team sports, however: tennis, boating, adventure sports and other recreational pursuits are also given fine and useful coverage. (I go whitewater rafting with friends every spring, so I'm looking forward to trying out techniques there as well.) An added bonus is the sections on image editing after the shoot. (My only critique: A few of the coolest photos are shown a little small -- I wish they had more "full pagers.") Bottom line on all of this: My sports shots are looking great already, drawing lots of "oohs" and "ahhs" from family and friends, and I've already framed a couple of them. Definitely worth the investment!

This is a completely up-to-date book about shooting a variety of sports with digital cameras. What impressed me is that it is very practical and to the point. Illustrations are used effectively to make points.

He emphasizes that you need to understand the sport you are covering in order to be able to anticipate what might happen next.

He deals with the challenges of fast action, low light, and the fact that amateur photographers may not have sideline access the way professional photographers do.

It's also worth remembering that when you are taking distant shots with zooms lenses, and are likely to do a lot of cropping. having many megapixels does make a difference - a point too often underestimated.

This book is geared for the beginning to intermediate photographers, but has some decent tips for the more experienced shooters out there. (I've been shooting for a newspaper for four years and learned several new things that I'll be sure to try out.)

The nice thing about this book, as compared to several others, is that the author does not assume the reader has an unlimited source of money for a new camera or new lens and he does his best to walk you through the steps when using a less expensive camera.

The chapters on photo editing should be especially useful to the non-professional.

I recently upgraded to a Canon Rebel to photograph my children's gymnastics and soccer events. I had this book on order before it was available, and just got it a few days ago. It has opened my eyes to what I need to actually take photos and not just use the automatic settings -- and it even contains information on these two sports! It explains a lot about digital photography in simple terms, which filled in several gaps for me about digital photography. Plus, my son is into skateboarding and my wife is a skier, so now I can figure out how to take photos of that as well. I also liked the information about what to do with the photos to process them, print them, and get them online. The method shown is easy and seems like it's not jsut meant for professionals; it includes point-and-shoot as well as big-camera info. It's great that there are so many photos and advice from many photographers, not just one. I've already recommended this book to my kids' coaches. Highly recommended!

The author is the official photographer for the International Fencing Federation. While his own experience is mainly in fencing, he also incorporates the work of other sports photographers in his book, which according to the introduction, is aimed at every photographer except full time professional sports photographers. The book is divided into four main parts. Understanding digital sports photography includes a general introduction, a section about workflow and a discussion of equipment and techniques. Shooting sports on location groups the approach to different sports depending on their venue. Working in the digital studio discusses the requirements for digital processing and processing techniques. A section on presentation talks about everything from printing through earning money from your photographs to legal issues.

I found the section on shooting sports on location the most useful. For example you can turn to the chapter on indoor competition sports and find a number of hints that may prove useful in such a venue.

Unfortunately, other parts of the book are less useful. While the author is undoubtedly a good photographer, his organizational skills as a writer are weak. He will repeat the same advice over and over. For example on a single page he will ask "[W]hat if you inadvertently click the wrong setting and delete all the photos..?" and then a few sentences later say "Don't be in a hurry. More than one photographer has deleted a card without meaning to...."

He often gives wrong advice. For example, he states that you cannot upgrade from Photoshop Elements to the full blown Photoshop. Yet for some time now, and as of the date of this writing, Adobe has given a $100 discount to Photoshop Elements owners on the purchase of Photoshop. He also gives contradictory advice. On one page he recommends establishing a digital darkroom with "a good-quality monitor, preferably the CRT kind, not an LCD display." A few pages later he says "a good quality LCD will be perfectly sufficient."

His discussion of digital processing could have been limited to a discussion of some of the possibilities of Photoshop. Instead he provides just enough instruction to confuse any would-be user.

But the biggest problem is that he leaves out the discussion of factors that are important to new digital photographers. For example, one of the tools that separates film from digital in the control of exposure is the in-camera histogram. Yet there is no mention of the facility until the chapter on darkroom processing and then it is given short shrift.

For another example, digital cameras shoot in various formats like Raw and JPEG, which is not as flexible for post-processing as Raw but creates smaller picture files. Digital cameras store picture files in a buffer before they write the data to a memory card. When the buffer is full, the camera will not take a photograph. For this reason sports photographers, who often shoot in long bursts, prefer JPEG so that they can store more pictures in the buffer. Timacheff does not even suggest that this might be a reason for selecting JPEG over Raw.

If you purchase this book for the tips on shooting in sports locations, you may find it useful. Otherwise, you will probably be disappointed.

I am a semi-pro photographer and found this book to be very helpful in my growing career. I shoot tennis, soccer, and football primarily, as well as some alternative indoor sports like martial arts, and the techniques presented significantly improved the results of my images.

I especially liked how the author used multiple pro sports photographers -- each specialized in the different sports -- to share their techniques and approaches, yet he maintained a consistent discussion and methodology throughout the book. It really helped that there was so much pro talent talking about how they shoot each sport -- all the other sports books I have seen have been one photographer writing about how to shoot every sport. This book was way more honest and realistic.

Great book!

This book is divided into sections covering nearly every kind of sport, and each one features a set of standard tips for setting up, assessing exposure, and getting a dramatic shot that fits with the nature of the particular sport you're shooting. I've already found it to be extremely useful for shooting my daughter's soccer games, and I'm looking forward to using it to get some cool skiing shots this winter. I noticed another review here where the writer has critiqued some contradictory advice regarding monitors, using Photoshop, etc. That may or may not be true. At any rate, I haven't noticed. What I *have* noticed is that this book is packed with information you can put to work for great results immediately. I recommend this highly.

Cool book, densely packed with information that is actually useful. Maybe I can now start to live up to the capabilities of my D70 the next time I'm climbing.

Really great photos and really great information in this book. If you want to learn how to take sports and action photos with a digital camera, this is the book to buy. Lots of color and inspiring device. I recommend it highly.