Getting those sports action shots: all the details
[To try to be quick and yet fully address the issue... that is the mission!]
1. Get the photographic basics right. Lots of times, I am forgetting something really elementary and it changes how well my shots come out. I shoot lots of basketball games and football games, where the action is indeed fast as all get-out. The basics: Ample light behind me; tripod for lengths above 300mm; high shutter speed; good vantage point (height and location); lowest ISO emulation reasonable for the shutter speed.
2. Know the game; better yet, know the team and the coach's designs. If you know what's going to happen, you don't have to guess where the action will be; game action will come to you. Even if you haven't had a long background with the game or the team, watch the patterns (in other words, don't shoot; just observe carefully for a few minutes) in the action. Determine what moments you want to capture; then get yourself ready to capture them.
3. Shoot "upright," with the framing tall instead of long. That gets one eye out from behind the camera, on some units.
OR... 3B. Hover. I, too, have trouble keeping both eyes open and staying behind the shutter. When I need to shoot long instead of tall, I usually use the 55-300mm, handheld, and I "hover" over the camera, nose in the viewfinder and both eyes looking over the top. It's close, it lets me watch the game, and the width of the lens catches everything I wanted to capture and a little extra--not restrictively like a macro and not indiscriminately like a wide angle.
Note on 3. and 3B.: strength... to take for the whole game, and still remain steady, you need strength in your hands, your arms, and your torso. Your work in the gym will affect your photography--I have always insisted that my Photo Team captains hit the gym and strengthen themselves so they can catch moments that happen too fast to allow for tripod, testing, and final shots. What to do: wingspan reaches (forward and side) with free weights, short bar arm exercises of all varieties (forward and reverse curls, primarily), and shrugs (do those very slowly). Other things that help: playing musical instruments that involve the hands, serving food using trays carried overhead (five-finger style), and archery or firearms practice (more heavy artillery practice at the shooting range and a camera will seem like a piece of cake; if you're an archer, ratchet up the resistance on that compound bow and keep hitting your bull's-eye).
I hope this helps. I know I bring a lot of details, but in some ways, for better or for worse, that's what photography is: a lot of details to which we pay precise attention.
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