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Sport is one of the areas of photography that demand specialised equipment. For most events you need fast, long lenses and high sensitivity and such things are just not available on a modest budget. For the glamour events you may also need a press pass which is not available to amateurs. Still, if you have the gear and the contacts it is an interesting area, where your shots are worth money.

Having said all that, the amateur can still get some decent shots, especially if they can get close to the action, say at one's local sporting clubs. the main thing is to keep your shutter speed high to avoid motion blur. 1/1000 sec is normally enough, although this may vary up or down depending on the event.

For the moment this gallery is limited to cricket and football but I hope to add some more sports when I find the time to venture out.

THUMBNAIL (click to view 1200px image)	PARAMETERS	COMMENTS
	Canon A610 29mm (140mm) f/4.1 1/250 sec ISO Auto P Mode	"The Mark" (Portland, 2006) The "Mark" is one of the iconic moments in our unique sport and a really good shot of that moment is always the pinup for Australian Rules Football. This one occurred in a match at my local ground between Portland and Mt Gambier. Sure, this is not in the Jezza league but one has to start somewhere!
	Canon A610 29mm (140mm) f/4.1 1/400 sec ISO Auto P Mode	"In Dispute" (Portland, 2006) Here all eyes are on the pig-skin ellipsoid which is up for grabs. It is the tension over who will win the ball that creates the interest in this photo. I like this shot, but it does show up some of the limitations of this camera. I had to crop the original quite a bit to get this level of zoom and you can see in the players legs that 1/400 sec is just not fast enough.
	Canon A610 22mm (106mm) f/4 1/60 sec ISO Auto P Mode	"The Huddle" (Portland, 2006) Another icon of the Australian game, the quarter time huddle. On local grounds one can walk right up to the huddle, encourage one's team and hear what the coach has to say. Here Portland coach Mark Jeffries rams the message home. I love the immediacy and intimacy of this shot although technically the speed was not quite fast enough.
	Canon A610 29mm (140mm) f/4.1 1/640 sec ISO Auto P Mode	"Missed Me!" (Portland, 2006) There is quite a bit of aggression in our game and I just happened to be right on the spot where a Nth Gambier player attempted to "hip and shoulder" his Portland opponent behind the play. Embarrassingly for him, his target stepped aside at the last second. Moments like this don't come along very often when you have a camera in your hand, so you need to make the most of them when they do! What quality of shot you get from such situations is one measure of your ability as a photographer. No shot at all and you fail.
	Canon A610 29mm (140mm) f/4.1 1/1250 sec ISO Auto P Mode	"The Ruck" (Portland, 2006) The centre bounce and ruck is another iconic moment in Aussie Rules and since the ball is in dispute with everyone doing their darndest to get it, it often makes an interesting picture, full of tension. I used a little too much "lighten shadows" here but neglected to save the original so I cannot go back. I have since established a rigorous production path where I keep both the original and the processed image and back them up.
	Canon A610 29mm (140mm) f/4.1 1/200 sec ISO Auto P Mode	"Regaining The Ashes" (MCG, 2006) Matthew Hayden batting on day 2 of the 2006 Boxing Day Test, Freddie Flintoff is at Mid Off. This shot captures the scene but is somewhat lacking in detail. Since this was the maximum zoom this camera is obviously unsuitable for large sporting events.
	Nikon D60 Nikon 70-300 VR 300mm (450mm) f/5.6 1/1000 sec ISO 220 S Mode	"Ouch!" (MCG, 2008) Brett Lee jerks his hand free after copping a stinger on the glove against South Africa. What a difference a proper camera with a decent reach makes! This shot is sharp and large, but most importantly it has some drama. Technically perfect sport shots where nothing is happening are of no use to anyone.
	Nikon D60 Nikon 70-300 VR 70mm (105mm) f/5.6 1/1000 sec ISO 280 S Mode	"Brett Lee's Field" (MCG, 2008) Brett Lee sends one down on day 2 of the 2008 Boxing Day Test. For sporting events you need a lot of speed as something is generally moving quite rapidly. 1/1000 sec is usually enough, note that the ball is sharp. I possibly could have used a bit more DoF here but that would have entailed raising the ISO and I was trying to concentrate on the moment and getting the shot. Multiple custom modes would help deal with this problem and we could just scrap the idiot "Point & Shoot" modes.
	Nikon D60 Nikon 70-300 VR 300mm (450mm) f/5.6 1/1000 sec ISO 450 S Mode	"Peter Siddle" (MCG, 2008) Pace rookie Peter Siddle contemplates his next delivery as he returns to his mark. Sport photography is all about telling a story, and when you get behind the lens you realise that there are many interesting stories other than what happens at the point of impact. Getting in close at ground level allows the camera to reveal the human detail in the drama of sport.
	Nikon D60 Nikon 70-300 VR 300mm (450mm) f/5.6 1/1000 sec ISO 220 S Mode	"Following Through" (MCG, 2008) Mitchell Johnson in full flight against South Africa. I used the customisable ISO auto function which enables the camera to adjust the sensitivity AND the aperture whilst keeping the shutter constant. This is fantastically useful because you can set the parameters so you get the trade offs that you want. Brilliant!
	Nikon D60 Nikon 70-300 VR 300mm (450mm) f/5.6 1/1000 sec ISO 560 S Mode	"Facing Up" (MCG, 2008) Graeme Smith batting against Australia, Andrew Symonds is at backward point. Light cloud drifted across from time to time, which would have been a pain to keep adjusting for had I had the ISO clamped to a value, but the customisable ISO auto simply turned it up when needed leaving me to concentrate on the action.
	Nikon D60 Nikon 70-300 VR 300mm (450mm) f/5.6 1/1000 sec ISO 500 S Mode	"Sombreros at Bay 13" (MCG, 2008) The famous Bay 13 crowd at the Boxing Day Test are always entertaining and this day was no exception. They lend a special atmosphere to this test that you just can't buy.
	Nikon D60 Nikon 70-300 VR 300mm (450mm) f/5.6 1/1000 sec ISO 1400 S Mode	"Cricket Paparazzi" (MCG, 2008) So what do the pros use to record this event? Well they look like 400 and 600 mm fast primes to me! This year there were more Nikons in evidence than was the case in the preceding years where Canons dominated. Your reign is over Canon! My pics show that this lens is ok for this job but not quite sharp enough wide open at full tele for professional work. Sport pays but the gear costs.