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Hey Everyone,

If you’re one of the lucky ones to be able to go and watch this year’s big soccer event in South Africa I’m sure you will be bringing a camera. I would suggest bringing a DSLR so you can not only capture the best possible images, but also be able to use extreme telephoto lenses to get close to the action.

Telephoto lenses with fast apertures are a staple for every sports photographer; these lenses get you close to your subject from a long distance, while still allowing you to use the fast shutter speeds need to stop the action.

 

The standard telephoto lens for a sports photographer is a 300mm (or 400mm) f/2.8 lens. Keep in mind that these lenses are very expensive, but then again so is a trip to South Africa. If you do end up purchasing one of these lenses I would also suggest investing in a monopod to stabilize the camera since these lenses are very heavy.

If one of these lenses is out of your budget I would suggest going with the longest Telephoto lens you can afford with the smallest aperture possible. You should also look for lenses with built in optical image stabilization to eliminate blurry images from “camera shake”. For example, if you shoot with a Nikon DSLR you could look at the 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR as a more affordable option.

With all that being said don’t forget to bring a wide-angle lens to capture the bigger picture. Some quick tips for better sports photos are get close, use a wide aperture, the faster the shutter speed the better, set the camera to continuous shooting, and use focus tracking whenever possible.

Now that you have all these great lenses you can also try your hand at some wildlife photography; I’ve heard Africa is good for that too!