Cheerleading Photography

Probably one of the hardest photography to shoot is Cheerleading. The fast action of the cheerleaders and the poor lighting make it a nightmare to shoot. Most point and shoot cameras are not capable of shooting a fast shutter speed to stop the action without blurring the photo. Even LSR cameras with kit lenses will not have a fast enough lens to bring everything together. First you need a fast lens for your camera. One that will go down to a F2.8 or lower The problem with a fast lens is speed cost a lot of money! Fast lens are very expensive to buy. Dont think that if you have a fast lens like a f2.8 that you can just start shoot like a pro. I have only scratched the surface were talking custom white balance of your camera to get true color and not yellow photos. Next pushing the ISO so you can get your shutter speed up at least 1/400 or higher but be careful to high of the ISO and your photos will look grainy. Next you have to set your focus point to center so you camera would focus on something other then your subject. Even with all that i have told you still have to be able to adjust on the fly to make small adjustments as you go. But dont blink in cheerleading you blink and you will miss something like a flyer spinning down or some other crazy move that the do. If i have confused you on any of this then you should leave this to the pros. So dont be surprised if you see me at a event firing of photos stopping the action. Good luck