Position

Learning goal

You will be able to choose where to stand at a field by thinking about the players' faces, the background and the light together. You will watch which basket or goal the teams are attacking, move to the end the attack is coming toward in order to see the faces, and take into account that when the teams switch ends at halftime, you have to switch places too. You will compare how kneeling at the edge of the field makes the players look bigger, and how looking down from the stands opens up the shape of the game. You will work without putting the game or anyone in danger, by keeping to the photo position the organizer sets and to the safety rules. You will watch how, when looking from a low angle, the ceiling lights can darken faces, and how differently this turns out on different skin tones.

The question

Your friend now sees in advance where the pass will go, but in rebound and block moments there are always backs in their frames. The nephew rises for the rebound, the center jumps for the block; both have turned their faces to the other basket. At halftime the club photographer packs their bag, walks to the other end of the court and drops onto one knee behind the sideline. Another photographer sitting in the stands, meanwhile, shoots from high up in the hall, seeing the whole court. The same game, three different places. From the stands, or from the edge of the court?

Context

In composition you tried how the height of the camera above the ground matters: looking up from low enlarges the subject, while looking down from above makes the ground the backdrop (Lesson 14.6). While comparing wide, normal and telephoto lenses you learned to decide which backdrop comes behind the subject by your choice of place and lens (Lesson 12.2). And while reading the game you noticed that under the basket and the corners are the busiest places in a game (Lesson X.3).

Position ties these three pieces of knowledge into a single decision at a field: where will you stand? A lens or a setting can be changed during the shoot, but a position is often fixed for a half, sometimes for a whole game. Someone standing in the wrong place shoots backs even with the best equipment.

Simple explanation

Where are the faces seen from?

The attacking end is the basket or goal a team is attacking in that half. The attacking players run, jump and shoot toward this end; their faces and chests turn to this end. That is why a photographer who wants to see the faces, the effort and the ball together stands behind the attacking end or in the corner near it. The defending players, on the other hand, turn their backs to this end.

At halftime the teams switch baskets or goals. The place that was right in one half becomes the place that shows backs in the other. That is why halftime is not a break for the photographer but a time to move. Knowing which team's photos you are shooting also matters here: a photographer working for one team moves to the end that team is attacking, while someone shooting both teams works from two different ends in the two halves.

From low, or from above?

The kneeling position is crouching or sitting down at the edge of the field to bring the camera down to about half a meter off the ground. From this angle the players look bigger and stronger, as if reaching for the sky, and the jumps look higher. In the background, instead of the stand's lower rows, the upper rows or the hall's ceiling take their place. Looking down from the stands, from above, gives something else: the shape of the field, the arrangement of the players relative to each other, the layout of a counterattack or a defense. The background becomes the court floor or the grass, that is, plain and a single color.

The two tell two different stories. The kneeling position shows a player's effort and face, the stands show the game itself. A selection from a game usually wants frames from both.

The low angle has a cost: the lamps in the hall's ceiling enter the frame right above or behind the players' heads. These bright sources leave the faces in backlight and pull the camera's metering down. On dark skin, the face in front of bright lamps comes close to a silhouette. On light skin, meanwhile, the face's edges blend into the lamp's glare. Shifting a little to the side to take the lamps out of the frame, or raising the compensation, keeps the faces in their own tones.

Where is standing allowed?

A photo position is one of the strips, usually behind the basket or goal, and the set sections of the sideline that the organizer sets aside for photographers at a game. These areas are kept away from the path of the players, the referees and the bench. In most events a credential is required to work at the sideline, and in some places flash is forbidden.

These rules are for safety. A photographer crouched close to the sideline can fall into the path of a player chasing the ball. That is why the playing area is never entered, and the bag and feet are kept behind the line. The referee's running path is left clear. A photographer who keeps to the rules gets invited to the next game too.

At small games with no photo positions, at a school tournament or in a neighborhood league, there is permission instead of a rule: asking the coach or the organizer where you can stand. At games where children play, you have to take into account that families will also want to know where the photos will be shared. This question, asked once, turns the photographer from a stranger into part of the game.

Visual evidence

At halftime your friend goes to the club photographer and asks where they can work in the hall. A staff member gives them a credential and points to the striped strip behind the basket. Your friend moves behind the basket the nephew's team will attack after halftime and crouches into the kneeling position.

When the nephew rises for the rebound, their face, outstretched arms and the ball now face the camera. From the kneeling position the jump looks higher, and behind them the stand's upper rows are a soft field of color. In the first frame a ceiling lamp shines right behind the nephew's head, and their face has stayed in shadow. When your friend shifts half a meter to the right, the lamp leaves the frame. In the frame where the center jumps for the block, their dark brown face, with the raised compensation, is detailed in the light from above: the knit of their brows and the sweat on their forehead stand out.

In the game's last minutes they climb up to the stands and shoot a frame from above. The court floor is like a game board; the arrangement of the five players and the corner left open read at a glance.

Common mistakes

Summary

Position is half of the photograph: faces are seen from the attacking end, and when the teams switch ends at halftime the photographer switches places too. The kneeling position enlarges the players' effort and faces, while the stands open up the shape of the game; the two complete each other in a selection. Keeping to the rules of the photo position protects everyone, and at a low angle taking the ceiling lamps out of the frame keeps faces of different skin tones in their own tones.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will shoot the same game from three different positions and compare them.

1. Go to a local game, ask a staff member where you can stand to take photos, and stay in the area you are shown.
2. In one half, shoot from the kneeling position behind the end one team is attacking, and for a while from above in the stands; at halftime, when the teams switch places, switch ends too.
3. In the frames from the kneeling position, look at how the ceiling lamps affect the players' faces; if needed, shift to the side or raise the compensation, and compare the two frames.

Check yourself

• In the frames you shot from the attacking end, are the faces and the ball turned to the camera?
• What do the kneeling and stands frames each tell?
• In the low-angle frames, are the faces in their own tone without darkening in front of the ceiling lamps?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. Where do you stand to see the faces of the attacking players?

• A) Behind the end being defended
• B) Behind the basket or goal being attacked, or in the corner near it
• C) At the center line
• D) Beside the bench

2. Why does the photographer switch places at halftime?

• A) Because the teams switch baskets or goals
• B) Because the light changes
• C) To change their card
• D) To shoot the spectators

3. What does a view from above in the stands show better?

• A) The expression on a player's face
• B) The height of the jump
• C) The ball's seams
• D) The shape of the field and the arrangement of the players relative to each other

4. Why can a player's face darken in the kneeling position?

• A) Because the lens is too long
• B) Because of the player's jersey color
• C) Because the ceiling lamps enter the frame behind their head and leave the face in backlight
• D) Because the court floor swallows the light

Answers

1. B — The attacking players run, jump and shoot toward that end; their faces turn there.
2. A — When the ends change, the previous place becomes the place that shows backs.
3. D — A view from above opens the court floor like a board and makes the arrangement read at a glance.
4. C — Bright lamps pull the metering down and the face stays in shadow.

Summary card

• Position is half of the photograph: faces are seen from the attacking end.
• Halftime is time to move; the teams switch ends.
• The kneeling position shows effort and the face, the stands the shape of the game.
• Stay in the photo position; don't enter the playing area or the referee's path.
• At a low angle, take the ceiling lamps out of the frame and watch the compensation.

Bridge to the next lesson

The next week the game is in the university's old sports hall. When your friend walks in, they notice how weak the light is: yellow, flickering lamps, dark corners. To hold a thousandth-of-a-second shutter speed even at f/2.8, the camera raises the ISO to 12800, and the frames on the screen are noisy. How do you shoot sports in bad light? The next lesson takes up working with high ISO and managing noise in the shoot and in editing.