(All images copyright Michael Berkeley Photography - no reproduction without permission)
I have been one of the official photographers at Salisbury Football Club (The Whites) since October 2016 and I have now photographed over 100 matches for them. There are 2 other regular photographers: John Rose who takes photos for the local newspaper, the Salisbury Journal; and Roger Elliott who worked for the Journal for some 40 years as a photographer – and for over 20 years as Head Photographer. When John is unavailable, I step in and cover for the Journal.
Sam Roberts (Sony A9II; 200-600mm at 600mm; f/6.3; 1/2500th sec; ISO 800)
Photographing football is very easy and very difficult. It is easy to get a stock shot of a player kicking the ball (see above), but it is much harder to take an image that tells a story. This is where Roger excels. He has spent his career telling stories in the newspaper through his photographs and he has that knack for capturing the right moment while still taking very few images - a discipline born out of using film for many years. Photographic ‘stories’ are what the club wants because we provide photographs to illustrate the Match Reports, as well as to adorn the front cover of the programme for the next home game.
In the photograph above – used in the Match Report – Jack Stanley has been sent off for a tackle on the opposition player who is writhing in agony on the ground. This is described as a ‘Gamechanger’ because Salisbury were then down to 10 men and therefore faced an uphill struggle – so the photo succeeds in ‘telling the story’ of that stage of the game. Needless to say, the opposition player jumped up and trotted off merrily after the red card had been raised by the referee!
That hurt! (Sony A9II; 200-600mm at 470mm - f/6.3; 1/1600th sec; ISO 250)
Part of ‘telling the story’ is capturing the emotion of the moment, whether it is the pain of a heavy challenge (above) or a missed goal (below). In the image below, the emotions range from despair (the striker); disbelief (his team mate); relief (the goalie); to wry amusement (the defender). The ball is set against the context of the goalpost, so - as well as having vitality - the image is a self-contained story.
(Sony A9II; 70-200mm at 129mm - f/3.2; 1/1600th sec; ISO 2000)
As with other sports where the play moves from end to end (e.g. cricket, rugby, polo, basketball etc), I position myself at the end of the pitch towards which the team I am photographing is playing. This means that I am more likely to capture the face of the players coming towards me and, all being well, will be in the right position when a goal is scored. Of course, there is a large amount of luck being in the right place at the right time and there is no knowing whether a goal scorer will celebrate on the side of the pitch where you are. You can be in the ideal place and the scorer comes towards you – as in the 2 images below – or can disappear off towards the other side of the pitch and you are left photographing the number on their back … Even so, I am sure that some of the players look to see where the photographers are before starting their celebration!
Dom Jefferies celebrates scoring (Sony A9II; 200-600mm at 200mm; f/5.6; 1/1000th sec; ISO 2500)
Harry Baker (bottom) celebrates scoring (Sony A9II; 70-200mm at 95mm; f/2.8; 1/1000th sec; ISO 1600)
These goal celebration images are ideal for the front cover of a match programme because they show the club being successful and set the mood for the game ahead.
I described my ‘typical’ camera settings in my blog on Getting into Sport and Music Photography. Setting these generic setting in context, Salisbury FC’s ground - the Raymond MacEnhill Stadium - is surrounded by advertising hoardings and these can be very distracting. I therefore start by setting the aperture ‘wide open’ in order to blur the background as best I can. I usually use a 70-200mm (f2.8) lens and/or a 200-600mm (f5.6-f/6.3) lens. Reducing the depth of field provides a degree of separation between the players and the background. Next I set the shutter speed depending on how bright the day is, but it will usually be faster than 1/1000th sec for football in order to freeze the action. The ISO is set to automatic, within limits (usually a high of 6400) – I will check from time to time to ensure that it is as near to 100 ISO as possible.
Toby Holmes through on goal (Sony A9II; 200-600mm at 200mm; f/6.3; 1/1250th sec; ISO 200)
I always shoot with the Drive Mode set to Continuous (High), because it is difficult to capture the decisive moment effectively with just a single shot (for reasons that I set out in greater detail in my blog on How to Photograph Cricket). Some purists might accuse me of ‘spraying and praying’, but the camera has the facility to do it and it doesn’t cost anything – except in time processing the photos – so, why not?!
The 2 images below were taken from a burst - with only a fraction of a second of each other. It never ceases to amaze me how much can change in such a short period of time, so the more frames per second your camera can take, the better.
(Sony A9II; 200-600mm at 200mm; f/6.3; 1/1250th sec; ISO 800)
(Sony A9II; 200-600mm at 200mm; f/6.3; 1/1250th sec; ISO 800)
Some sports, such as motorsports, lend themselves to panning and motion blur (see my blog on How to Photograph Speedway), but football isn’t really one of them. While there is a risk that freezing the action may make the photos look a little ‘static’ and lacking in emotion, it means that the drama and movement in the photographs need to be generated by the action itself - the body shapes, expressions, composition etc. The image below was taken in the pouring rain during a match at Dorchester - football photographers also need to be prepared to get cold and wet!
Harry Baker scores (Sony A9II; 70-200mm at 187mm; f/2.8; 1/1000; ISO 1250)
On the other hand, one of my favourite images came as a result of inadvertently setting the camera up incorrectly. Way back in April 2017, Salisbury were in contention for promotion at the end of the season and during the first of two play-offs it was ‘all square’ towards the very end of the match, when … Tommy Wright scored! There was a huge release of emotion from the home crowd. At this level of football, the photographers have the luxury of being able to move around to get the best shot (at higher levels, they are allocated a place which they have to maintain throughout the game) – so, when Tommy headed towards the corner flag brandishing his shirt, I was running alongside him trying to keep up and photographing in continuous mode.
Tommy Wright celebrates in April 2017 (Nikon D700; Nikkor 50mm f2.2; 1/250sec; f2.8; ISO 1250)
The resulting image is slightly blurred and is overexposed, but it captured the emotion of the moment and was used extensively by the club – and was described by my colleague, Roger, as “the defining image of the season”. Not bad for a blurred photo! But it shows that an image doesn’t have to be technically perfect and that capturing emotion is more important.
To see more images, view the Football Gallery.
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