Images become grainy when shooting in low light and being forced to use a high ISO. Sports photographers are used to having grainy images because sports require higher shutter speeds. Personally, I will push my ISO as far as I need to get sharp images. I recommend you test your individual camera to find your high ISO comfort level and then adjust the other settings accordingly.

This is a constant struggle for sports photographers, especially those of us who cover a lot of non-professional sporting events. My quick answer is to use the widest aperture you can and a high ISO, while balancing a reasonable shutter speed.

There are a several reasons for this, assuming your focus point was correctly positioned over the subject. Here are a few possibilities and potential solutions.

• Shutter speed isn’t high enough.
  • Raise your shutter speed to a minimum of 1/1000, but higher if light allows.
• Not using continuous focusing.
  • Cameras usually have two focus modes, single and continuous. Continuous will track a moving subject if the focus point is on them, and you are holding down the focus button.
• The background is in focus, not the subject.
  • Sometimes AF systems will randomly lock onto elements in the background even when the focus point is over the subject. There isn’t anything you can do once the photo is taken, so try to be aware while shooting.
• Heat waves.
  • Frequently the field will get so hot that heat waves appear and make our images out of focus (or squiggly), even in the winter (this is typically worse on artificial turf). There’s no way to completely get rid of it, but you can try shooting from a higher angle or using a shorter lens. I find the difference between 600mm and 400mm to be quite noticeable.
• Optically your lens isn’t that good.
  • If you bought an older lens or an inexpensive super zoom, this might be the problem. Do research before purchasing lenses and make sure a specific lens isn’t known for being soft. I would also recommend you invest more of your budget in lenses over bodies.
• Focus motor in camera/lens isn’t fast enough.
  • The camera or lens may not be able to turn the focus motors fast enough to track, or the lens may just be slow. To avoid this before it happens, do research before making a purchase.

This is caused from lights flickering faster than the naked eye can perceive. Often the two hues I see are green and magenta, as well as an exposure shift. To fix this problem, you can turn on flicker reduction in the camera.

Some cameras give you the option to switch between 50Hz and 60Hz or even dial in an exact shutter speed (this option is only available on select mirrorless cameras). If you are still having a problem, or your camera doesn’t have flicker reduction, you may have to use gradient color/exposure temperature filters when post-processing.

Here is an example of an uncorrected photo shot under flickering high school stadium lights. You can see the change from left to right as the lights flicker.

I recommend you start covering what you already have access to, whether that means events at your college or your child’s little league game. As you build a portfolio, you’ll be able to contact the local high school’s Athletic Director and ask for a pass. If you’re a college student, especially when in a photography class/program, people will usually be happy to help you get experience by giving you a pass.

Aim to arrive a minimum of 30 minutes before high school level events start. Arrival times at higher level competitions will vary depending on the event. When I cover NFL or College football, I usually arrive a minimum of 3 hours early. But about an hour is usually sufficient for most games.

Make sure you give yourself ample time to get a good parking space, find the media room, get set up, and scout the locations you want to/are allowed to shoot from. It’s also good habit to shoot some pregame warm-up photos.

My two main programs are Photo Mechanic and Photoshop/Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). I use Photo Mechanic to import, cull, crop, and caption. From there I open the raw files into Photoshop, which automatically opens ACR, where I can tone and export them.

Lightroom can be used instead of Photoshop/ACR, but I personally prefer ACR.

Yes and no. For my personal workflow, I like having the flexibility of a raw file. But in well-lit arenas or outdoor events with relatively low dynamic range scenes, jpg files will be fine for most needs. If you are in a high dynamic range scene, the highlights and/or shadows may clip in the jpg file.

That being said, when shooting for a wire service, speed is very important. For this, I typically shoot raw + jpg, split between different cards. Due to the size difference between jpg and raw, I’ll only keep the raw files from my favorite photos or ones I feel need more post-processing.

I “lovingly” call this getting zebraed. Get use to it, it happens all the time. There are certain things you can do to mitigate the likelihood, such as knowing where to sit so the refs are less likely to cross in front of you, but it always happens despite your best efforts.