So long story short I couldn’t play fall sports this year from an injury over the summer and I’ve been into photography for a while. I know settings wise how to capture sports pictures that’s not my issue, my issue is like the amount of pictures I should walk away with from each event. I’m currently shooting for my schools girls VB team and guys soccer team because they made sectionals. For the girls games I’m coming home with about 500-600 unedited raw pictures, and I end up with any where from 50-80 finished pictures, and I complete them in about 4-5 days. For the guys soccer games I came home from the sectional final which we won with 3500 raw pictures and I’m currently weeding through them, and I’m gonna edit them in the next week-2 weeks. Is this enough pictures, is it too much, and what’s normally a good time frame to promise coaches and the athletic director? I kinda want to turn this into a side hustle and have a paid gig after highschool because I’m going to college close to my highschool and I don’t really have any one to guide me. Hypothetically if I were to approach the school or coaches to set a rate what is reasonable to charge? Any advice is truly appreciated.
I should also add that I’m just spamming the hell out of high speed burst, not trying to line up 2000 different shots
I’m a sports photographer, mainly covering basketball - I’ve shot NBA, NCAA, World Cup and work for the pro team here in Sydney, the Kings.
I actually don’t think you’re overshooting at all, most games I’ll end up with around 1000 photos snapped including pre-game and post if there are any celebration moments worth capturing.
The best piece of advice I can give is this, be discerning and hunt your shots. Don’t look to just spray and pray, be purposeful in your approach. If you’re shooting volleyball then look for specific moments - you might want to capture say a player spiking the ball over the net. Hold steady and snap until you get that shot, then move onto the next. I find some of my favourite shots end up being the in between moments. I make note of where lights and interesting backgrounds are that I can make use of to catch portraits of athletes showing emotion after a play or during down time.
I use Lightroom to process my shots, I’ll have 10 photos selected and edited for social by halftime if I’m editing on the laptop, but can do it instantly if I’m editing on my phone and hot-swapping memory cards. The import process is quick and easy, then I have a preset ready to drop onto photos tailored for each arena I shoot in.
You’ll find a workflow/software that works for you, but know if you want to pursue this to make money being first to market with content you shoot is almost always key. Reach out if you have any questions!