[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hey it's Dave from the camera store Today we're going to be talking with Todd Coral about photograph and soccer From the [Music] [Applause] Sidelines [Music] We recently had the opportunity to work With Todd Coral who's a fantastic Photographer he's been working in the Sports and action realm for a long time Photographing speed skating in the NHL And several Olympics so he knows what He's doing from the sidelines and Captures some great images now we Recently went down and tagged along with Him at Spruce medals the photograph from The sidelines the calvary FC it's a Great opportunity to get inside Todd's Brain and see how he covers an event Like this both from the shooting Perspective and the post-production side Of things all right we're here down at Spruce Meadows home of calvalry FC and We're going to shoot some amazing soccer Tonight which is fantastic now the rain Is holding off hopefully it stays
Holding off for a little while we're Prepared either way which kind of brings Us to a good point Todd you've been Shooting professional sports for a long Long time Olympics you name it you've Done it all with big glass little glass You name it what are some of your tips If you're just getting into this kind of Photography what would you recommend to Somebody just starting off well somebody Who starting off one of the the first Thing I said we did a little workshop Here yesterday with Calgary FC uh and One of the thing one of the first things I said is don't turn your back towards The players or the play because you're Liable to get run over I mean it is I Have seen working Pro photographers get Taken out on Sidelines that that you Know I I kind of joke about that but That is a big thing you got to once you Get down into any kind of game situation You really have to pay attention to the Play and what's going on so you don't Get hit and you don't get hurt well know You brought in a monopod years ago that Was shattered cuz I think you got taken Up by a player or a football or Something like that so yeah you got to Be uh you know W Eyes Wide Open when You're shooting here not just for Looking for shots but looking for your Own health and safety for sure all right Todd so you have the 35 1.4 that's not
The lens you're probably going to be Shooting with for the game I might be Overcompensating I brought along a 4 2.8 Today which hopefully will be able to Get nice tight shots and help out with The lighting that we're dealing with When you go to a game or any field that You're looking for do you kind of have An equipment list in your mind that You're growing with as you go along or Is it just sort of like bring everything And hope for the best yeah always I Never you know if you go to the Olympics Or some big event you're bringing Everything and the kitchen sink I mean I Bring remotes I bring little tripods I Bring you know wide angles everything From a fisheye to 600 mm lens and Everything in between but when you start Doing specific sports like you do NHL Hockey game or football game or if You're doing a soccer game you can kind Of pair down your gear so that you're Not bringing everything the new Sony 100 To 400 I love to use I can shoot so much Of that I shot last year I shot speed Skating with it and I thought I'd need a Faster lens and I didn't I mean you know Obviously all these new cameras can Shoot high isos so it makes your life so Much easier and you're not carrying all This really heavy stuff I've seen so Many times photographers get weighed Down weighed down with a backpack and
Trying to take pictures and your Backpack weighs 30 lb and you start Moving well you can't stop the backpack The the the motion the momentum keeps You going right so I try not to bring Everything I'll use a telephoto lens a Lot of times on a second body I'll have A 24 to 70 and then I'll try to work With that all right Tod so one thing That we haven't really talked too much About so far is the weather ceiling of These cameras I mean we've brought some Very expensive gear but we brought some Rain covers as well do you worry too Much about rain covers do you wear them I mean what's your take on that for sure I mean when the weather when the rain Really starts coming down then rain Covers come out for sure um but when It's you know when it's just kind of Drizzling like this no I mean these Cameras can hold up to you know wet Weather I see people you know really Protecting their stuff but you know this Stuff is built for this kind of weather Now if the weather starts pouring that's A whole different story good to know Because I think the rain might open up a Little bit more tonight we might get Rained on here tonight a little bit I Took a shower last night I don't think I Was this wet in the shower when I was Showering so so the Canadian anthem's Going this is when game time starts I
Start to get into the game really start To focus figure out what's going on I'm Going to go first into the Zone where Calgary is going to attack and go Towards the net so I want to get Photographs of Calgary uh coming Hopefully scoring a goal so I'll go to The end where they're going to go and Kind of when that the national anthem Starts for me at every event this is Kind of when game time happens and I get To Work for a night game like this and even Light you're only going to have one Setting right now I'm shooting at 8,000 ISO one 1,000th of a second at f2 2.8 and um I just use Auto white balance But for a color but I'm shooting in raw Anyway so it doesn't matter can do Whatever but yeah your light's not going To change so once you got your camera Set up you can just concentrate on Taking Photos in different sports depending on The sport you're doing in the lighting Conditions with these new cameras now a Lot of time uh a lot of times what I'm Doing is I'm shooting auto ISO I'll set My shutter speed you know a high shutter Speed of uh you know, 1500 and then I Will just shoot on shutter priority all The time and just let the auto ISO do Its job and you know it it's you you try To when you try to outthink these
Cameras that's when you lose these Cameras are so good now that you just You just as long as the pictures in Focus everything else is going to be Good on these images all right Todd we Survived the torrential downpour out There it's the worst game of the year as Far as weather goes but we got some Really good shots out of it I think now We've come in at half time here and now You're ingesting your images right away Can you walk us through your workflow I Can for sure um what I do is pretty Basic and simple I use a program called Photo mechanic what it does is it Ingests your photos really quickly it Can provide a you a new unique name to Each photograph which I like to use so That I don't have double photographs the Great thing about photoch mechanic is You can look through photos really Really quickly unlike Lightroom or Capture one which are also they can they Can catalog your images but they have to Ingest everything and they have to work With everything whereas photoch mechanic All it does is is give you the ability To look at the images really quickly and Make selections so that you can then Open up the photo in Photoshop and get The picture ready and send out it Streamlines your process and makes Everything so much faster and especially On a night like today I came you know
Halftime I have 264 gab cards that are Full which means that's going to be Close to 2,000 images which is way too Much usually I tend not to look at Images very much when I'm shooting a Game because the plays happen you've Already shot it it can't happen again You can't make it happen again Especially a game like soccer where There's no delays right it's just go go Go it's not like like hockey where There's a two-minute break for give your Commercial and you got some time play Around a little bit so that's Interesting so and then where do you do From here do you have selects do you go Through like a first pass and you delete H or do you just pick your top five 10 15 20 the ones that really stand out to You I pretty much never delete Everything what I do is I'll make my Selects I'll go through a run through And I'll tag images I'll I'll make uh You know uh a gallery of tagged images And then from there I'll cut it down Even more and then depending who I'm Working for and what my assignment is You know I will make a gallery or a Selection of anywhere from you know 10 To 30 or 40 images is that I all sent to Off to a client all right Todd so the Second half has just started but we took A little bit of a break here I was Watching you as you walked around the
Field with that 400 mm lens now how do You know where to stand how do you know What angles to get and as a game evolves How do you make it work as far as the Gear you have well cuz I wanted to Feature Calgary here I went to the end Zone where where Calgary would be Attacking hopefully scoring a goal I Also went to the corner because if Somebody does score then usually what They do do is run uh from away from the Net and I went by uh where all the fans Are because they like to show off in Front of the fans put their arms up in The air so ultimately that's kind of the Uh one of the photos that I'm looking For and that's why I'm positioned there And also a lot of action happens up the Sidelines and then Cuts in towards the Net so that's a prime position you got To kind of know the game a little bit And learn about the game and figure out Where you want to go now you shot a lot Of hockey and other Sports as well with Different size of pitches and Fields Does your lens Choice really matter do You find it you go in there with like a 428 for a bigger pitch like this or a 7200 might be a bit short yeah for this You know 7200 is way too short in the Corner I use that 400 which is great for You know the net shot and people coming Up and then I use a 2470 if some action Happens right in front of me I can get
It now today it was tucked in trying to Keep keep keep uh dry because of the Weather but generally those two lenses I Can do a lot you know I can get a nice Wide shot with with with this lens and Then the 400 I can really key in on the Action and and and I like using fixed Focal length lenses I find a lot of Times if you have zoom lenses sometimes We start zooming a little too much and Then you get caught when the picture is Happening you're actually zooming so or Even if I use the zoom lens I like to Set that Zoom at a focal length and then Use that focal length while I'm shooting Yeah I mean soccer is a very challenging Game To work on because it's constant Movement when you're down low there's so Many players in front of other players Uh it's a challenging game to shoot but Uh I think we're doing okay I think we Got a few Keepers between the two of Us hopefully you know I it today was a Very very tough and I talked to some of My friends here that are photographers And they said man the season has been Unbelievable it's been perfect weather Every single game and of course we came Out here but this is you know a a a Really great National Geographic Photographer told me one time bad Weather makes for great photos and it Kind of adds to the atmosphere and it
Adds to well just looking at some of the Photos of guys like uh you know V Running right you see the rain streaming Down right it's fantastic it adds an Extra element to it it's really makes For really interesting pictures too all Right to we had a great time today Despite the inclement weather the rain Was craziness but I call those character Shoot days because it kind of really Builds your character do you want to be Out there do you want to get the shot And I think it makes those shots you do Get that much more worthy yeah for sure No question so uh if you had to go back And we look at like what are your top Three points for people wanting to get Into sports photography especially Shooting from the sidelines yeah I think You know uh uh learn the game be Passionate about the game or sport that Uh you're interested in doing I think That will help you out a lot uh you know Learning how the sport works I think That'll be a big thing one of the other Tips that I give students when I talk to Students is give yourself an assignment Come here and give your an assign Yourself an assignment either to Photograph one player or one specific Thing at a game and that way you have More focus in what you're doing work on Something every single game uh pick a Pick a thing that you want to work on
Either you know a wide angle that you're Going to photograph the atmosphere of The game or if you're going to try to Photograph just Peak action and pick one Of those things and try to concentrate And work on developing that skill as a Photographer it's really good advice Yeah that's always a good thing that I Tell students as well no that's really Important I mean the technical side of Things is one aspect and you get better And better the more you shoot but then Look at the game as a whole right if you Look at what shots am I trying to Capture is it my particular kid trying To score a goal right it's always tough You shoot everybody everything and just Practice practice practice so Todd thank You for joining us today on this cold Wet day look forward to seeing all the Shots here this is going to be a great Time I want to thank Calvary FC for Having us on the field today it's been a Great experience and Todd for joining us Want to leave any comments leave them Down below and follow us all on Instagram and make sure you subscribe Hit the notification Bell and we'll Catch you again next [Music] Time hey thanks for checking out this Episode if you want to check out more of Our recent content click up here and if You're a Canadian you want to support
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