See sports photography differently through a wide-angle lens

Wide-angle lenses have long had a place in the kit bags of professional sports photographers. Whether capturing epic shots of a winning athlete acknowledging a stadium crowd or clustered behind the goal at a football match, wide-angle zooms and primes are used daily to deliver dramatic images to picture desks.

But what else is a wide-angle lens good for in sports photography? What creative opportunities do wide-angle lenses unlock for sports pros? And how do you make the most of the sweeping view of ultra-wide lenses such as the Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM or Canon RF 16mm F2.8 STM?

Action sports photographer and Canon Ambassador Jakub Frey shares his tips on working with these wide lenses, with technical insight from Canon Europe Senior Product Specialist Mike Burnhill.

If you can get close enough to the action, or at least have the ability to position the camera remotely, a wide-angle lens gives you a unique perspective that suits a broad range of sports – from five-a-side football to Formula 1.

"I specialise in winter sports such as snowboarding and Alpine skiing," Jakub says, "but I also spend the summer shooting mountain biking and motorsports, and I use wide-angle lenses for all of them. I like to be in the middle of the action while taking pictures and only a wide-angle lens allows me to do that."

Jakub recently put the Canon RF 16mm F2.8 STM to the test while documenting a gruelling mountain bike race in Morocco. "I was going to be taking pictures of the very fast week-long event, where mountain bike riders cover around 100km every day," he says. "I would then have nine challenging days of shoots after the race, with two of those spent climbing the highest mountain in North Africa, Mount Toubkal.

"I needed small and lightweight equipment, and the RF 16mm F2.8 STM combined with my EOS R5 was a perfect choice. It made it easier to blend in with the crowd while taking pictures of people in Morocco's narrow streets, not to mention the weight advantage it offered when spending two days climbing Toubkal."

1. Move closer
2. Carry cleaning equipment
3. Capture a sense of place
4. Change your viewpoint
5. Find a frame
6. Look for the small details

Getting close to the subject with a wide-angle lens can place the viewer at the heart of the action. "I want the audience to be at the centre of things, among the swirling dust and snow and rolling stones," says Jakub. "I also want viewers to be able to see the athlete's facial expression and the drops of sweat and scratches that they've gained during the race.

"If I am so close to an athlete that we could potentially bump into each other, I take pictures without looking through the viewfinder and just keep an eye on the actual distance. Yes, it's a bit of a blind shoot, but with a little practice, luck and well-chosen autofocus, most photos turn out pretty well."

When you're in the middle of the action with a wide-angle lens, you need to be prepared for it to become thick with dirt, dust and sweat, so it's essential to carry cloths and brushes to clean your kit.

Getting close to the action is one thing, but taking a more scenic approach with a wide-angle lens can bring a breath of fresh air to your sports photographs. The ability to show a tiny athlete lost in the middle of vast landscape is something that appeals to Jakub.

"I really like pictures where you can see how powerful and endless nature is compared to the human figure," he explains. "You cannot see the facial expression or emotion of the athlete in those types of photos, but the pictures stir your emotions while you're looking at them because you can easily imagine yourself in such a situation."

Shooting from a low or high position with a wide-angle lens can have a dramatic effect on the image, particularly if the camera is close to the subject, which will appear much larger in comparison to the background. Shooting from low down can exaggerate the height of an athlete, for example, or the elevation of a jump.

"A vari-angle screen is a godsend in these circumstances, because you can try to get the right angles without having to lie down," says Mike. "You can work out where you're going to see dramatic things and are able to hold the camera comfortably."

Wide-angle lenses capture so much of the scene that it's easy for distractions to creep into the frame and for the subject to appear lost in a picture. But taking advantage of a natural frame when composing a sports shot can help to draw a viewer's attention to the right place.

"A popular technique is to take a photo with a camera basically fixed to the ground, so that the area closest to the lens is out of focus," says Jakub. "You can, of course, get the same result by fixing the camera to the ceiling, wall or any other object. I make use of various objects out of focus in the foreground, such as branches, flowers or objects that form a gap to view the scene through, which helps people to feel the space."

It's the small details in images taken with wide-angle lenses that can have a big impact. "When I'm shooting in winter, I like the luminous effects that you can get by having falling snowflakes right next to the lens," says Jakub. "I also look for reflections when I'm shooting near water, and even a small splash can be perfect to create an unexpected new point of view.

"I also like to play with motion blur, a technique that I often use while taking motorsport pictures of any kind. It helps to accentuate the great speed of the subject and draws attention to the sharp point in the picture. You can also have a lot of fun with multiple exposures, where you combine shots taken on telephoto lenses and wide-angle lenses."

As Jakub's work shows, in the telephoto-saturated world of sports photography, carrying a wide-angle lens in your kitbag opens up a range of different shooting opportunities that help you create wide-view images filled with dynamism, drama and impact.