Gary Baum's Paintball Photography - SPLAT Magazine Blogs

The use of filters in paintball photography

2009-06-16T20:10:54Z

There are so many misconceptions about why one would use filters in paintball photography. As a general rule of thumb picture quality decreases as you add pieces of glass to the front of any lens and I would prefer to shoot with out any filters. But since shooting paintball takes place in some very dirty and gritty environments, perhaps the harshest of any sports photography, very frequent lens cleaning are required due to paint and dirt splatters. I use a filter to protect the lens from these frequent cleanings, NOT paintball hits. I would much rather scratch a $50 filter than the front element of a $2000 lens.

A few times a year a paintball will break a filter and hit the front element of a lens. In this situation the filter makes cleaning more complex because now you have shards of broken glass mixed in with the dirt and paint against the front element of your expensive lens. If you notice I always wear that geeky vest, but in my pockets I always carry the supplies to handle this situation. I carry several small spray bottles containing water, alcohol, ROR (residual alcohol cleaner) and liquid lens cleaner. I always also carry a small roll of the softest paper towels I can find which I cut in to thirds so it will fit in my pocket.

When a filter breaks here are the steps I use to clean things up without ever leaving the field.

I spray copious amount of water on the front of the lens to clean off the dirt, paint and broken glass. It is very important not to touch or rub the lens with any thing at this point because you will scratch the front element because of the presence of glass shards. You want all the debris to float off
After all the paint, glass and dirt has been washed off I carefully remove the broken filter (I save these as souvenirs) and then I spray on copious amounts of ROR to clean off any remaining residue after I am certain that all the debris is gone using a soft paper towel
I then clean and dry the front element with lens cleaner and put on a new filter

I use paper towels rather than micro fiber lens cleaning cloths because after a few hits these become saturated with paint and useless. I do carry micro fiber cloth for more definitive cleanings off the field. When I break a filter I frequently do not want to leave the field so I always carry everything I need to handle this situation.raman amplifier

It’s also a good idea to check the front of your lens frequently for paint splatters; these happen frequently and can ruin photos.

I have been doing this a long time and this is what I have come up with, if you are worried about you equipment getting damaged then you are shooting the wrong sport.

IMO opinion there is no other form of sports photography that is so difficult on equipment or photographers

Shooting Events

2008-07-24T09:27:36Z

I probably shoot more (and get shot more) than anybody at the events; I take about 3000 shots per day. I have developed a very efficient work flow so I can go through all of these fairly quickly but it still takes a lot of time. I spend almost as much time going through my pictures as I spend on the field. Many players do not realize this but for photographers our work really begins after the event. Sometimes it is very stressful going through all of these pictures especially when you are up against a tight dead line.Sometimes going through all of these pictures is like a treasure hunt because you never know what you may have until you look at your pictures on the computer. Frequently something you though would be really good is not and I am always surprised when I find some really good splat money shots that I never expected.

Many times at events teams invite me to go out to dinner at the events, I always decline because I have so much work to do at night in my hotel. It takes several hours to clean my cameras, upload pictures, format memory cards, spot check several photos to make sure cameras are working correctly if time permits begin sorting photos. It takes me several hours to do all this so I am not anti social I just have a lot of work to do. I have a very business like approach to photography at these big events, I am there to take pictures not socialize. I really just want to concentrate on getting the best pictures possible.

Camera Settings for Paintball Photography

2008-03-26T04:36:02Z

I am always amazed by the number of paintball photographers who never venture beyond the automatic settings on their cameras. The only way to truly become great photographer is to learn and master the settings on the camera and move away from the automatic “point and shoot” settings. This is after all why you bought that big expensive digital SLR camera instead of a point and shoot camera.
I use all sorts of camera settings depending on what I am trying to do and the conditions on the field. The automatic settings are good for beginning photographers but once you learn about light and relationship between shutter speed, aperture, depth of field, and ISO you will learn what works best.
I frequently shoot in something I call ISO priority; I am constantly changing the ISO setting on the camera in either program mode, aperture mode, or shutter speed mode to get the settings I want.
I usually shoot high resolution JPEGs most of the time because this format maximizes the speed at which the camera can take pictures. In paintball photography speed is everything. For indoor events, team and event pictures I always shoot in RAW format because you have so much more control over white balance and other setting during post processing

How to get started in Paintball Photography

2008-03-26T04:39:15Z

I am frequently asked how to get started in Paintballphotography and how to get pictures published in the major magazines. Well it very easy to get started in paintballphotography
just grab you camera and go on to the field and start taking pictures. I know this is not exactly the sage advice you were expecting but this is how I started over seven years ago. The answer the second question I can’t answer because I don’t know the answer. I have hundreds of my pictures published in all the major magazines the past several years. It just sort of happened; all the magazines approached me and asked me for pictures. Since I have been doing this longer than just about anyone, I guess I was in the right place at the right time.

I as photographed more and more events I got to know Gio the owner of Hollywood Sports Park and he invited me to take pictures of his field for their web site. Shortly after this I was contacted by Camille from the NPPL and out of the blue and they wanted to know if I would become their first Media Partner. After this I was able to get Media Passes to any event and I took advantage of this. This is how I got to know all the magazine publishers, and I guess they visited my web site and liked what they saw since they started asking me for photos.

What type of camera should I buy for paintball photography?

2008-03-26T04:38:21Z

I am always asked which type of camera to buy. I always recommend that you buy the most expensive camera that you can afford. Sports photography is very much like paintball it that it requires very durable fast equipment. If you were to start playing speed ball with a Tippman or a spider you would not really have much fun and you would likely have a poor experience and not want to play again. Photography is the same but about $1000 is the threshold of what you need to spend…

For sports photography I highly recommend going with a Canon camera and lens.

If you are shooting portraits or landscapes Nikon has the best optics, but if you are shooting sports or fast moving objects is it widely known the Canon lens will auto focus much faster than Nikon lenses. Next time you watch a sporting event on TV if you ever notice the professional photographers you will see an abundance of the big beige canon lenses.

Check out the prices on a Canon Digital Rebel XTi and a Canon EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM Lens. This IMO is the absolute minimum you will need to buy to get good results.

Another thing to consider is some sort of protection for your brand new expensive camera. I always use a Kata rain cape on my cameras and this has saved my camera countless times (Kata-Bags.com) and a clear filter on the end of the lens for protection.

It really helps to have played paintball because you already know the game and you can predict what will happen so you can position your self to get that great splat shots.