Commack High School Varsity Cheerleading Competiton
Went out to West Babylon High School to catch the Commack cheerleaders in a competition on Saturday.
Photographing cheerleading competitions is definitely fun. You really have to be comfortable with your equipment because the routines are over quickly and there’s zero time to be screwing around with your camera.
I try to get to these competitions earlier than most events because you really need to figure out where you’re going to shoot from and what lenses you need to use as well as setting the usual exposure and white balance stuff.
Most Long Island gyms are not that big and the bleachers are split into two halves. That means, if you shoot from the tops of the bleachers, which is preferable, you’re going to be shooting from a slight angle. On the other hand, if you shoot from the floor there’s a good chance you can get in the exact center of the gym but you’ll have to deal with the heads of the judges, who’s tables are right along the mat. So far I can only remember covering one competition in a high school who’s bleachers covered the entire wall. That was truly wonderful because I could get up on top and be right in the center.
Alas, that was not to happen with this competition. Not only were the bleachers divided but they were packed so I couldn’t get up there even if I wanted to. Luckily they had roped off an area on the floor between the bleachers and behind the judges tables that was closed to spectators. I’ve seen them do this before and it makes life easier for photographers. Just a word to the wise - if you want to shoot from this area you better be wearing credentials or they will toss you out.
So … being on the floor meant I was a lot lower and closer than I would have preferred but “thems the breaks”. You might think you could get photos of the entire cheerleading squad with a wide angle lens but, in this case, you’re so close that you’d need a 12mm or 14mm lens to fit everyone in and the distortion (mostly keystoning) would be horrible. You just have to settle for a wide to normal lens and shoot them in groups. I was using a 35mm prime. One other tip on lenses - don’t bother trying to switch lenses during a routine. You’ll miss more than it’s worth. Even bring a second body, you’ll waste valuable time switching cameras. Not worth it.
Finally, since the routines are so short, you’ll need to really lay on the shutter in continuous mode. It helps if you have a very fast camera with a very large memory buffer. There’s nothing more frustrating than waiting for the camera to write images to your memory card while the seconds are ticking away.
Two pleasant surprises about West Babylon were that the lights were quite bright, about 1/3 - 2/3 stops brighter than most gyms, and the walls were white (hint, hint, Commack).
