Stability for Shooting Sports

©ISTOCKPHOTO/TOMASZ SZYMANSKI

Sports photographers don't generally use tripods for a number of reasons: (1) they're not mobile enough for the style of fast-action shooting that typifies sports photography, (2) many professional sports won't allow the use of tripods, and (3) having a tripod set up near the playing field (in football, basketball, etc.) has the potential to injure a player. That's why sports shooters, especially those shooting with long lenses, use monopods instead. These one-legged versions of tripods generally wind up supporting those long lenses (the lens attaches directly to the monopod itself for support and to keep the lens and camera still during the low-light situations many sporting events are played under). Monopods are easy to move (or to quickly move out of the way if need be), and many professional sports that have banned tripods allow monopods. The carbon fiber monopods are the most popular today because, while they can hold a lot of weight, the carbon fiber makes them surprisingly lightweight. Now, not surprisingly, they're not cheap (nothing in sports photography is).