Rule no 1 - or how not to do it

I promised some tips that I follow when producing my photos, so here is the first one - make sure anything with which you are not completely satisfied never sees the light of day. If you have only taken a small number, and that leaves you with just one or two photos, that is not a problem, one photo is useful to illustrate a match report or go in the programme.

It is always easy enough with a bit of practice to take some decent photos at a football or rugby game. The sort of camera being used will affect what it is possible to do, but it is generally possible on a reasonably bright day to get a few pictures showing some action, which can then be cropped to create a good, professional looking shot.

However, one thing is even easier - to take a dud one. In a fast moving game, players or match officials will get in the way of the shot you want, the action will move more quickly than you can keep up with it, or the camera will decide to focus on something you did not want.

I shall break my rule about showing the bad shots just this once, and show a couple from Prescot Cables' pre season game against a Wrexham XI to show what I mean. Here is an extreme example, with the assistant referee getting in the way of what may have been a reasonable shot, an occupational hazard of taking photos from the sidelines:

To be fair, I do not see many of these in football photos: although its equivalent from parties and social occasions appears often enough.

This one is a bit less clear cut, and crops up more often - the sign on the terraces is in perfect focus, which cannot be said for the players.

Its place is the bin, and it needs to go there without a second thought.

That is not to say that when a picture does not turn out as intended, it is always a bad thing - for this one, I was trying to catch the goalkeeper, but I like the effect with the focus on Wrexham's No 4.

The pictures that made it into the final selection from the Prescot v Wrexham game can be seen here.