TIMING, IN PHOTOGRAPHY as in sport, is critical.

A split second can make the difference between the photograph that you’ll never forget, and the one you’ll delete before you get to the car.

Now it is true that digital cameras at the top end of the market are capable of taking eight photos per second, but it is also true that a million moments can get lost in the space between those eight frames.

A good sports photographer knows this, and knows that simply firing off long bursts of exposures will not guarantee success. It won’t. In fact it is almost certain to lead to complete failure.

You might as well close your eyes, spin around, press the button and hope your composition is immaculate.

To complicate matters further, there is an inherent delay in our response times. Let me explain: You are waiting for a footballer to take a penalty. He runs up and strikes the ball. Milliseconds later the light reaches your eyes. You make a decision. The signal travels from your brain to your finger. Moments later, the shutter snaps.

Now imagine you were photographing a stick and ball sport such as baseball or cricket, and you wanted an image of the moment the ball left the bat, if you waited until you saw the action occur, the ball would be halfway across the field by the time the light hit the sensor.

If you wait until you see it, you’ve already missed it.

There’s only one way around this problem: anticipate the action.

The key is to watch the player like a hawk, keeping a very close eye on his body language. In a contact sport you will see the body stiffen before the blow is struck. In a game with repetitive stops and starts you’ll spot the rituals that give his game away. Pretty soon you’ll get to know the signs and learn to read him better than his opponent does.

This is, of course, very very hard, and it takes a lot of practice, but with time and patience, there is no reason why anybody would be unable to learn this skill.

Keep your eyes open

When photographing a sport that one loves, it is easy to get so absorbed in the game that you miss an array of wonderful picture opportunities on the periphery of the action.

Sportsmen and woman can be tremendously flamboyant and graceful creatures and the rich array of immaculate and serene abstracts and detail shots on offer is bountiful, but you won’t find them if you don’t look for them.

It is a sad fact of life that for every picture you take, there are a thousand opportunities you missed in that very same second.

So don’t always keep your eyes on the ball or the front runners. Let it drift. Let it search and seek, looking for new angles and unique views of the familiar.

Close-ups are good, so are crowd shots. Banners and flags often tell the story better than the players could. The little boy emulating his hero will bring a smile to every face. The guy in row H, who fell asleep during the rain delay will never forgive you (if he ever finds out) but the opportunity is just too good to miss.

And the players themselves are resources beyond imagination. Get in close when they tie their shoelaces, watch them warming up and stretching. And maybe, just maybe, you might catch a runner saying a prayer before she walks to the starting blocks.