SPORTS GROUNDS CAN be messy places from a photographer's point of view. Spectators and floodlights lurk around every corner.

And while these may be a part of the modern game, they can go a long way towards ruining a good photograph.

In most cases the background needs to be as unobtrusive as possible. It's simple really, any element that does not add to the visual impact of the photograph, subtracts from it.

Areas of even colour are ideal, but in modern stadiums this is easier said than done. Every bit of empty space is valuable and could be sold to spectators or advertisers.

Even at smaller venues, the problem prevails, and it can actually be worse, because one or two fans close to the field can be much more distracting than a jam packed stand which is normally some distance away and thus can be blurred out easily.

Blurring is, in fact, the best method of drowning out a noisy backdrop. There are two ways of doing this, the first is by setting the f-stop (or aperture) as large as possible. This will throw the background out of focus while the foreground remains sharp. This method has the added advantage of increasing the shutter speed, which is essential when photographing fast paced sports. Read more about depth of field and the aperture here.

The other method requires you to slow the shutter speed down and then using a panning motion to blur the stationary elements, while the moving elements remains sharp. Click here to find out how panning works.