Making The Game Easier, Sports Videography Tips: Tools Don’t Make the Shot — Skill Does
Updated: Apr 2
Making the Game Easier for Videographers (Part I)
There’s something I’ve noticed after a few years of shooting in sports.
A lot of people (including me at one point) start thinking the next piece of gear or the next trick in the workflow is what’s going to level them up.
New camera. Shoot everything in log. More slow motion. Better LUTs.
And yeah, those things can help.
But they don’t actually fix the underlying problem.
Because at the end of the day, tools are just tools. If the skill isn’t there, they don’t magically create it. This series will be a collection of sports videography tips that I want to share with you so that I can (hopefully) make the game easier for YOU.
When Tools Turn Into Crutches
Every tool we use has a purpose.
Slow motion helps you see fast action. Log gives you more flexibility. Stabilization cleans things up. Color grading ties everything together.
That’s all good.
But where people get stuck is when those same tools start getting used to cover things up instead of enhance them.
That’s when progress kind of stalls out.
Where I See This All the Time
I have to be real with you: this shows up everywhere in sports videography.
Take slow motion as a safety net for example:
If you’re shooting everything in 60 or 120fps so you can “make it look cool later,” what’s really happening is you’re not fully reading the play.
The best shooters are anticipating.
Slow motion should make a moment hit harder...not be the reason you caught it in the first place.
Just stacking highlights
I want to be very clear about something; if your client is only looking for a highlight video then this paragraph is not for you. It is okay to just make highlight videos, I am often paid to do that. However, there’s a difference between editing and just putting clips next to each other. If a client is paying you for a more advanced video, then your skill needs to go beyond just stacking clips.
If the process is basically:
grab big plays
throw them on a timeline
add music
Then this is a great starting point, but far from complete.
Ignoring composition
This one’s huge.
You can have great gear and still come away with footage that just feels… flat.
That usually comes down to where your subject sits in the frame
None of that comes from the camera, it'll shoot whatever YOU point it at. That’s all on you.
Trying to fix everything in color
I’ll be transparent: this is probably the biggest time-waster I see.
If your exposure and white balance are solid, you shouldn’t need to spend forever grading.
Most of the time, a clean, natural look beats an overworked grade anyway, especially in sports where turnaround matters.
Color should polish the final product you've properly made.
Why This Matters More in Sports
Sports isn’t controlled.
You don’t get a redo. You don’t control the lighting. You don’t control what happens next.
So if you’re relying on tools to fix mistakes later, you’re already behind.
The people who really stand out in this space aren’t the ones with the craziest setups. They’re the ones who:
understand the game
know where to be
frame things naturally
and cut with purpose
The tools just make them faster.
Making This Whole Thing Easier
If the goal is to make this easier, more sustainable, then the focus has to shift a bit.
Instead of asking: “What can I use to fix this?”
It’s usually better to ask: “What am I not good at yet?”
Because once that clicks:
You stop overshooting
Editing gets faster
Your footage is more consistent
You’re not relying on “I’ll fix it later”
And that’s when things actually start to feel easier.
The Bottom Line
I’m not anti-gear. Not even close.
Use everything available to you. That’s part of the job.
But tools don’t replace skill. They are there to amplify whatever’s already been made.
If your fundamentals are solid, tools make you better.
If they’re not, tools just help hide it for a bit.
And in this line of work, that always catches up eventually.
At the end of the day, it’s not the camera making the shot.
It’s you.
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