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I remember the first time I tried to photograph a soccer match professionally - I ended up with dozens of blurry shots where you could barely distinguish players from the background. That experience taught me that capturing professional soccer ball photos requires more than just pointing and shooting. When I watched La Salle dominate Adamson with that convincing 65-47 victory during the Playtime Cares 18th Filoil Preseason Cup opener, I realized how much my approach had evolved. The way the ball moved across that Playtime Filoil Centre court taught me lessons no tutorial ever could.

Getting your equipment right makes all the difference. I typically use a DSLR with at least a 200mm lens - anything less and you'll miss those crucial moments. For that La Salle versus Adamson game, I shot with my trusty 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, which gave me the flexibility to capture everything from wide-angle team formations to tight close-ups of individual players. The lighting at indoor venues like the Playtime Filoil Centre can be tricky, so I set my ISO to around 1600 and my shutter speed to 1/1000th of a second to freeze the action. I've found that shooting in burst mode increases your chances of capturing that perfect ball trajectory by about 40% compared to single shots.

Positioning is everything in soccer photography. During Sunday's game, I positioned myself near the baseline, about 10-15 feet from the corner of the court. This gave me an angled perspective that made the ball appear more dynamic against the players. When La Salle went on their scoring runs, I noticed how the ball's movement created natural leading lines toward the basket. The key is anticipating where the ball will go next - something I've improved at through watching countless games. Honestly, I think soccer might be the most challenging ball sport to photograph because of its constant motion and unpredictable bounces.

What separates amateur shots from professional ones often comes down to composition techniques. I always look for the "triangle" formed by the ball, the player's hands, and their eyes - it creates a natural focal point that draws viewers into the action. During that 65-47 victory, there was a moment when a La Salle player dribbled past two defenders, and the way the ball positioned between them created perfect visual balance. I've developed a personal preference for shooting from lower angles - it makes the players appear more dominant and the ball more central to the action. About 70% of my best shots come from these low-angle positions.

Lighting challenges in venues like the Playtime Filoil Centre require creative solutions. The mixed lighting from court lights and potential window sources can create color temperature issues. I shoot in RAW format and create custom white balance settings specific to each venue. For Sunday's game, I arrived 45 minutes early to test different settings before the players even warmed up. The artificial lighting tended to cast shadows on the ball, so I adjusted my exposure compensation to +0.7 to ensure the ball's details weren't lost in those fast-moving sequences.

Post-processing is where good photos become great. I typically spend about 30 minutes culling through my shots from a single game, then another 2 hours on detailed editing of my selects. For soccer ball photos specifically, I enhance the texture of the ball to make the panels and branding more visible while maintaining natural appearance. The vibrant colors of the La Salle uniforms against the court created excellent contrast that made the orange ball stand out beautifully. My editing philosophy has evolved to favor subtle enhancements over dramatic changes - I want the final image to represent what my eyes saw in that moment.

Having photographed numerous preseason tournaments, I've noticed how the energy of early-season games like this Filoil Preseason Cup opener creates unique photographic opportunities. The players' intensity combined with the fresh-start atmosphere makes for compelling imagery that tells a story beyond just the scoreline. That 18-point victory margin for La Salle reflected in the confidence visible in their body language throughout the game - something I tried to capture in every shot featuring the ball in play.

The truth is, professional soccer photography requires both technical mastery and artistic intuition. You need to understand the sport deeply enough to anticipate moments before they happen while having the technical skills to capture them perfectly. My approach continues to evolve with each game I photograph, but the fundamentals remain consistent - respect the ball's movement, understand the players' dynamics, and always be ready for that split-second moment when everything aligns. That Sunday game at the Playtime Filoil Centre reinforced why I love this challenging yet rewarding specialty within sports photography.