Getting Good at Photographing Ultimate Frisbee

6 min readFeb 8, 2019

Pictured: Raffles Ultimate getting ready for the finals of the 14th Inter-JC Ultimate Championship

Throughout my 2 years of photographing Ultimate Frisbee in and out of school, I’ve mainly learnt through experience. There are many guides out there on how to do sports photography, but few cover the sport of Ultimate specifically. In this article, I will be breaking down the steps you should take to achieve top quality photographs of Ultimate.

Step One: Understand how the game is played

When you understand what is going on during a game, it helps you to be able to predict players movements, and to know where to set up your camera to get the best photographs. It is also important to know the rules of the boundary lines in Ultimate, as crossing or interfering with the Field Of Play is against the rules of Ultimate.

If you are still in school, you should’ve had Physical Education classes covering Ultimate Frisbee. If not, looking online for YouTube videos would help too.

To fully understand the rules of Ultimate, I highly recommend getting accreditation by the World Flying Disc Federation. You can read up on the rules and take the test here. After taking the Standard Accreditation Test, I realised that what was covered in school was only surface-level, and there was much more to learn about the sport.

Once you are comfortable with the rules of Ultimate, you need to get experience. The easiest way to do this is by photographing your school’s Ultimate team. If there isn’t one, you have to go straight to Step Two.

Step Two: Finding Upcoming Events

There are many Ultimate events throughout the year, for each and every age and gender. My two go-to sources are the Ultimate Players Association (Singapore), and UltySports. These are also the people you should seek permission from to photograph the events. I eventually photographed for UltySports during the 14th Inter-JC Ultimate Championships.

Another way to look for upcoming events is to make friends with the Ultimate players in school. Whether they’re in a school team, interest group, or official teams such as Freakshow or Gen2X, let them know that you’re interested in photographing Ultimate, and they’ll likely invite you to join them when they’re attending an upcoming competition.

The 3 key accessible events to look out for are the Inter-JC Ultimate Championships, UltySchool, and Pol-Ite.

Step Three: Pre-Event Preparations

Checking the Weather Forecast

This is pretty important, as if it rains, you’d be glad that you brought a poncho and rain cover for your camera. You’d also need to be ready to get your feet muddy if it’s raining heavily, so wear slippers that are easy to wash, such as PVC flip-flops.

Knowing the Event Format and Teams

It is good to know the match-ups and how many teams are playing, as this will dictate what matches you would be photographing. For example, if you want to photograph intense matches, you would want to turn up for the semi-finals and finals. However, if you want to start slow, it is a good option to start photographing at the group stage.

If the event is making use of multiple fields, it is also necessary to know which matches are being played at what fields. This information is normally readily available on the organiser’s Facebook page. Knowing when and where your school’s team is all the more important if you’re photographing for your school.

Getting the Right Gear

There are a few things you definitely need for sports photography in general.

Extra batteries
Extra SD Cards
Protective UV Filters (in case it gets muddy)

As for camera gear, I normally shoot with my Canon 750D and a 55–250 IS STM lens. That lens will work with all Canon crop body cameras, which are likely what you would be shooting with. It’s extremely sharp and versatile, and the image stabilisation is phenomenal.

If you’re part of the new Sony movement and have an A6xxx series camera, the 55–210 lens should do fine as well. In general, getting a long and stabilised lens would assist you in getting the best photographs.

Step Four: Capturing the Right Moments

When photographing sports, the ‘Spray n Pray’ mentality is the most effective.

There are 3 components to a good Ultimate Frisbee photo. Movement, Disc Visibility, and Expression. Photographs that freeze the player in action, showing where the disc is, and capturing the players’ emotions are the most powerful.

A top tip is to sacrifice your ISO for a faster shutter speed. When the sunlight is nice and harsh, I shoot at 1/2000 and ISO400. During wet weather, I shoot at 1/640 and ISO800.

Now, I will show you the must-have photographs.

The Group-Huddle

One of my first Ultimate Frisbee shots. Still one of my favourites. Pictured is ACS(I) Team B at the 13th Inter-JC Ultimate Championship.

The rain makes it all the more intense. Pictured is SAJC at the 14th Inter-JC Ultimate Championship.

The disc makes it a little different from the rest. Pictured is I believe DHS (?) at the 14th Inter-JC Ultimate Championship.

Last but not least, opponents huddling together as a group is a powerful image. Pictured is ACS(I) and RJC at the 14th Inter-JC Ultimate Championship.

The Alien-Abductions

(Due credit must be given to my pal Yadunand Prem for coining the term for these photographs)

The Conflicts

Showing 2 opposing players at play can make for some intense photographs. Here, it is important to know where the disc is going.

A block being attempted at UltiLeague 2017.

Here, ACS(I)’s player is looking for a team mate to pass the disc to. Here, using your eye that isn’t on the viewfinder to look around for the possible receiving player can help you to trace the disc for the next shot.

Going low for the pass at UltiLeague 2017.

Two players making contact at the 14th Inter-JC Ultimate Championship.

Here, two RJC players attempt to get the disc from a receiving PJC player at the 14th Inter-JC Ultimate Championship.

A successful block by a RJC player denies the disc from the receiving PJC player at the 14th Inter-JC Ultimate Championship.

The Isolated

Making use of bokeh at a long focal length and help freeze and isolated players making cool-looking plays.

An ACS(I) player lines up his shot at UltiLeague 2017.

Chasing for the disc at the 14th Inter-JC Ultimate Championship.

Freezing the player at the 14th Inter-JC Ultimate Championship.

A picture with the disc not covering would have been more ideal, but a cool-looking photo regardless.

One of my best pictures. This was during the finals at the 14th Inter-JC Ultimate Championship.

In Conclusion

Photographing Ultimate — or anything for that matter, require one thing in common; practice. Going to as many events as you can and taking as many pictures as possible is the best way to get good at photographing Ultimate.

Make friends and connections, and you’ll be capturing great moments left and right in no time.

Thanks for reading,

Maximilian Oh

editor’s note(s)

The UltiLeague 2017 pictures have not been shared before. You can view them here.
Some of the 14th Inter-JC Ultimate Championship pictures look overexposed because I was constantly trying to change my settings to adapt to the sporadic weather.
My debut event was the 13th Inter-JC Ultimate Championship, which is how my relationship with UltySports started.