Three Things I’ve Learned About Capturing Professional Sports in 2026
I’ve had the privilege of capturing many different professional sports in my 7-year career as a videographer and photographer. In professional sports, the arenas are louder, the lights are brighter, and the margins for error are smaller. Here are 3 things I’ve learned since I started capturing professional sports.
If you’re a sports videographer, read until the end for my crucial tip that can cut your editing process in half.
1. Action grabs attention, emotion makes it memorable.
Anyone can film a dunk, a goal, or a tackle. But without emotion, it’s just a highlight tape.
The real story lives in the reactions. The roar of the crowd after a posterizing dunk. The focus in a player’s eyes in the final seconds of a close game. The bench erupting before the ball even drops through the net. That’s what makes the viewer feel like they were there.
When I’m shooting, I’m constantly scanning for faces. I’ll hold a shot half a second longer to catch the scream, the chest pound, the disbelief. The emotion is what connects the audience to the moment. Capture the emotion, not just the action.
Students from Mira Mesa High School celebrating a dunk by their team in the 2026 CIF SDS Championship. Captured by Camden Gunter
2. Get a variety of angles
If every clip is from the same perspective, your edit will feel flat no matter how big the play is.
I’m always moving. Tight detail shots. Wide establishing shots. Elevated angles. Low angles near the baseline. The goal is to build contrast so the edit feels dynamic instead of repetitive.
Your sequence should breathe. Go from a tight shot of a player lacing up to a wide shot of the packed arena. From a close reaction to a sweeping crowd shot. Switching angles keeps the viewer engaged and gives your edit rhythm.
3. See the future
The best sports videographers don’t just react. They anticipate.
Last weekend, I was shooting the CIF Basketball SDS Championship games in Oceanside. With a few minutes left, I assessed which team looked most likely to win and positioned myself near their bench. When the final buzzer went off, I was in the perfect spot to capture the celebration erupting in real time.
Recognizing patterns is everything. In basketball, you can often see an off-ball player signal for an alley oop before it happens. In a close game, during a timeout, two players might quietly map out the final possession. If I catch that, I know exactly where to focus when play resumes. Anticipation turns chaos into intentional storytelling.
Carlsbad Girls Basketball team celebrating their 2026 CIF SDS Championship. Captured by Camden Gunter
Bonus tip for videographers
Sorting through footage is the most time-consuming and exhausting part of the job.
To make this process a minuscule headache, after every highlight play, I record a one-second clip of something obvious. Usually, my hand in front of the lens. When I’m scrolling through hundreds of clips later, those hand thumbnails stand out immediately. I know the clip right before it is a highlight. That simple habit cuts my editing time nearly in half.
If you’re a sports team, athlete, or athletic trainer looking for high quality video content that tells a story, reach out. Email me at camdenguntermedia@gmail.com or send me a DM on Instagram. Let’s capture something that people can feel, not just watch.
