Nice pictures.
The best advice is to just keep doing what you are doing, and remember why you are doing it.
You are doing it to still be around Airsoft while you are unable to play, that tells me that you are doing it for the joy of airsoft.
Discuss with the site what you will be permitted to do, and consider some of the following:
High visibility - try to do a mixture of wearing a hi vis vest and taking it off.
Hi vis shows that you are a non player, but taking it off every now and then makes you more inconspicuous.
(Also consider a ripped up hi vis vest to make yourself armbands)
When you are not wearing full hi vis then you are bringing less attention to who you are pointing your camera at.
Consider telling a story,
Photo opportunities do not only take place on the field. Become the airsoft paparazzi and capture arrivals, setting up and chilling in the staging area etc
Don't take no for an answer, and do take no for an answer.
Most players are going to be vain and want their photos to be taken, published and be taggable.
Some are going to fein shyness and say they don't like their photo taken, or you got the wrong side etc.
Others will be truly unhappy about getting their photo taken, I have had nos from people I know, and a couple of genuine nos.
The genuine nos were not refusing to have their photo taken, but asking not to be published. They did not want a record of them being there. My choice then was to delete the photo.
(Note that it may not just be someone who is meant to be somewhere else etc, but there can be protection issues)
Asking for permission to take a photo loses the moment - but its the right thing to do sometimes.
Be ready to tell people where the photos are going. If in a small local group etc its easy enough to name your Facebook, everyone may know you, or post a link onto the sites facebook etc, but consider getting some business cards run off.
Use a big lens to get shots at a distance, but mix it up and get in close with the same lens. Then contrast the two images for the different perception of the situation.
For lens protection consider your options and how valuable the lens is to you against risk.
Some people use lens filters, some don't. I did but a DSLR lens is tough, whereas a broken lens filter put glass shards on my lens risking scratches.
I prefer to use my lens hood which deflects side hits and has a high chance of taking the main impact if a ball is heading in.
Play around with your camera.
Auto focus is a winner, bit see if you can set 'back button focus' and quickly pick a focal point and zap.
Burst mode gets you the perfect image sometimes
If you can then set your camera to raw mode (and maybe raw + jpg). Even if you never plan to edit from raw just file them away for the future.
Never hand over raw originals to anyone, they are yours alone. Just give jpgs out etc
Use auto settings for a lot of the time, it saves you worrying about the technicalities but always flick through some modes and experiment with the priorities and settings.
Set yourself some targets. There should always be that elusive photo that rewards you with the pleasure of catching it one day, but also have a few ideas of the photo you want to take today. But don't be tempted to manufacture the situation (or allow someone to offer to do that)
Search the field and get an idea from the staff about mission objectives etc for likely opportunities that could get you lucky with a new photo.
Consider a photography identity - you don't know when you're going find yourself turning into an official photographer for 5 years.
Brand your pictures. Ive put up a lot of unblemished pictures, put event branding on sets without obscuring the image, added a logo in the corner and now I have both a visible watermark logo over the main image, a small corner logo, and copyright info in the meta data.
Meta data gets removed by facebook etc, but your camera may be able to add that to all your images by default.
I have 'sold' a photo for the highest price because one of my clear images was memes and sent to a manufacturer. They produced a Facebook advert using it, and my inbox went into overload asking if I knew. This resulted in a very embarrassed company and a copyright compensation payment.
First unless team / event branded I was publishing photos on Facebook for free with the rights open to people to tag themselves etc, this didn't prevent people taking liberties. Then with just a corner logo people would still crop and take.
Its not a matter of getting rich, but you're doing the work and providing the photos. People can use your published Facebook photos, but if you've taken the best ever photo of them that they want to use then a mention of a credit or a bit of recompense wouldn't go amiss.
For a bit of a random selection here are a handful of my images and a couple of airsoft and off field tournament photo sets
https://www.facebook.com/pg/Anidiotwithacamera/photos/?tab=album&album_id=888814627895081
https://www.facebook.com/pg/Anidiotwithacamera/photos/?tab=album&album_id=825763220866889
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