© Hamish Blair/Getty Images

Hi everyone,

Firstly, I wanted to welcome my good friend Philip [Brown] to this blog. It’s great having him to be a part of it. If you don't already know his work, he's a fantastic photographer as you will see with his posts here. I've spent a lot of time shooting alongside him and his sense of humour and fun make an already enjoyable job even better.

The photo I've chosen for this post is a shot of Adam Gilchrist from the opening match of Australia's 2005 Ashes tour of England against the Professional Cricketers Association Masters XI. The Ashes tour traditionally opens with a match at the incredibly picturesque Arundel Castle ground in southern England. It is set in the grounds of the castle and is a perfect place to start a tour of England as it is a great example of the beautiful cricket grounds that can be found all over the country.

Shooting a tour match as opposed to a Test, ODI or T20I is a little different. While there is still interest in the result, the focus isn't always on exact incidents and highlights. It can often be a good opportunity to try and take some different and sometimes a little more interesting photos.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, a lot of cricket is shot from a fairly straight position, at fine leg/long-off to a right-hand batsman. This photo is an example of an action shot from a different angle.

One thing to consider when deciding where to shoot from is what will be in the background. Cricket is different from most other sports in that most of the action takes place in one place of the ground, on the pitch. When I decide where to work from, I try to find as clean a background as possible. In a lot of stadiums, this is a bank of seats that will hopefully fill up with crowd. More often than not it is a compromise though. The angle I want to shoot from doesn't always have a good background. Stairwells, security guards in bright jackets and advertising signs are all part of modern cricket that, while necessary, aren't always welcome additions to the background of a photo.

The Arundel Castle ground is mostly surrounded by trees, spectators bring their own chairs and rugs and sit on grass banks running down to the ground with no advertising boards obscuring their view (or spoiling my background!). There is a small section square of the wicket with no trees, which gives way to a view of the English countryside, complete with rolling hills and fields. I sat directly opposite with this gap in my background. I liked it as it gave the photos a real feel of being in England, which for a photo from an opening match of a tour of England is great. All that was need was to wait for a nice piece of action in front of it.

With Gilchrist opening the batting in a T20 match, it wasn't long before he played a big shot and I got the photo I wanted. This photo was shot with a Canon 1D Mark II with a 500mm f4 lens. Due to this match being played in the evening, the light wasn't very bright. As such it was shot at 800 ISO at 1/640th of a second with the lens wide open at an aperture of f4. A wide open lens gives the lowest depth of field, meaning the background is a long way out of focus, which normally is a good thing in a photo as it makes the action stand out. With a little more light I would probably have closed the aperture a little to bring the unusual background a little more into focus. This wasn't possible, but I was still happy with the result.

© Philip Brown

Hello, my name is Philip Brown (please call me Philip), and I’ve been photographing cricket for a long time, well about 25 years, in fact. I’m really pleased that I’ve been asked to share some of my cricket images with you in Shot Selection in the coming months.

I first photographed cricket in Australia before I moved to England in 1989. I received a lesson in covering cricket when I was sent to my first Test match at the SCG in 1988. Chris Broad (Stuart’s father) scored a century (139) but “lost it” after he was dismissed by Steve Waugh. He knocked over his stumps with his bat before leaving the field. I missed the photo, but the doyen of cricket photography, Patrick Eagar, a lovely bloke, captured this moment perfectly and was welcomed with open arms by my newspaper’s picture editor back in the office. Patrick’s images graced the pages of Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph the following day. Lesson learnt, concentrate Philip!

This black-and-white image is from June 1989. I was covering the Ashes tour for newspapers back in Australia (including the Sunday Telegraph who must have forgiven my earlier incompetence). The tour started in early May and the Aussie team didn’t leave the UK until the end of August so it was a long trip.

The second Test match against England was played at Lord’s, and on the Saturday I spotted the then-Australian prime minister Bob Hawke watching proceedings from one of the tavern boxes.

Later, I saw him and his entourage leave the box so I raced down the stairs from my perch in the hope that I could get a photograph of Mr Hawke. I caught up with this group just as they entered the back door of the Lord’s pavilion. I thought my best tactic was to march in with them as if I was part of this esteemed group. Before long we were all in the Australian dressing room while the Test match continued outside. Soon the prime minister was sitting out on the balcony with some of the players, and I moved out on to this very small balcony to take some photographs. Allan Border was padded up so I assume that he may have been the next man in.

AB appears nervous in the photo, but I think he was nervous about what Dean Jones would say to the PM rather than at having to bat against Foster, Dilley and Jarvis. I was bloody nervous too, imagining I would be “collared” and thrown out of the pavilion, and possibly the ground, at any moment.

The next day I remember there was a shot of the balcony featuring Hawke, the players and me on the front page of a UK national paper taken from about a hundred yards away so I was extremely confident that my exclusive “close-up” version would do well in the papers back in Australia. I didn’t have to wait too long and saw the main Sydney paper the next time I visited the office – there was my photo, very small, on page 26. Page 26! Were they kidding? Page 26! It was about the size of a postage stamp.

I still really like the photo. I can’t imagine any prime minister marching in to a dressing room and plonking himself down next to the captain for a chat during a Test match these days. Can you?

I don’t have the exact details of this photo but I’m fairly sure that it was taken on a Nikon F3 (or an FE2) with a 50mm lens, probably taken at 1/500th of a second.

I sent a large print to Bob Hawke in Australia after the tour had finished and got a nice letter back. Now where is that letter?

© Getty Images

Hi again everyone. The next photo I've chosen to share is a bit different from the action in and around the matches of most of my other posts. I¹ve picked a studio portrait I shot of current Australian captain Michael Clarke last year.

Prior to the start of each season, all of the contracted Australian players gather for a player camp, to take care of number of meetings, media commitments etc. There are also a number of photos that need to be taken, headshots in Test, ODI and T20 uniforms, sponsor photos etc. There is also an opportunity to take some more creative portraits while we have them in the studio.

Photographing in a studio is almost the complete opposite of photographing a sporting event. Shooting a sporting event is about recording what happens. Obviously there is no control as to when and where the action happens. Most of the action in cricket usually takes place somewhere on or near the pitch, but the role of the photographer is one of an observer, anticipating and reacting to the action, with no direct input.

In the studio I have full control of pretty much all aspects of the photo. I can have the person being photographed move and pose, I can control the lighting and the background.

I was after a fairly strong portrait of Clarke. I had set up a white paper background, which I had also directed a light onto to ensure it was pure white. I set up two lights on each side of him at right angles to the point I shot the picture from. This gave a nice effect of light and shadow across his face and body.

For normal headshots, for the TV broadcast or match programs, the lighting is usually much more straight on to the face to avoid shadows and give a clear picture of the player's face, which is its purpose, but for this photo I was aiming for something a little different, which is why I moved the lights to the side, to create the shadow effect.

The Test shirt and baggy green cap highlight his position as captain of the team and I went for a serious look rather than have him smile.

After shooting the picture I worked on it a little in photoshop, I removed some of the colour saturation, which gives the photo a slightly ‘older’ feel. I also boosted the contrast of the photo a little to emphasise the effect of the light and shadow.

Glenn McGrath takes his 500th Test wicket, against England at Lord's in the first Test of the 2005 Ashes (shot from a remote camera in the stands) © Hamish Blair/Getty Images

The photograph chosen for this piece is from the famous 2005 Ashes series in England. Going in to the series Glenn McGrath was on 499 career Test wickets, meaning his first wicket of the series would be his 500th, a significant milestone. The first Test was played at Lord's and I thought that presented an opportunity for a nice photo to capture this moment.

This photo was shot using a remote camera. A remote camera is a second camera I set up somewhere different from where I am shooting. Normally, as I've mentioned previously, I shoot from ground level, usually at fine leg or long-off to a right-hand batsman. I set a remote camera up in the stands somewhere. A typical setup would be with the TV cameras looking straight down the wicket. This camera is set up with a shorter lens than the one I use to shoot action from ground level, taking in a wider view of everything happening on and near the pitch. It has a radio controlled trigger attached to it that links to another trigger attached to my camera, which means when I fire my camera at ground level, the remote camera fires too.

The exact angle etc of the remote camera is usually determined by what is available in the stands at each ground. Every ground is a different size with a different setup. The best photos from a remote camera are, usually, significant wickets; that is when a lot of players from the fielding team are likely to run around in the centre wicket area celebrating. It may be the wicket of a key opposition batsman, a wicket to win a match or series, or a milestone wicket as was the case with this photo.

McGrath usually bowled away from the Members' End at Lord's meaning the famous old stand would be behind him. Normally a remote camera photo is shot from quite high, so all that is in the shot is the players and grass in the background. I thought for this photo it would be nice to set up the camera so it included the stand as well. I found a spot to secure my camera at the front of the stand at the other end, looking back to the Members'.

A lot of sports photography is about working out the best chances of things happening. There was no way of guaranteeing that he would bowl from that end, no way of guaranteeing that he would take a wicket. Also, I had to take an educated guess as to whether he would be dismissing a left or right-hand batsman, as that would impact on where all the fielders would be standing. It was a tough call; both England openers at the time (Andrew Strauss and Marcus Trescothick) were left-handers, but the rest of the batting line-up, aside from No. 11 Simon Jones, were all right-handers. I guessed (maybe more hoped) he would get one of the openers out and went for a set up for a left-hand batsman.

Luckily for me this paid off; he dismissed Marcus Trescothick early on with plenty of fielders in my shot. Justin Langer took the catch and threw the ball so high you can actually see it against the sky above the stand! So I was shooting through my long lens on the boundary and shot the tighter pic (below) of him celebrating (with a lot of slips getting in my way) and at the same time remotely fired the camera mounted up above me and got a nice photo to record Glenn McGrath's milestone wicket.

Glenn McGrath's 500th Test wicket celebrations shot from ground level © Hamish Blair/Getty Images

© Getty Images

I thought given Australia's recent success and my last photo was of Australia losing, that today's photo should be of an Aussie looking happy!

This photo was taken during the Third Test between Australia and India a couple of weeks ago. As is probably still fresh in most cricket fans memories, David Warner made a blazing century off only 69 balls. Warner is the sort of cricketer that is a photographer's dream. Big hitting, fast scoring and it is always obvious how much he enjoys playing.

I wasn't covering the Test in Hobart against New Zealand, where he scored his maiden Test century, but was watching it on TV and saw my colleagues’ photos of his amazing leap when he reached three figures. I was covering T20 Big Bash League match at the MCG a few days later when he scored another century, also celebrated with a big leap. I wasn't quite on the right angle for that one, so when he neared his century in Perth I wanted to make sure I got it right.

Century celebrations can be a bit of a lottery for photographers. Obviously the head-on shot of the celebration is usually what make the best photo. I can never know which way a batsman is going to be running to score the run or runs that bring up the century. So often they're on 99 not out facing the direction I'm shooting from, then block the last ball of the over only to score the final run the next over running away from me. Or even worse run towards me for their 100th run, only to turn and scramble a second run, and so begin their celebrations in the opposite direction! The safest option is to be positioned in front of the team's dressing rooms or viewing area. Whichever way the initial celebration goes, at some point they will always turn to acknowledge their team mates. The position of the dressing rooms varies from ground to ground.

In Perth they are at a wide fine leg/long-off to a left hand batsman. I was shooting from my usual position on the other side of the wicket, so when Warner neared his century I moved around to position myself under the Australians rooms. In photography, as with most aspects of life, sometimes things go wrong and sometimes they go right. Fortunately for me, they all went right on this occasion. Warner was batting facing in my direction. He brought up his century with a six, which meant there was no issue of running his runs. Even so, he took an almighty run up, down the wicket to start with, before turning towards the dressing rooms and leaping in the air in celebration. This meant I had plenty of time track him as he ran and then as he leapt he was facing pretty much straight towards me. The leap looks even bigger, given he isn't the world's tallest man! The hundred happened late in the day, when the sun was low and the light nice and golden, which also adds to the image, but again something I had no control over, as I said sometimes things go right!

This photo was shot on a Canon 1D Mark IV, using a 500mm f4 lens. It was shot at 1/1600th of a second at f5.6 and 500 ISO.

© Getty Images

It's been too long since my last blog - not as much cricket in my working life for a while - but I'm back again.

For my first blog in a long time, I've picked a photo from the end of the 2010-11 Ashes. As an Aussie photographer, particularly during the final Ashes Test in Sydney, I had a lot of time to think about the fact that Andrew Strauss and the England team would, during the post-series presentation, be celebrating on the podium as the Australians looked on.

I wanted to try and sum that up in one photo. Video, as opposed to a still photo, can change focus or pan from one subject to another to show two different subjects over a few seconds of footage. There is always the opportunity to show winners and losers in two separate photos, but I was hoping for one photo that told the whole story.

Normally, for these presentations, the standard position to shoot from is head on, looking straight at the winning team to capture the celebrations straight down the barrel of the lens. The losing team normally stands to one side. I was fortunate as I had a few Getty Images colleagues with me, a couple of them were shooting the 'straight' shot, giving me the freedom to try something different.

My first thought was a photo that had England celebrating, with some glum Aussie cricketers’ faces looking on. I quickly went off this idea. To see Aussie faces, it would mean looking across the England players, with the Aussies in the background. Because of the distance between the teams, focussing on England would mean the Aussies would be a long way out of focus in the background, and not recognisable. Focussing on the Aussies would most likely leave the England team a blurry mess in the foreground.

The baggy green is an iconic symbol of the Australian team, so I thought if I shot from behind them, looking across to England, that even if they were a little out of focus, the players in the baggy greens would clearly be the Aussie team. I also figured, given the England players would be celebrating, arms in the air and cheering, and the Aussies would be standing and just watching, even from behind, that there would be enough contrast between the teams to tell the story.

Of course, all this planning is great in theory, but until the teams are out there and in position, I couldn't be sure of all the angles and distances to see if it would work. As the presentations started, the first problem I came across was that the platform the England players were going to be on wasn't very high. I was going to be completely blocked by the Aussie heads. Luckily there was a drinks cooler on the field near by, so I grabbed that and dragged it over to stand on and get a slightly higher angle.

The other issue was that the Aussie players weren't standing still. I wanted a few baggy greens to look across from, so it required a bit of fine-tuning of my drinks-cooler position as they moved about. As the actual presentation took place some officials on the field moved right into the way, but luckily, after a yelped plea from me, they moved to one side and I was able to shoot my picture.

This was shot on a Canon 1D Mark IV with a 2.8, 70-200mm lens. The shutter speed was 1/800th of a second at an aperture of f5.6. I closed the aperture a little in order to prevent the Aussies in the foreground from being too far out of focus.