Action Photography

Shooting a moving object takes practice and patience, and the better you know your camera, the better your chances of getting those epic shots.

Faster shutter speeds are what you use to freeze action and get sharp pictures of moving subjects. At the very least, take your camera out of "Automatic" and place it in "Sports" mode. Sports mode is going to tell the camera to use the fastest shutter speed that it can and still expose for a good picture. It may also turn the ISO higher than needed and lower the quality of your pictures.

If you are not getting the results you want from Sports mode, take it to the next level. A semi-automatic mode called "Shutter Priority" will let you decide what the shutter speed will be while allowing the camera to set the aperture for a good exposure. A rule of thumb tells us that a minimum shutter speed of 1/500th of a second is desired to stop most action. Faster is better but there is a trade-off. How much light is there? High speed photography of bullets or drops of water are shot at 1/10,000th of a second and faster. They use high intensity lighting to illuminate these subject. Shutter speeds that fast stop the action but do not let much light in.

Evaluate the light on your subject. If you are outside in bright sun photographing sports or birds, shoot as fast as possible. Experiment. Allow for a slightly darker picture by pushing the envelope and using faster and faster shutter speeds. It might be better to get a clear shot and have it a bit dark then well exposed and blurry. (We can talk about blurred motion another time.) Consider composition and move to get the best angle of light. Don't shoot into the sunlight unless that is your style or only choice.

Raise the ISO. If the light is low and your pictures are too dark, your option is to raise the ISO setting. This makes your camera more sensitive to light and allows you to shoot with faster shutter speeds. The trade-off here (I hope you expected one) is a reduction in quality. "Noise," similar to film grain is introduced, reducing the contrast and details of your picture. Again, it may be better to get a noisy shot then no shot at all.

Get close to the action. Unless you have very expensive, low light lenses, telephoto lenses can limit the light entering your camera and slow your shutter speeds. There are several benefits, the closer you can get, the more light enters your camera, the sharper the picture and the less cropping you'll do later in the computer.

Know your subject and anticipate the shot. If you are shooting sports, anticipate where the ball and the athletes will be before you take the picture. If you are shooting hummingbirds, know their habits. After drinking from a feeder or flower, hummingbirds will back up and then stop and hover before flying away. Timing your shot for that moment they stop will help you compose the picture and reduce blur. Know the subject whether you shoot motorcycle races, people on trampolines or jumping spiders.

Shoot in Burst Mode. Your camera may have the option to take multiple pictures without releasing the shutter button. This is an excellent and forgiving tool to help time your shots.

Focus and prefocus. Normally, your camera will lock its focus on a subject when you push the shutter release halfway down. Another option is to select the Continuous Focus setting in your camera which will change the focus on moving objects until you actually take the picture, most valuable when those objects are moving towards or away from you. Another anticipation technique is to lock your focus on a predetermined spot where you expect action to appear, then just sit back and time the picture when it does.

The coastside presents a variety of photo opportunities that are best shot with action in mind. The Driscoll Ranch Rodeo on July 30 and 31, 2011 provides abundant up-close action to photograph. Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz provides excellent access to photograph world class surfers. That link is a web cam to check on surf conditions. The coast is home to a great variety of interesting birds and other wildlife that make for stellar photos but who sit still for no one.

Practice taking positive control over the shutter speeds and aperture settings of your camera and you will be rewarded with pictures to be proud of. I teach these skills in the Basic Digital Photography Class on Thursday evenings for the Half Moon Bay Recreation Department. A new session starts August 4.