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Action Photography Tips – How You Can Take Great Action Photos

Published On Friday, July 30, 2010 By . Under: Photography Tips. Tags: action, great, photography, photos, Take, Tips

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Action Photography Tips – How You Can Take Great Action Photos

When it comes to taking great action photos, one of the most important digital photography basics is understanding shutter lag.

Also called “processor lag” this is the time that it takes between the time you press the shutter release and the time the camera actually takes the shot. Press too soon, and you end up with something completely different than what you expected.

Despite all of their advantages, compact digital cameras are slower than traditional film cameras. This article provides some tips for dealing with this lag, as well as tips for how to take more exciting and memorable action pictures.

1) Be Ready – Always try to anticipate the movement before it happens. Even professional sports photographers with fast cameras have to still anticipate actions so they can be in the right spot at the right time.

By having a better understanding of what you’re photographing, you’ll be better able to anticipate the actions and get better shots. So, if you plan to take pictures of your child’s soccer match, learn the rules of the game so you’ll know what to expect. If your child is dancing in the Nutcracker, watch a couple of rehearsals before you start taking pictures.

2) Before you get a new compact digital camera investigate what you really want. Unfortunately, there isn’t just one camera spec that will tell you how fast the camera will capture the picture from the time you press the button. Others things like the quality of the sensor and the ISO setting (if in dim light) can also slow down the processing time. So check out what others are saying at photography forums and honest review sites, and read all the specs available.

3) Spring for a DSLR (Digital Single-Lens-Reflex). They’re more expensive than compacts, but they’re FAST. These cameras do not have shutter-lag issues, and if you’re shooting action indoors, you can ramp up the ISO without your photos being marred by the digital noise that you’ll get when doing the same with a compact.

Digital Photography Basics to Use with any Type of Camera

Whether you have a compact, DSLR, point-and-shoot film camera or camera phone, try these professional tricks.

Zoom in on Faces – Don’t always focus on the action. Capture those expressions of determination, triumph and even defeat (especially if it’s an opponent!).

Tell a Story – Look for shots that tell a story of the event. For instance, take a picture of a team huddle or a group of runners stretching before the big race.

Freeze! – To freeze the action, set your camera to sports mode or set your Shutter Speed Priority to a high setting. For an example of the difference in settings: freezing action in a soccer game requires a shutter speed in the range of 1/250 to 1/500, while freezing the tiny movements of a pet that appears to be sitting still, requires 1/125.

Blur the Background – Take a cue from the sports photographers, and blur the background by decreasing the camera’s depth of field. If using a camera that has Aperture Priority, you can do this by simply decreasing the f-stop number. The lower the F Stop number, the more blurry your background.

Pan – This is a good alternative for digital compact users where dim light underexposes photos taken with sports mode/fast shutter speed. Panning works with automatic focus but it only works well when the subject is moving in a fairly straight line. Here is how to pan the camera:

Set your Camera to Autofocus. With your feet firmly planted on the ground, rotate your upper body and follow the subject with your camera. Just before the anticipated action that you want to capture occurs, start pressing the shutter release button and continue following the subject until you’ve pressed the button all the way down and the camera gets the shot.

Is the autofocus on your camera too slow? Focus on an area of contrast, such as the number on a uniform. Autofocus works faster with contrast.

Play around with panning and see what kinds of different effects you can get. If you want to put more emphasis on the movement, you may want to consider blurring the movement to make it look like it’s moving faster.

Whether you are shooting a sporting event or taking photos of your dog playing frisbee, action photos are really a lot of fun once you get the hang of it. And once you understand the digital photography basics like shutter lag, you’ll take better pictures and have even more fun.

Autumn Lockwood is a writer for YourPictureFrames.com. Your Picture Frames offers a large selection of quality picture frames in a wide variety of sizes like 4×6 picture frames and 5×7 picture frames. Visit our website or call us at 1-800-780-0699.