Have you tried taking snapshots of your friend at a rugby match only to find him appearing blurred in most of the photo – or worse, missing from the shots?
The average point-and-shoot camera suffers from a slow focus speed and shutter lag. For fast moving action, the camera can take some time training itself to zero in on the subject. When the shutter release button is pressed, there is a short delay before the photo is recorded.
By the time, two precious seconds might have passed, and the subject would have moved out of the frame altogether. Outside of using digital SLRs, which focus faster and suffer much less shutter lag, follow these tips to freeze that precious sporting moment.
Fast Shutter speed
Use a fast shutter speed to freeze action and avoid motion blur. I use a speed of at least 1/125 seconds for, say, people taking a stroll. For faster moving subjects, say, a galloping horse, a faster shutter speed of a least 1/500 seconds is needed.
Set the camera to aperture priority mode and set the aperture to the widest (smallest f-number). The camera will then set the highest possible shutter speed based on the brightness of the scene.
Weather may also affect shutter speeds. On a dull day, even with the aperture wide open, the shutter speed may still be too low. In this case, increase the ISO setting to allow a higher shutter speed.
Continuous autofocus
If the camera has a continuous autofocus mode, select it so that the camera continuously maintains focus on the subject. So that by the time you decide to take the snap, the subject would already be locked in. I find this technique useful for subjects that are not moving too fast – such as kids running towards you.
Burst mode
Most cameras have a burst or continuous shooting mode that can take a sequence of photos in quick succession as long as you hold down the shutter release button. This increases the chance of capturing the heat of the action.
For digital point-and-shoot cameras that do not allow manual control of most settings, there is a sports or action scene mode. This automatically sets a high shutter speed, continuous autofocus and, for some models, even burst mode.
Pre-focus
For much faster action, such as Formula One racing, predict where the action is and pre-focus manually. For compact digital cameras that do not allow manual focusing, pick an object at the location of the action, such as a lamp post, and half-press the shutter release button to focus on the lamp post.
Maintain the half-press to lock the pre-focus and press down fully when the subject reaches the lamp post. Practise on a camera that you will use on the actual day so you know its ins and outs and know when exactly to press the shutter release before the subject reaches the scene.
Once you have mastered these basic techniques for capturing action, you can go on to explore more advanced techniques such as panning and introducing selective blurs by deliberately using slow shutter speeds.
Source from John Tan
A system engineer in day time who keep digging solution. After work, Alex keep moving forward to work for what he interest about whatever IT, marketing, SEO, server and walawalawala......
One Comment
your tips of freezing frame of moving target is so helpfull to me to taking sports playing people.Beforereading this tips i have not taken clear and clean this types of photo.Thank you for giving such helpfull tips.