Monday, February 4, 2013

Creating Movement in Photos

 
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Capturing photos of moving people and objects, like your
kid playing sports, may seem
daunting...but actually it can be very creative and FUN!
 
First, set your camera at shutter priority mode.
On my Canon it's the Tv mode. 
This way you can choose your shutter speed and
the camera will choose the aperature for the correct exposure.
 
The above photo is the typical FREEZE the action shot
achieved by using a fast shutter speed.
 
But you can also achieve this next look and SEE the motion:

 
Once again, these next two photos froze a moment
in time with a fast shutter speed.
 


 
But to create the look of motion with blur in the
background, you simply slow down the shutter and pan
with the moving subject.
 
It takes a ton of practice shots, but every so often
you get the face in good focus.
 
This next one was shot at 1/15 shutter speed:
 
 
Even when the face is blurred...I think it looks FAB!
 
William loved these photos of himself in action.
 
 
Okay, let's go through exactly how I did this.
 
Set your camera's focusing mode to Al Servo.
(Check your manual on how to do this on your camera.)
 
In this mode, while holding down your shutter button half way,
 your camera will continually adjust focus and exposure
as your subject moves.
 
 
This method works best when your subject is moving from right to
left, or left to right rather than moving towards or away from you.
 
Hold the shutter button halfway down and get initial focus on the moving subject
preferably the face.
 
Click the shutter all the way down and pan
with the movement until the shutter closes.
 
I know it's hard, but TRY to pan smoothly.  I tried using a
tripod, but it was highly irritating and confining, so I
prefer hand-holding the camera.
 
 
You will take a ton of photos trying to get a few
good ones.
 
But it is FUN!!!!
 
Try this with kids riding bikes, running, sledding, skating,
playing sports like soccer, hockey, basketball, baseball, football.
 
Place yourself so the movement is going left to
right or right to left.
 
I know you'll get some good ones and want to use
this method when your kids just want to be kids and MOVE!
 
 
 

9 comments:

  1. Awsome photos, thanks for great tips :-)

    Kristín

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  2. What great tips! : ) Thanks for visiting all of us girls at Communal Global. We love that you stopped by! Hope to see you again soon. Love, Becky

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  3. Beautiful photos Jill, so excited to have you linking up with the simple things this week! :)

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  4. I have tried that technique so many times, and it never works for me - great job!

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  5. great action shots - I wish I could do that (and I don't mean ice skate!) - I'm going to go out and find some action!

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  6. Your action photos and subjects are suburb, Jill.

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  7. Great advice Jill! I'm going to try that out!! (Although teacups don't usually move ... !) 😁💛

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