Need help on action shots

[Jen]

I'm having trouble trying to figure out the right settings for objects in motion.

I did some searches on the net to look at photos that were panning shots and stop action to see what people's photos looked like and what settings they were using.

With the help of Tom I practiced taking photos of my dog. I tried stop action shots of my dog jumping in the air as well as running at full speed. I could never get the dog in focus with the background blurred for the running ones and I couldn't get him perfectly frozen in focus for the jumping up ones.

I need some examples of settings as well as what you think I'm doing wrong technique wise. I'd love to have great captures of shots like just this of my dog (BUT CLEAR/Focus!!)
But I need the explanations written for DUMMIES. Thanks.

Out of a ton of shots this is the best of the worst....

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[robsarge]

Just a quickie...are you using the VR lens and are you using "active or Normal" setting on the lens?
Like everybody has told me, try upping the speed...I'm sure the action shot people have a better answer....

[gr8dane]

Hi Jen...

Are you looking to get a blurred background with the moving subject in focus? Try using a relatively slow shutter setting (1/60, 1/80 or thereabouts depending on light and speed of your subject) for this type of panning shot. The slower shutter speed with give you the blurred background. The trick is to shoot your subject while panning without stopping your sweep with the camera, like follow-through in a tennis or golf swing. The natural tendency is to follow the subject with the camera and come to a halt just as you hit the shutter. Keep the camera moving while shooting and you have a better chance of getting the results you want. Burst mode on your camera is great for this...just hold the button down as you follow your subject through the pan.



If you are looking for stop action, just up the shutter speed and adjust your aperture accordingly. Shutter Priority mode will adjust the aperture automatically for the shutter speed you select. The "Sports" preset on the camera will supposedly do all of this for you automatically.



Shutter speed: 1/1000

Let me know if this helps!

[Jen]

HI Rob, I'm not using the VR on these. I'm using the 18-135 (18-200 VR arrives this week though).
I don't think my lens has any other settings on it??


Hi Dane,
Before trying this I did read some examples where people said to use low shutter speeds but I wonder if I had it too slow? The running shot example above was 1/30. I tried to move along with the dog and I actually used the burst mode but this was the clearest of him.


PS: Just saw your stop action example. I know for the stop action I didn't have this speed anywhere near 1/1000 so that can definitely be the problem with those. I will try higher shutter speeds in my tests tomorrow for stop action in shutter priority.

Thanks for the examples - they help. Knowing settings also helps. Gives me somewhere to start.

So I do shutter priority for the panning as well?

[Happee]

Thanks for bringing this topic up Jen. I'm having difficulty too! I will be visiting your thread regularly for updates.

[MattsMomma]

Jen Here is a couple of shots I did out front with the kids playing...





These were taken with an E volt 500 Olympus set on action with a higher shutter speed. I was just playing around with the camera trying to get some action shots, these were just a couple that I practiced with...

[Jen]

Thanks Dottie
I asked my hubby to help me practice again tomorrow and I'm going to try the higher shutter speeds on the stop action shots.

[Colblue]

I read somewhere that a good tip is to match your shutter speed to that of the object your trying to photograph (This advice refers to Kilometres per hour not Miles per hour). I think this is a fair starting point but a blurred background can be achieved with faster and slower speeds.

1. ISO 100, F/5.6, 1/90 shutter speed.


2. ISO 400, F/8.0, 1/125 shutter speed. This formula Vee isn't going as fast as the commodore in the first image, but the background is blurred and works well in this image.


3. ISO 400, F/6.7, 1/180 shutter speed. This formula 3 is slowing down into the pits so for panning the 1/180 is a bit too fast but it still gives the sense of movement with a little bit of background blur.


To capture fast moving objects frozen in the image is best done with fast shutter speeds. A fast lens is helpful for this, say f/2.8 or better.

4. ISO 400, F/5.6, 1/1000 shutter speed. This captures the fast moving vehicle well, but it could still be faster.

[Colblue]

Oh one other thing.

I would think that trying to capture a good panning shot of a dog or any animal would be hard because the animals body continually moves. Capturing a vehicle is much easier because the only thing moving is the wheels.

And as Dane said mentioned, you need to follow through when panning. Shooting continuous can help but I find that concentrating on one image is easier. If your shooting continuous you will have a harder time tracking the object.

[Jen]

Col, thank you so much.
I'm going to print this thread out tomorrow (well actually today LOL...I'm up really late 4:15am here) when I try this when I get up in the afternoon