 Wendy Godwin |
Capturing a Moving Object
Can someone explain the though process that goes through a photographer's head when he wants to capture a shot such as ,say, your neighbor's crazy chickens that have wandered into your yard and will scoot back off at any minute. Does it get easier with time and practice? I am really hoping it does as I love photography.
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- Bob Cournoyer Contact Bob Cournoyer Bob Cournoyer's Gallery  |
The answer is, yes, it gets easier with time. The setting options are many and varied... :-)
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
For stop action of moving objects I try to keep my shutter speed at 1/250 or faster but this also depends on how fast the subject is moving. In your photo with overhead trees and strong shadows, you may want to use some fill flash to light up the chickens a little better and take away some of the harsh contrast. If you want slight blur you can try panning which does take some practice and you can also get some cool effects when zooming while taking the shot. When I started out, I would use Auto just to see what my camera thought my settings should be then switch to Manual to take the shot. In Auto, the camera does not know if you are taking an action shot and will not always select the appropriate shutter speed (for action shots) or DOF that you may want to change for artistic reasons. Brenda Tharp's "Creating Visual Impact" & Jim Zuckerman's "8 Steps to more Dramatic Photography" are both excellent courses to teach you essential composition & shooting techniques. Good Luck, Carlton
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
Hello Wendy, For stop action of moving objects I try to keep my shutter speed at 1/250 or faster but this also depends on how fast the subject is moving. In your photo with overhead trees and strong shadows, you may want to use some fill flash to light up the chickens a little better and take away some of the harsh contrast. If you want slight blur you can try panning which does take some practice and you can also get some cool effects when zooming while taking the shot. When I started out, I would use Auto just to see what my camera thought my settings should be then switch to Manual to take the shot. In Auto, the camera does not know if you are taking an action shot and will not always select the appropriate shutter speed (for action shots) or DOF that you may want to change for artistic reasons. Brenda Tharp's "Creating Visual Impact" & Jim Zuckerman's "8 Steps to more Dramatic Photography" are both excellent courses to teach you essential composition & shooting techniques. Good Luck, Carlton
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Wendy Godwin |
Thank you, Bob and Carlton, for responding so quickly to my question. When I was trying to get this shot my thought process went something like this : Ok, sunny day (set white balance to "daylight" ) film speed , ok need to set low number to avoid too much noise ( I think I tried 200) set exposure compensation in case my settings cause over or under exposure ( thought I set it to do this automatically) . I had chosen the Av setting because I thought with Aperture Priority I could open up the aperature as far as possible to isolate my subjects (the chickens) and blur the background. Compose the shot; press shutter button halfway; tried to change the auto focus point but it wouldn't let me ( ??) ; then noticed that a number was blinking at me on my LCD panel indicating over or under exposure ( I guess) ; tried to change aperature setting but the number wouldn't stop blinking; got frustrated , turned some knobs , and just got whatever shot the camera would allow me to take. All the while the chickens are moving all over the place , of course. I didn't even think about using fill flash. Thank you, Carlton, for that suggestion. I guess these are things I will learn with practice but I wonder if it just all becomes second nature to you more seasoned photographers or if you only stick to certain shots that you know to can get without reseting everything. And, is there a "magic formula" for setting aperture and shutter speed ?
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
Its kinda funny but I actually seem to use my flash more during the day for shadows, etc.. than I do at night, when I am often shooting musicians, sports & stuff that either doesn't allow flash or I dont want the effect of the flash for the capture like city night scenes, etc.. If you are new to exposing the shots yourself, please take a course or read some books because exposure is crucial to good photography. Sean Arbabi just released a new one - http://www.betterphoto.com/forms/QnAdetail.php?threadID=33792 Its a bit of a learning curve but knowing how to get the shot (capturing the chickens in action) and then how to get the shot in an artistic manner are stages of learning how to control the camera and how to compose and use DOF (depth of field) to your advantage artistically.
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Wendy Godwin |
Thank you , Carlton. I will look into those classes. Wendy
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- Kenneth De Pree Contact Kenneth De Pree Kenneth De Pree's Gallery |
Hi, Wendy, I am new to BP and this is my first post in the forum. I have been working to improve my skills with action shots, too. Since I most often shoot during the day, I keep my camera white balance on sun, but unless you have no time to prepare before leaving the house with the camera, you know whether to use sun, cloud, or AWB. If you are shooting action, you don't have time to press shutter half way, compose the shot, then shoot. By that time you will have missed a lot of action that might make good photos. For action shots, I recommend that you put the camera in the continuous shooting mode, so that as long as your finger is pressing the button, the camera will keep shooting. Tv is best because if you want to stop the action you must have sufficient shutter speed. 1/250 is the minimum you should use, and only for action that is not moving very fast. But you can't spoil a shot by shooting "too fast", so I suggest you never shoot below 1/500, and even that is on the low side for most action. The other day I practiced at a local baseball game, shooting the batter and catcher. Shooting in 1/1000, I got some good photos of both the ball and the batter. The day before I was shooting windsurfers and kiteboarders and shot in 1/1250 and 1/1600, because the day before when shooting in 1/800 and less the photos were all somewhat blurred. The thing about continuous shooting is that you end up with lots of photos. When I practice on wind and kitsurfers, I shoot maybe 300 shots. I then go through all of them and pick out the very few keepers. The other day when shooting the baseball game, I took 300 shots and got 5 I like, but they were all good stop action shots showing both the ball and the batter. I hope this is of some help. Ken
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- Kenneth De Pree Contact Kenneth De Pree Kenneth De Pree's Gallery |
I forgot to say that ISO is also important because the faster your shutter speed the more light that is necessary. Set the speed you want to use, look through the view finder and press the button. If the scene goes very dark, you need more light. Increase the ISO and try again. One day when I was shooting kiteboarders in very early afternoon under a bright sun, an ISO of 200 was sufficient. But the next time I had to use ISO 400. One other thing, look at your continuous shooting options. They will be described in the camera manual. If you are shooting at a fixed point, such as the batters box in a baseball game, you can use the option where the focus is set with the first shot. However, if shooting a moving object, like a kiteboarder, then use the option where the camera continues to focus as you shoot. If I can be of more assistance to you with your question, please let me know. This is a subject I am very interested, too.
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
Welcome Kenneth, The forum is a great place to learn & share with others and also a great reference source (using the search window) for past threads. If you shoot RAW you dont have to worry about White Balance as this is easily changed with most raw conversion software. I started out shooting jpgs then switched to raw+jpgs and now I just shoot raw. I use Photoshop and ACR 4.1 and my editing with ACR is much faster, easier with better results. my .02, Carlton
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- Kenneth De Pree Contact Kenneth De Pree Kenneth De Pree's Gallery |
Thanks for welcome, Carlton. Yes, I know you have more exposure options with RAW. But this thread was about moving objects and the point I was trying to make was that shutter speed was essential, and that if there was more than the speed of a turtle that 1/250 was not enough. Also that as she increases shutter speed she may well have to increase ISO. That is more important than using the flash because usually with action shots you are too far from the action for a flash to be of any value. For me, the keys to getting sharp action shots are: continuous shooting mode, the fastest possible shutter speed you can get under the conditions that exist, and be prepared to raise ISO to get the desired shutter speed, or something as close as possible to it. I also recommend using a fast card.
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- Kenneth De Pree Contact Kenneth De Pree Kenneth De Pree's Gallery |
Wendy, a question about your photo of the chickens. Is this what came out of the camera? I ask because I think it would be possible to improve the image with a photo editor. I believe you can easily make it brighter, sharper, and more colorful. Ken
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Wendy Godwin |
Hi Ken and Carlton, Thanks for your response and helpful suggestions. I do have a fast card so that is not a problem. I think I do need to concentrate more on shutter speed. My problem seems to be getting that and the aperture in sync as well as ISO. You both have been very helpful. I see I have a lot of learning to do and this is such a helpful place to learn. Yes, I did very little editing to my photo of the chickens in order to show my point. I know it could be improved a lot. My goal eventually would be to take great shots that don't need as much editing. Thanks again for all of your suggestions,
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- Kenneth De Pree Contact Kenneth De Pree Kenneth De Pree's Gallery |
Wendy, I wouldn't worry about the aperture. Shoot in Tv and let camera pick the best aperture setting. It will do a better job in most situations than you will. As far as the ISO is concerned, keep it as low as possible. 80 or 100 best for normal shooting. But as you increase the shutter speed, you have to anticipate increasing ISO so that the camera has enough light to work with. Determine your ISO need by setting your shutter speed, 1/1000 for example. Then focus the camera on what or where you plan to shoot and hold the shutter half way done and look through your view finder. If the scene looks dark, then you have to reduce shutter speed or increase ISO. Because you are going to shoot action shots, you don't want to reduce shutter speed so increase ISO. Depending on your camera, there is probably an ISO setting that you don't want to exceed. But you could certainly go to 400, maybe 800 with your camera, with degradation of the photo. There are several good anti-noise programs available, some free, that you can use to get rid of the noise. I recommend the Noiseware Community Edition, it is the free version of one of the best programs available and there is little difference. It will remove whatever noise you have from the high setting. As far as doing without a photo editor, you can be sure that the pros teaching for BetterPhoto are editing their photos. Most shoot in RAW and do a lot of editing, even more than I do in jpeg. Continuous shooting mode, fast shutter speed, and enough ISO so that your photos aren't black. That is all you have to think about.
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- Kenneth De Pree Contact Kenneth De Pree Kenneth De Pree's Gallery |
Ken
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Wendy Godwin |
Thank you, Ken, I actually did just that today. I set the shutter speed to 1/1000 then adjusted the ISO. I think I had to go to 250 but got much better results than before. I used the info in the viewfinder to determine this. I am not against editing. I use Photoshop Elements. I just want to learn to take good enough shots so that I don't have to do a lot of editing to make my shots look good. It's encouraging to know that you don't mind taking a lot of shots to get a few good ones. It's easy to think that good photographers get the shot they want right away without much trouble. But I guess that is not always the case. Thanks,
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Wendy Godwin |
Shutter Speed 1/1000 ISO 250
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- Kenneth De Pree Contact Kenneth De Pree Kenneth De Pree's Gallery |
Good looking horse. Is it yours? I doubt if any photographer takes one shot and calls it a day. The great thing about digital is that it is as cheap to take 100 shots as it is 1, and your chances of getting just what you want are much improved. What you don't like, erase them from the card to make room for the next 100. I've been going to the Cabarete Beach once or twice a week for an hour or two learning how to take shots of the kiteboaders and windsurfers. There hasn't been a time that I haven't taken at least 300 shots to get a very few that I was happy with. I also don't think there is a professional photographer that doesn't make heavy use of Photoshop or some other high powered photo editor. What you should be working to improve are the things that you can't o with a photo editor, like having good composition. Ken
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