Photography Minded

There have been many time in my life I wish I could have frozen a moment. Like right as I was about to score a try (rugby’s version of a touchdown,) or doing a back flip into a pool, or perhaps cliff diving from 20ft into a river. All of these would have been great moments in my life to capture, except, before I read up on capturing a split second in time, all my pictures would come out blurry, if at all! Here is how to capture a moment in time with your DSLR camera:

Jumping Jack Flash, originally uploaded by Daniel Hellerman.

Taking great motion shots can be difficult for a beginner with little knowledge of their camera. Hopefully after reading this tutorial, you will feel much more capable and ready to capture that moment when it arrives.

To start off with adressing absolute beginners with their DSLR’s, turn your cameras dial to the “S” setting (or Tv on some cameras.) What you will want to do then is dial it to the fastest speed that it will let you for the lighting you are in. The “S” (or Tv) setting is known as shutter priority mode, what it will let you do is choose a really fast shutter speed to control capturing motion, while it figures out what aperture settings to use to get the best light. You will want a setting in the following range 2000 (which in reality is 1/2000th of a second,) 1000, 500, 250, or 125 (pushing it a bit.) These settings will let you effectively stop time the best. The above photo was shot at 1/640th of a a second, on a brightly lit beach.

Choose somewhere light to shoot. Your son’s indoor poorly lit basketball game is not a good spot to shoot. On the beach, or at noon, or whenever it is bright and sunny is. I suggest hand holding the camera, you will not need a tripod, as the picture is being taken so fast hand shake should not cause blur. however, always hold your camera as steady as possible.

Set your camera to continuous drive mode. That feature will look like 3 pictures, or 3 squares stacked on top of each other. This will allow you to shoot pictures back to back quickly without releasing the shutter button.

Pre-Focus your lens on the area where the action is going to be if you can. This is because your cameras auto focus is not fast enough for your subject. By pre-focusing your camera, you will have a nice sharp pictures, and will not have to wait for your camera to focus for you. If you wait for your camera to focus, you will lose the effect of shooting at a speed such as 1/2000th of a second, because you are relying on the speed of the auto focusing sensors.

Now, for those of you who are more comfortable with your DSLR’s here are a couple good tricks and tips:

Use a lens with a low aperture, something around f4-f1.8. By using a wide aperture you let more light in which will allow for very fast shutter speeds. However, remember the lower the aperture the less depth of field you have to play with, so its really a trade off depending on the picture you are trying to achieve.

Use a higher Iso. If you are shooting in a low light situation using a higher, faster iso will allow you to shoot at a faster shutter speed. Remember, the higher the iso, the greater the film grain, so make sure you adjust accordingly.

Avoid a telephoto lens, unless you are shooting from far away and need the range. If you need the range make sure you get a good lens with a low aperture like previously stated, and sit it in a tripod with not only a ball head, but a lens support as well to avoid the end of the lens vibrating when you take a shot. If you do not need range, I have found a good 50mm f2.8 portrait lens works fantastically. I also have a Nikon AF NIKKOR lens that is 35-70mm and has an adjustable aperture from f22 all the way down to f3.3. At f3.3 you can take some amazingly quick photos in low light conditions, even with the zoom.

I hope those tips help, as usual you can write in the comment box and questions you have and I will respond as soon as I can!