A Beginner's Guide to Capturing Motion
- 1. A Beginner‟s Guide to Capturing Motion in Photos FROM: THE DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY SCHOOL HTTP://DIGITAL-PHOTOGRAPHY- SCHOOL.COM/A-BEGINNERS-TO-CAPTURING- MOTION-IN-YOUR-PHOTOGRAPHY
- 2. Reasons to Capture Motion Sometimes, there is a need to blur certain elements in the image while focusing sharply on a few subjects in the foreground. Other times, you may want to freeze or blur everything. The direction you take depends upon your objective for your photograph. A lot of photographers capture motion simply to convey that an object is moving. But, there are other reasons to so. Movement can communicate mood. Trees rustling in the wind suggest serenity while throngs of people on a busy city block imply harried activity. You can also use motion to eliminate elements in a scene that may serve as distractions to the viewer. For example, you may want to photograph a person standing on a sidewalk corner as cars move behind him. By blurring everything but your primary subject, you can eliminate potential distractions and focus the viewer‟s attention.
- 3. Capturing Motion Using Shutter Speed Shutter speed is „the amount of time that the shutter is open‟ Shutter speed is measured in seconds – or in most cases fractions of seconds. The bigger the denominator the faster the speed (ie 1/1000 is much faster than 1/30). There are two things to remember The faster the shutter speed, the sharper the focus on your subject. A slower shutter speed will blur a moving object.
- 4. To capture this picture, you would place the camera on the tripod and take a picture with long exposure. (In other words, a slow shutter speed.) Blurred subject with the background in focus
- 6. Using Blur to Portray Movement The following shots are all of moving subjects where the photographer has made the choice to set their camera to capture the movement as blur rather than freezing it. This is in all cases by choosing (or letting the camera choose) a ‟slow‟ shutter speed
- 12. “Most beginning photographers are trained to “secure” their cameras. That is, your camera should remain as still as possible for certain types of shots. By contrast, panning requires that you move your camera with your subject. Specifically, you‟ll be matching your subject‟s rate of movement and the direction in which it is traveling. The best results occur when you have a clear view of the moving object and ample room to swivel Panning with the subject your camera along a parallel axis to it.”
- 13. “Freezing the entire scene can give your photographs a unique look, especially if the objects strongly imply movement. For example, consider a bird that is flying in front of a waterfall. Both imply motion to the viewer. Freezing the entire scene captures that motion in a single moment and can produce a breathtaking image. You should use a shutter speed of at least 1/1000th of a second for this type of shot.” Freezing the frame with fast shutter speed
- 14. “Using the continuous shooting feature on your camera, you can capture a series of shots and join them together in the post processing stage to create the effect shown above. A tripod is essential when attempting to shoot motion using this method.” Digitally merging photographs
- 15. Tips for Capturing Motion
- 16. Determine the Proper Shutter Speed To identify the right shutter speed, you‟ll need to ask yourself a few questions: How fast is your subject moving? How much distance exists between the camera and the subject? How much motion do you want your photograph to convey to the viewer? The faster the shutter speed, the more frozen and crisply-defined your subject will be. You‟ll need to experiment with different shutter speeds in a variety of situations.
- 17. Potential Issue – Excess Light When you slow your shutter speed to blur elements in your image, there‟s a chance that too much light will enter and impact your photograph. It‟s a common problem, but there are a couple of ways to resolve it. First, check the aperture on your camera. The larger it is, the more likely excess light will enter. Try adjusting the settings to reduce its size. Second, review the setting of your ISO. When it is set high, the image sensor in your camera may be overly-sensitive to light. This can create unwanted noise in your image.