NEWBY...has question on what settings to use

[Blazer25]

Hello everyone. I am new to this forum. As all of you, I love taking pictures. Both my children race motocross and I enjoy shooting them on the track. I get great angles, but I am just not happy with the clarity of the pictures. I look at other motocross pics taken by semi-pro photographers and their pics are more defined both in color and detail.

I have a Sony Alpha 10.2mp camera. Could you recommend some settings for me to try while I am taking these action shots during the daylight hours?

I'm still new to the camera, but know that there are several different settings I can change...so you could you please talk in 'laymans" terms?

Any help would be appreciated!

[LeeR]

For a beginner taking motocross pictures I would recommend you set your camera to shutter priority mode. This allows you to set the shutter speed (you are going to want speeds of at least 1/500th of a second, if not faster) and the camera will set the appropriate aperture to get a good exposure. This is not exactly the same thing a pro would do as there are many other considerations they would take into account, but it will allow the camera to do much of the heavy lifting while you concentrate on timing the shot.

[David Taylor]

Before I get into my response for your question - I'll just give a quick explanation. If you just want a quick answer, skip to the last paragraph. If you want to learn how and why this works so you can use it for any situation or photograph, keep reading. Not sure how knowledgeable you are about what the different settings do, but perhaps it will help others too. Basically, the three main settings you can change are Aperture (also called f-stop), Shutter Speed, and ISO ("film" sensitivity). The shutter speed is how long the shutter is open for. The aperture is the size of the opening allowing the light in. The ISO is the sensitivity of the sensor (or piece of film) to light.
These individual factors work together to make up an Exposure. I like analogies - here's one I use with my clients. Think of an exposure like a cup under a faucet. A correct exposure is a full glass of water, an underexposed image is not filling the cup all the way, and an overexposure is having too much water so that it overflows the rim of the cup. You can fill that cup with a trickle of water over a long period of time, or a blast of water in a very short period of time. Both are correct exposures, but one will show more motion (the first option) and one will stop the action (the second option). The "trickle of water" option is like a small f-stop (f/11, f/16, f/22, etc.). The faucet only opens a small amount, letting a little water (light) through over a longer time, so it takes longer to fill the glass (exposure). The "blast of water" method is like a large f-stop (f/1.4, 2.8, 4, etc.), it lets in a lot of water (light) all at once so the glass (exposure) fills quickly. Your camera will display these numbers (f-stops and shutter speeds) as whole numbers. But they are actually fractions. The shutter speed may say "500", but it is actually 1/500 of a second. So the larger the number, the faster the shutter speed (example: 4 is slower than 250, because it is actually 1/4" and 1/250"). The f-stop can be more confusing, the smaller the number the larger the opening. But think of it like a fraction. An aperture (f-stop) of 2.8 is actually 1/2.8. It seems small until you compare it to an aperture (f-stop) of 22 - which is actually 1/22. So, with the cup and faucet analogy above, the trickle method would use an f-stop (aperture) of perhaps f/16 or f/22. This means the camera is using a smaller opening to let the light in, so it must stay open longer to gather light. If you use an aperture of around f/4 or f/2.8 it is open much wider and lets more light in a lot faster. In the real world apertures control depth of field (the amount of the image that will be acceptably in focus, from in front of the subject to behind the subject), and shutter speed controls the blur or freezing of motion. A small aperture (f/16, f/22, etc.) will render more in focus from foreground to background than a larger aperture of f/2.8 or f/5.6. But because the smaller apertures have to be open longer to let more light in over a longer period of time, they will show motion as a blur - versus a larger aperture (again, like f/2.8 or f/4) that will be open for a shorter time letting more light in and freezing action but with less depth of field (less in focus, foreground to background). ISO just adjusts these settings for different lighting conditions, allowing you to use faster shutter speeds in lower light.
So... now that the mind-numbing photo lesson is done
To answer your question. I prefer to use Aperture Priority in those situations, especially if the light is changing rapidly on my subject. The way that I do this is to first set my ISO as high as I can go comfortably without introducing too much noise into the shot (higher ISOs mean added noise - but I'll always sacrifice a little noise for a sharp photo. I'd rather have a slightly noisy sharp image than a very smooth blurred shot). Then I set the aperture nearly wide open (a large aperture - like f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6 or f/8 depending on the lens and situation). Aperture priority means that I set the aperture and the camera will change the shutter speed depending on the light to the fastest shutter speed possible. So with a large aperture I am guaranteed that the camera will set the fastest shutter speed possible for the lighting conditions. I hope this helps. Please feel free to ask questions, I love to help. A lot of times, explanations can provide you with more questions than answers - that's the best part about this art form.
PS - the best advice I can give. Get out and take photos. LOTS of them. Hey, it's digital and not costing you anything to try different things. Most of all, have fun!

[IABoomer]

Hmm...Lee suggests shutter, David suggests aperture. I'm going with Lee, only for the following reason. In aperture priority, the camera may still pick a shutter speed that isn't fast enough to keep the motion clear, which means a new user would have to have good panning technique to keep the subject clear, or get lots of properly exposed blurry pictures.

With Lee's suggestion, the images may be underexposed a bit if the camera can't open the aperture enough and/or pump up the ISO enough, but you'll have better luck recovering keeper images that are clear but dark than you will bright but blurred.

I did something similar the first time I borrowed a dSLR from a friend for a cousin's wedding (not as the photographer, just shooting personal photos) and while I started on aperture based on the logic David lays out, I realized after the ceremony and part way through the reception that Lee's shutter mode was getting me more keepers because the camera would push open the aperture to the lens max anyway (kit lens, so f/3.5-5.6 depending on zoom).

[David Taylor]

Originally Posted by IABoomer

Hmm...Lee suggests shutter, David suggests aperture. I'm going with Lee, only for the following reason. In aperture priority, the camera may still pick a shutter speed that isn't fast enough to keep the motion clear, which means a new user would have to have good panning technique to keep the subject clear, or get lots of properly exposed blurry pictures.

With Lee's suggestion, the images may be underexposed a bit if the camera can't open the aperture enough and/or pump up the ISO enough, but you'll have better luck recovering keeper images that are clear but dark than you will bright but blurred.

I did something similar the first time I borrowed a dSLR from a friend for a cousin's wedding (not as the photographer, just shooting personal photos) and while I started on aperture based on the logic David lays out, I realized after the ceremony and part way through the reception that Lee's shutter mode was getting me more keepers because the camera would push open the aperture to the lens max anyway (kit lens, so f/3.5-5.6 depending on zoom).

True, but you can always raise your ISO. It can be very easy to get well under exposed images with the shutter priority. An alternative that some cameras offer is shooting Shutter Priority mode with Auto ISO. This is a great 3rd option. You set the shutter speed to whatever you need to stop the action (or create the blur you want), and the camera will vary the Aperture and ISO to compensate. I use this method for birds in flight in early morning/late evening light.
The point is, there are several ways to skin a cat. Uh oh... PETA just knocked on my door... be right back...

[Krusty79]

Welcome to the forum. It's a good idea to upload some photos with the problem you described so the other members can see it for themselves. What you perceive to be a settings problem may actually be caused by something else. Remember to post the shutter speed, aperture and ISO that you used (the EXIF data).