Capturing Movement in Studio

[AmyE]

Hi Everyone

I have a question - I have to do a shoot where I capture a woman jumping in the air like the attached image.

My only problem is I cant set my shutter speed too high or I will get that black line and even though I will set my camera at a fixed focal point and use f/4 I still get blur - any suggestions how I can achieve a shot like this? crisp and concise - I don't want a very high ISO

It will be shot in studio at night time - I have 3 flash heads available too

Thanks Amy

[Raoul Isidro]

One technique, among many others you will get, is to trigger the shutter at the apex of the jump. That is, in the sequence of the jump, the rise and fall of the subject gets the most motion blur, but the there is a sweet spot right on top of the jump where the subject is neither climbing nor falling... the apex of the jump. That moment is the best time to trigger the shutter. You can use a bouncing basketball to practice.

The image you have attached as a sample may not have been a jump at all, but rather, a model lying on her back with her head and shoulder propped up by (not seen) head rests. The fluffy dress appears to be stiffly starched (like the American flag on the lunar surface) or blown by a wind maker off to one side. There is no tension shown on the ligamants of the foot, hands and neck to suggest an actual jump. The image appears to be heavilly Photoshopped.

All the best to your studio shots.

[teaking]

If I have read this right before, if you have a dark studio and your only or majority of light is that from the flash you could have a shuuter speed as low as 1/30th and capture movement crisp as long as the flash was quick enough to stop the movement as the flash would be the ambient light and that would be freezing movement not the shutter speed..... its just what I read so Im possibly wrong somewhere

[LeeR]

You should not get a black line if you are shooting at the camera's reccommended shutter speed; usually 1/125 of a second or higher. Along with flash, this should be plenty to freeze the action. Shooting TTL will also help. Flash speeds where your subject and background are close can be very tiny fractions of a second; much faster than your shutter speed.

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by LeeR

You should not get a black line if you are shooting at the camera's reccommended shutter speed; usually 1/125 of a second or higher. Along with flash, this should be plenty to freeze the action. Shooting TTL will also help. Flash speeds where your subject and background are close can be very tiny fractions of a second; much faster than your shutter speed.

I think you mean shooting at the cameras [i]sync speed or slower [i]. Faster than the sync speed and you will get the black line.

[OsmosisStudios]

You need to use a High-Speed Sync mode, or medium format with a leaf shutter.

For high-speed sync, with a dSLR, you'll nee triggers that are capable of that. They'll allow you to shoot at higher shutter speeds, with flash, to freeze motion.

Most digital medium format cameras use a leaf shutter which has a sync speed usually of 1/1000 or so.

[Niresangwa]

I did a shoot a couple of weekends back doing the exact same thing. the sync speed of the camera was easily fast enough to do this. I had all of the dance studio lights out, and 3 strobes mostly working around 1/16th power triggered wirelessly. ambient light was enough to focus but washed by the strobes. it certainly wasnt difficult.

[AmyE]

Thanks everyone - I will it give it a go and let you know - I appreciate all your comments and help

[Ray Dockrey]

I encountered this the other day and had no issues with blur. I was taking portraits and other fun photos at our high school band banquet. I have a portable studio with three monlights. I had some kids come in wanting to do jump photos. I made no changes to anything and the motion was frozen. No blur whatsoever and it was the coolest thing. Shutter speed was at 1/200, aperture f8, ISO 200.