Action Photography

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Action Photography

Photo Storage
The world around us is in movement. Some move slowly, like growing plants. Turtles, in the animal’s world move slowly and steadily. Other things move more quickly. From birds to cars, children to ocean waves, things all around us move. As photography is a still medium we need to seek innovative ways of capturing and conveying this motion to our viewers. This expedition of capturing and conveying motion is collectively called action photography. (Detail in Part 2)

Conveying Motion
When you select a subject you have to decide how you wish to convey the motion to your viewer.
The two major ways of conveying motion are:

Freezing Obvious Motion
Freezing motion is most successful when you capture a moment that is noticeable motion. For instance, you can shoot a person captured in mid-jump with their feet off the ground or a surfer frozen in the middle of a breaking wave. When the event is noticeably something that does not take place without motion, freezing the motion is a great technique to show a fleeting moment in time we might not otherwise have a good look at.

Blurring Motion
Blurring motion assists to remind a viewer that motion is happening. Blurring motion does well with less dramatic action such as flowing water.

Freezing motion and blurring motion will also be combined in a single image under controlled conditions. Things like a baseball player striking a baseball can be good candidates for this type of blending. When one subject will move at a dramatically different speed than another subject, it can be possible to freeze one while permitting the other to blur.

It is shutter speed which is the key tool photographers have for controlling motion capture and blur. Shutter speeds required to freeze action vary greatly based on the subject and the subject's relation to the camera. For instance, to freeze splashing water you should need a shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second or faster while to capture a deer running towards you a shutter speed of 1/250 of a second can be all that is needed.

Subject Placement
Once you decide whether you will freeze the action, blur or blend the two styles you must decide the subject position in your image. When compositional tools such as leading lines, the rule of thirds, and centering still apply to action photography, the chief consideration in action photography will be not stopping the motion with the frame.

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