Photography - action photographs

 Michael Coppola took these two photographs. He focussed on the rider on the right and as the rider moved he panned and blurred the background. By doing this he has made the rider stand apart from the crowd. For the photo below he has used a small aperture and has separated the rider from the crowd that way.
 So what are the options for taking a action photo?
It is a good idea to separate the subject off from the background so it looks as if action is happening. Here are a couple of ways of doing this written in a way I can actually try! You can blur the background by lowering the f number - the lower the f number, the more background blur. The second way is to pan the camera. Set the camera to autofocus, move the top half of your body while following the subject with your camera. Just before anticipated action start pressing shutter release and continue following the subject until you have pressed the release all the way down.
Some tips for good action photos are :-
- get a good vantage point
- set DSLR camera to shutter speed of around 1/1000 (NB for a standard football match you need a speed of 1/250-1/500.
- utilise the burst mode or sports setting on your camera.
- consider composition, the subject doesn't have to be in the middle of the frame, it might be good to get a sense of a person travelling into a frame.
- if you are zooming in you might be too close to the action so might miss something.
- alternatively, zoom in and focus on faces to get the expressions of them exerting themselves!
- you need to anticipate the action.
- continue tracking the subject with your camera after you have taken the shot just in case a better photo presents itself.
- understand your camera's shutter lag - not a problem for DSLRs.
- tell a story with your composition.
- freeze the action by setting camera to sports mode or set a high shutter speed.
- you might want some blur of the subject to emphasis speed, if so lower shutter speed.

 I took the above photo on Saturday at the Kelso park run. It is an action photo albeit the action is very slow. However I just raised my camera phone above my head and hoped for the best! It gives an idea of the event, I cropped it marginally and straightened it a little!
This photo I took a couple of years ago and essentially the shutter speed was fast enough to freeze the event - the splashes are fairly in focus!

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