7 fast action photography tips

Action Photography - A race car captured while passing the photographer

When trying your hand at action photography, it can be hard to get reasonable results until you get some experience. Here are 7 quick tips to get you started with fast action photography so that you can start capturing some reasonable images right from the start.

Use a fast lens:

A lens with a wide aperture (low f number) is ideal for shooting fast action photography. Often referred to as a fast lens, a wide aperture lens will allow more light into the camera than other lenses and this in turn allows the photographer to use a faster shutter speed. Fast shutter speeds allow us to freeze time and get still images of fast-moving objects such as racing cars or sports people.

Use a tripod or a monopod:

If you plan on shooting for any period of time, it’s a good idea to have some method of supporting your camera and lenses. Fast telephoto lenses are quite large and heavy, and if you’re shooting action photography for any length of time with heavy equipment, fatigue is something worth keeping in mind. Attaching a tripod or a monopod to your camera (or lens) can really help.

Pre focus:

It can be almost impossible for your auto-focus to lock onto a fast moving object as it passes by the camera. Use pre-focus techniques with action photography so that you’re ready for the action when it happens. This means pre-empting where the shot will be, and locking your focal point to that area of the frame before the action occurs. This technique often requires a little bit of experience, and is also dependent on the next tip or two.

Familiarity:

If you’re shooting sports, it’s a great idea to get yourself as familiar with the activity as possible prior to the shoot. Take a good look at action photography in magazines and watch footage on TV to get a feel for the best angles to shoot from. This will vary from sport to sport, so get familiar with the sport you’ve chosen to shoot.

Vantage point:

Survey the location prior to the shoot and get a feel for where the best action is going to be. Set up in an area that will help you to obtain the best shots. You might want to take some test shots from a few different angles before the action starts so that you can be sure the frame the shot in the best possible way.

How will you shoot the action?

Different techniques will allow you to capture different styles of action photography. Fast shutter speeds will allow you to freeze time and capture still images which can be great for capturing things like the expressions on sportspersons faces. Using slightly slower shutter speeds while panning the camera and tracking your subject will produce a blurred background helping to convey the feeling of motion. This can be well suited to capturing subjects such as racing cars.

ISO:

Increasing the ISO setting on your camera increases the sensitivity of the cameras sensor. This can allows us to use faster shutter speeds which is great for action photography. Unfortunately, higher ISO settings also increase the likelihood of noise in the resulting photo, so, it’s best to use the lowest ISO possible for the scene. I usually start with an ISO of around ISO 400 and adjust as necessary. With my camera, I usually try not to go above ISO 800 for noise reasons, but newer cameras cope a lot better with higher ISOs.

If you’d love to learn more awesome photography secrets, check out “Digital Photography Success” by Amy Renfrey – (Please note that this is an affiliate link and I will earn a small commission is you choose to buy this product. You are under no obligation to do so.)

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