Moving Subjects

When photographing moving subjects the first reaction is to say "I need a high shutter speed" in some ways this is true but it can make the subject look like its standing still and create a boring image.

These two photos taken at the Peking ballet keep a little movement in the arms but stops the movement of the dancers face probably shot around 60th second shutter speed with no flash but on a highly sensitive film.

Taken at the Spa Francorchamps circuit, this car has great movement on the rear and front of the car caused by a low shutter speed, while staying relatively sharp in the center, it was shot with the car very close using a very wide angle lens set around 30th second, so don’t always go for the fast shutter speed , enjoy yourself and play a bit with moving subjects.

I quite often play with long shutterspeeds with moving subjects causing super movement, love it or hate it's up to you.

If you have invested into a long lens panning with the subject can create wonderful pics the idea is to keep the center of the subject in the center of your viewfinder, while exposing at a relativly low shutter speed depending on the lens and speed of panning. 125th is fine for a 200mm lens on a fast pan, giving nice movement in the background while stopping too much movement in the subject.

 

Your camera will probably have a sports setting normally shown by a symbol of a person running. Beware of this setting, as it might want to freeze your subjects and leave little interest in the final image.

I did have a job to shoot once for Mercury marine engines a bottle of champagne was supposed to break over the engine, having tried everything to make it break, I tried a 22 rifle ,! to see what happened you'll have to go anecdotes.

Most quality digital cameras will be able to shoot at around 4000 th to 8000 th of a second. This will stop most things.

Some images are made more dynamic by stopping all action. A golf ball at the moment it’s hit can turn into an oval shape as it is compressed by the club and a tennis racket distorting as the ball is hit.
The following technique allows a bit of fun with high-speed photography without enormous cost providing you have some electronic ability.
A trick to use even without having very sophisticated equipment is to shoot in total darkness using a very high-speed flash. Open the shutter for a long period say around ten seconds, Set the power of the flash to minimum to get it’s highest speed and position it to get sufficient exposure, probably close to the subject.  
The flash must be fired at exactly the right time by making the noise of the action, trigger the flash. A microphone and amplifier can form the basis of the trigger but other techniques are used. Look for ‘sound triggered flash’ on the Internet to find circuits and more information.
What ever you are shooting plenty of trial and error will be needed including hand clapping to test the trigger. If you are popping a balloon the bang will trigger the flash and you will have a great picture, particularly if you have filled the balloon with water or champagne.

This technique allows the amateur to have a bit of fun with what is known as known as high-speed photography without enormous cost.

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