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Take better photos of your family outdoors this summer with these tips. (Tribune file photo / July 13, 2011) |
Summer brings great things, including longer days that bring everybody outside to play.
Whether you want to take a photo of your friends playing beach volleyball or your favorite Little Leaguer, you can do a few things to improve your action shots. Here are some tips from Jon Bleicher of Panasonic's Digital Photo Academy (digitalphotoacademy.com):
Fill the frame. Your photo will look better if your subject takes up as much of the frame as possible. Get as close as you feel comfortable (or are able to), then zoom in. If your subject is still tiny, don't be afraid to crop your image. Today's cameras have such high resolution that even a heavily cropped image should be fine to email to friends and family or post to Facebook.
Use fast shutter speeds. Aim to shoot at least at 1/100 of a second, and often, you'll need 1/1000 or faster shutter speeds to freeze really fast action. If your camera has a sports-scene mode, it'll adjust your settings for you to get faster shutter speeds.
Shoot at peak action. There's always a moment where the most interesting action's happening, such as when your Little Leaguer's bat strikes the ball. Spend some time learning how much delay there is between when you press the shutter and when the camera actually takes the picture. Point and shoot cameras have a larger delay than SLRs.
Point your shadow at the subject. While side and backlighting can yield dramatic results, to keep things simple, aim to get front-lit shots by moving so that you're pointing your shadow at the subject. This way, the sun will naturally fill in any shadowy spots, giving you an evenly lit photo that looks good. If you can, avoid shooting between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on sunny days, when the sun is directly overhead; it can lead to harsh shadows.
Whether you want to take a photo of your friends playing beach volleyball or your favorite Little Leaguer, you can do a few things to improve your action shots. Here are some tips from Jon Bleicher of Panasonic's Digital Photo Academy (digitalphotoacademy.com):
Fill the frame. Your photo will look better if your subject takes up as much of the frame as possible. Get as close as you feel comfortable (or are able to), then zoom in. If your subject is still tiny, don't be afraid to crop your image. Today's cameras have such high resolution that even a heavily cropped image should be fine to email to friends and family or post to Facebook.
Use fast shutter speeds. Aim to shoot at least at 1/100 of a second, and often, you'll need 1/1000 or faster shutter speeds to freeze really fast action. If your camera has a sports-scene mode, it'll adjust your settings for you to get faster shutter speeds.
Shoot at peak action. There's always a moment where the most interesting action's happening, such as when your Little Leaguer's bat strikes the ball. Spend some time learning how much delay there is between when you press the shutter and when the camera actually takes the picture. Point and shoot cameras have a larger delay than SLRs.
Point your shadow at the subject. While side and backlighting can yield dramatic results, to keep things simple, aim to get front-lit shots by moving so that you're pointing your shadow at the subject. This way, the sun will naturally fill in any shadowy spots, giving you an evenly lit photo that looks good. If you can, avoid shooting between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on sunny days, when the sun is directly overhead; it can lead to harsh shadows.