12 Weeks To Better Photos...Week 8

On The Go!
This week the 2 Peas photography course lesson was all about capturing action of our kids, pets, sports, indoors and out. Click here to read this weeks lesson.
Mostly, capturing action is about the shutter speed. Remember week 2? We learned how to "freeze" water. Using a high shutter speed is your best bet around kids and other fast moving subjects. We learned in week 2 that using a high shutter speed we need more light. Outdoors that works but indoors can get tricky. A few things that can help when shooting photos in our homes are: a lens with a low f/stop to compensate for your faster shutter speed (I ordered a 50mm f/1.4 but it is on back order so I won't get it for about a month. I'm excited!), a tripod to combat the blur of a very low f/stop, and a diffused flash to "stop" the action (like bouncing the flash off of the ceiling or wall.)
Indoors we sometimes have to just embrace the blur. Blur can show movement in a photo but it is best if part of the photo is still in focus. Try keeping the face of your subject in focus.
Panning is another fun way to use blur to our advantage and can create pretty cool photos. The basic idea behind panning as a technique is that you pan your camera along in time with the moving subject and end up getting a relatively sharp subject but a blurred background. This gives the shot a feeling of movement and speed. Click here to read more about panning.
This is my favorite panning shot! It took many, MANY tries to get it just right. It can be difficult to get the subject in focus while moving your camera.

This one was tough since the swing was not only going side to side but spinning in circles as well, but I managed to get their faces in focus...somewhat.


The other catagories, sports and pets, doesn't really apply to me but if you want to read about improving your photos for sports and pets - click here.

The Challenge...
Consider using shutter priority or the sports setting for this challenge if you're not comfortable in manual mode.
Choose any of the following options for this week's challenge:
1. Use a fast shutter speed outdoors to photograph your moving subject
2. Experiment with panning
3. Embrace a little blur indoors
3. Take action - practice your skills at a sporting event
4. Take a portrait of your pet-in-motion

Here are my practice photos using fast shutter speed outdoors...




Thanks for stopping by and following along on my learning journey to better photography.
Happy Shooting!