5. Moving Target

The Tricks to Shooting Sports and More

Now that you have learned about the Creative zone, it’s time to put your newfound knowledge to good use. Whether you are shooting the action at a professional sporting event or a child on a merry-go-round, you’ll learn techniques that will help you bring out the best in your photography when your subject is in motion.

The number one thing to know when trying to capture a moving target is that speed is king! I’m not talking about how fast your subject is moving, but rather how fast your shutter is opening and closing. Shutter speed is the key to freezing a moment in time—but also to conveying movement. It’s all in how you turn the dial. There are also some other considerations for taking your shot to the next level: composition, lens selection, and a few more items that we will explore in this chapter. So strap on your seatbelt and hit the gas, because here we go!

Poring Over the Picture

I can always depend on my local county fair for some unique photo opportunities. Each year I grab my camera and a couple of lenses and head off to the midway to capture some great images. This year I happened to be walking by the merry-go-round when I saw the operator standing vigil in the center of the ride. As the carousel started to turn, I set my camera on a fence and took several images in an attempt to show the spinning motion of the ride as it swirled around the operator. Luckily he cooperated by standing still, and I got the shot I was after.

Poring Over the Picture

To capture the horse and rider as they cleared the jump, I had to position myself so that the action would be coming towards me. Because the jump was so high I couldn’t focus on the horse as it came toward the jump, so I decided to pre-focus on the front of the hedge. I was already set up to shoot in Continuous shooting mode so I waited until just before they jumped and then held my finger down and let it rip.

Stop Right There!

Shutter speed is the main tool in the photographer’s arsenal for capturing great action shots. The ability to freeze a moment in time often makes the difference between a good shot and a great one. To take advantage of this concept, you should have a good grasp of the relationship between shutter speed and movement. When you press the shutter release button, your camera goes into action by opening the shutter curtain and then closing it after a predetermined length of time. The longer you leave your shutter open, the more your subject will move across the frame, so commonsense dictates that the first thing to consider is just how fast your subject is moving.

Typically, you will be working in fractions of a second. How many fractions depends on several factors. Subject movement, while simple in concept, is actually based on three factors. The first is the direction of travel. Is the subject moving across your field of view (left to right) or traveling toward or away from you? The second consideration is the actual speed at which the subject is moving. There is a big difference between a moving sports car and child on a bicycle. Finally, the distance from you to the subject has a direct bearing on how fast the action seems to be taking place. Let’s take a brief look at each of these factors to see how they might affect your shooting.

Direction of Travel

Typically, the first thing that people think about when taking an action shot is how fast the subject is moving, but in reality the first consideration should be the direction of travel. Where you are positioned in relation to the subject’s direction of travel is critically important in selecting the proper shutter speed. When you open your shutter, the lens gathers light from your subject and records it on the camera sensor. If the subject is moving across your viewfinder, you need a faster shutter speed to keep that lateral movement from being recorded as a streak across your image. Subjects that are moving perpendicular to your shooting location do not move across your viewfinder and appear to be more stationary. This allows you to use a slightly slower shutter speed (Figure 5.1). A subject that is moving in a diagonal direction—both across the frame and toward or away from you—requires a shutter speed in between the two.

Figure 5.1 Action coming toward the camera can be captured with slower shutter speeds.

Subject Speed

Once the angle of motion has been determined, you can then assess the speed at which the subject is traveling. The faster your subject moves, the faster your shutter speed needs to be in order to “freeze” that subject (Figure 5.2). A person walking across your frame might only require a shutter speed of 1/60 of a second, while a cyclist traveling in the same direction would call for 1/500 of a second. That same cyclist traveling toward you at the same rate of speed, rather than across the frame, might only require a shutter speed of 1/125 of a second. You can start to see how the relationship of speed and direction comes into play in your decision-making process.

Figure 5.2 A fast-moving subject that is crossing your path will require a faster shutter speed.

Subject-to-Camera Distance

So now we know both the direction and the speed of your subject. The final factor to address is the distance between you and the action. Picture yourself looking at a highway full of cars from up in a tall building a quarter of a mile from the road. As you stare down at the traffic moving along at 55 miles per hour, the cars and trucks seem to be slowly moving along the roadway. Now picture yourself standing in the median of that same road as the same traffic flies by at the same rate of speed.

Although the traffic is moving at the same speed, the shorter distance between you and the traffic makes the cars look like they are moving much faster. This is because your field of view is much narrower; therefore, the subjects are not going to present themselves within the frame for the same length of time. The concept of distance applies to the length of your lens as well (Figure 5.3). If you are using a wide-angle lens, you can probably get away with a slower shutter speed than if you were using a telephoto, which puts you in the heart of the action. It all has to do with your field of view. That telephoto gets you “closer” to the action—and the closer you are, the faster your subject will be moving across your viewfinder.

Figure 5.3 Due to the distance from the camera, a slower shutter speed could be used to capture this action.

Using Shutter Priority (Tv) Mode to Stop Motion

In Chapter 4, you were introduced to the Creative zone’s shooting modes. You’ll remember that the mode that gives you ultimate control over shutter speed is Tv mode, where you are responsible for selecting the shutter speed while handing over the aperture selection to the camera. The ability to concentrate on just one exposure factor helps you quickly make changes on the fly while staying glued to your viewfinder and your subject.

There are a couple of things to consider when using Tv mode, both of which have to do with the amount of light that is available when shooting. While you have control over which shutter speed you select in Tv mode, the range of shutter speeds that is available to you depends largely on how well your subject is lit.

Typically, when shooting fast-paced action, you will be working with very fast shutter speeds. This means that your lens will probably be set to its largest aperture. If the light is not sufficient for the shutter speed selected, you will need to do one of two things: select a lens that offers a larger working aperture, or raise the ISO of the camera. Working off the assumption that you have only one lens available, let’s concentrate on balancing your exposure using the ISO.

Let’s say that you are shooting a baseball game at night, and you want to get some great action shots. You set your camera to Tv mode and, after testing out some shutter speeds, determine that you need to shoot at 1/500 of a second to freeze the action on the field. When you place the viewfinder to your eye and press the shutter button halfway, you notice that the f-stop readout is blinking at f/4.5. This is your camera’s way of telling you that the lens has now reached its maximum aperture and you are going to be underexposed if you shoot your pictures at the currently selected shutter speed. You could slow your shutter speed down until the aperture reading stops blinking, but then you would get images with too much motion blur.

The alternative is to raise your ISO to a level that is fast enough for a proper exposure. The key here is to always use the lowest ISO that you can get away with. That might mean ISO 200 in bright sunny conditions or ISO 1600 for an indoor or night situation (Figure 5.5). Just remember that the higher the ISO, the greater the amount of noise in your image. This is the reason that you see professional sports photographers using those mammoth lenses perched atop a monopod: they could use a smaller lens, but to get those very large apertures they need a huge piece of glass on the front of the lens. The larger the glass on the front of the lens, the more light it gathers, and the larger the aperture for shooting. For the working pro, the large aperture translates into low ISO (and thus low noise), fast shutter speeds, and razor-sharp action.

Figure 5.5 The only way to stop action under the dim lights of this arena and still get a decent shutter speed was to crank up the ISO.

Adjusting Your ISO on the Fly

1. Check for the blinking aperture readout in the bottom-right portion of your viewfinder.

2. If it is blinking, move your index finger back from the shutter button and press the ISO button.

3. Now move your finger forward to the Main dial and raise the ISO to the next highest level by rotating it right.

4. Lightly press the shutter button and check to see if the aperture is still blinking.

5. If it’s not blinking, shoot away. If it is, repeat steps 2–4 until it is set correctly.

Using Aperture Priority (Av) Mode to Isolate Your Subject

One of the benefits of working in Tv mode with fast shutter speeds is that, more often than not, you will be shooting with the largest aperture available on your lens. Shooting with a large aperture allows you to use faster shutter speeds, but it also narrows your depth of field.

To isolate your subject in order to focus your viewer’s attention on it, a larger aperture is required. The larger aperture reduces the foreground and background sharpness: the larger the aperture, the more blurred they will be.

The reason that I bring this up here is that when you are shooting most sporting events, the idea is to isolate your main subject by having it in focus while the rest of the image has some amount of blur. This sharp focus draws your viewer right to the subject. Studies have shown that the eye is drawn to sharp areas before moving on to the blurry areas. Also, depending on what your subject matter is, there can be a tendency to get distracted by a busy background if everything in the photo is equally sharp. Without a narrow depth of field, it might be difficult for the viewer to establish exactly what the main subject is in your picture.

Let’s look at how to use depth of field to bring focus to your subject. In the previous section, I told you that you should use Tv mode for getting those really fast shutter speeds to stop action. Generally speaking, Tv mode will be the mode you most often use for shooting sports and other action, but there will be times when you want to ensure that you are getting the narrowest depth of field possible in your image. The way to do this is by using Aperture Priority mode.

So how do you know when you should use Av mode as opposed to Tv mode? It’s not a simple answer, but your LCD screen can help you make this determination. The best scenario for using Av mode is a brightly lit scene where maximum apertures will still give you plenty of shutter speed to stop the action.

Let’s say that you are shooting a soccer game in the midday sun. If you have determined that you need something between 1/500 and 1/1250 of a second for stopping the action, you could just set your camera to a high shutter speed in Tv mode and just start shooting. But you also want to be using an aperture of, say, f/4.5 to get that narrow depth of field. Here’s the problem: if you set your camera to Tv and select 1/1000 of a second as a nice compromise, you might get that desired f/stop—but you might not. As the meter is trained on your moving subject, the light levels could rise or fall, which might actually change that desired f-stop to something higher like f/5.6 or even f/8. Now the depth of field is extended, and you will no longer get that nice isolation and separation that you wanted.

To rectify this, switch the camera to Av mode and select f/4.5 as your aperture. Now, as you begin shooting, the camera holds that aperture and makes exposure adjustments with the shutter speed (Figure 5.6). As I said before, this works well when you have lots of light—enough light so that you can have a high-enough shutter speed without introducing motion blur.

Figure 5.6 By selecting a large aperture setting, the player is nicely separated from the field behind him.

Keep Them in Focus with AI Servo and Auto AF Focus Point Selection

With the exposure issue handled for the moment, let’s move on to an area that is equally important: focusing. If you have browsed your manual, you know that there are several focus modes to choose from in the T1i. To get the greatest benefit from each of them, it is important to understand how they work and the situations where each mode will give you the best opportunity to grab a great shot. Because we are discussing subject movement, our first choice is going to be AI Servo mode (the AI stands for Artificial Intelligence). AI Servo uses all of the focus points in the camera to find a moving subject and then lock in the focus when the shutter button is completely depressed. Unlike One Shot, which works best for stationary subjects such as in macro or photography portraits, AI Servo mode will help track your subject in the frame and give you better focus results.

Selecting and Shooting in AI Servo Focus Mode

1. Press the right Cross key button on the back of the camera.

2. Use your index finger to rotate the Main dial until AI SERVO appears on the rear LCD panel. You can also use the left and right Cross keys to make the selection. Press the Set button to lock in your change.

3. Locate your subject in the viewfinder, then press and hold the shutter button halfway to activate the focus mechanism.

4. The camera will maintain focus on your subject, as long as the subject remains within one of the focus points in the viewfinder or until you take a picture.

You should also note that the AF mode is used to select the method with which the camera will focus the lens. This is different from the AF point mode, which is a cluster of small points that are visible in the viewfinder and are used to determine where you want the lens to focus (Figure 5.7).

Figure 5.7 The Automatic Focus (AF) points are the nine small rectangular boxes arranged in a diamond pattern in your viewfinder.

When using AI Servo mode, you have the choice of using the Automatic Focus (AF) point mode in automatic, which uses the center point in the viewfinder, or you can select one of the autofocus points as your starting point.

Selecting a Focus Point or Using the Automatic Focus Point Mode

1. Press the Focus Point Selection button on the back of the camera. It is the same button you use to zoom in on your image in Preview mode.

2. Rotate the Main dial to move the focus point (you can also use the Cross keys on the back of the camera to quickly jump from one point to the next).

3. You can tell which point is selected by looking at either the rear LCD panel or the illuminated focus points in the viewfinder.

4. To select the Automatic Focus (AF) point mode, rotate the dial until all of the points are either displayed (on the rear LCD panel) or illuminated (in the viewfinder). If you are looking at the rear LCD, you will see the words “Automatic Selection” above the focus points when the camera is set to auto mode. If a single point has been selected, you will see the words “Manual Selection.”

5. When you have an individual point selected, the camera will use that specific location to focus the lens. If all the points are selected, the camera will determine what the best source is for focus. The point or points must be on your subject for the autofocus to function properly.

Stop and Go with AI Focus AF

If you are going to be changing between a moving target and one that is still, you should consider using the AI Focus AF mode. This mode mixes both the One Shot and AI Servo modes for shooting a subject that goes from stationary to moving without having to adjust your focus mode.

When you have a stationary subject, simply place your selected focus point on your subject and the camera will focus on it. If your subject begins to move out of focus, the camera will switch to AI Servo mode and track the movement, keeping a sharp focus.

For example, suppose you are shooting a football game. The quarterback has brought the team to the line and he is standing behind the center, waiting for the ball to be hiked. If you are using the AI Focus AF mode, you can place your focus point on the quarterback and start taking pictures of him as he stands at the line. As soon as the ball is hiked and the action starts, the camera will switch to AI Servo mode and track his movement within the frame. This can be a little tricky at first, but once you master it, it will make your action shooting effortless. Using this mode, you can identify your subject for the camera so that it knows exactly which subject to maintain as the priority for your focus selection.

To select AI Focus, simply follow the same steps listed for selecting AI Servo but instead select the AI Focus mode (Figure 5.8).

Figure 5.8 Setting your focus mode to AI Focus.

Manual Focus for Anticipated Action

While I utilize the automatic focus modes for the majority of my shooting, there are times when I like to fall back on manual focus. This is usually when I know when and where the action will occur and I want to capture the subject as it crosses a certain plane of focus. This is useful in sports like motocross or auto racing, where the subjects are on a defined track. By pre-focusing the camera, all I have to do is wait for the subject to approach my point of focus and then start firing the camera.

In Figure 5.9, the horses in the steeplechase race were traveling directly towards me from behind the hedge jump, so tracking them with AI Servo would have been difficult, if not impossible. To get my shot, I simply focused on the front of the hedge and waited for the horses to come into range. As they began their jump over the hedge, I captured the horses and riders at the height of the action.

Figure 5.9 Pre-focus the camera to a point where you know the subject will be and start shooting right before they get there.

Keeping Up with the Continuous Shooting Mode

Getting great focus is one thing, but capturing the best moment on the sensor can be difficult if you are shooting just one frame at a time. In the world of sports, and in life in general, things move pretty fast. If you blink, you might miss it. The same can be said for shooting in Single shooting drive mode. Fortunately, your T1i comes equipped with a Continuous shooting—or “burst”—mode that lets you capture a series of images at up to 3.4 frames a second. (No, you can’t actually capture .4 frames—it’s an average.) See Figure 5.10.

Figure 5.10 Using the Continuous drive mode means that you are sure to capture the peak of the action.

Setting Up and Shooting in the Continuous Drive Mode

1. Press the left Cross key button on the back of the camera.

2. Rotate the Main dial while looking at the rear LCD screen to select the desired mode. The icon that looks like stacked-up little rectangles is the Continuous mode. Press the Set button to lock in your change.

3. To shoot, just depress the shutter button and hold until the desired number of frames has been captured.

Your camera has an internal memory, called a “buffer,” where images are stored while they are being processed prior to being moved to your memory card. Depending on the image format you are using, the buffer might fill up, and the camera will stop shooting until space is made in the buffer for new images. If this happens, you will see the word “Busy” appear in the viewfinder and on the rear LCD panel. The camera readout in the viewfinder tells you how many frames you have available.

A Sense of Motion

Shooting action isn’t always about freezing the action. There are times when you want to convey a sense of motion so that the viewer can get a feel for the movement and flow of an event. Two techniques you can use to achieve this effect are panning and motion blur.

Panning

Panning has been used for decades to capture the speed of a moving object as it moves across the frame. It doesn’t work well for subjects that are moving toward or away from you. Panning is achieved by following your subject across your frame, moving your camera along with the subject, and using a slower-than-normal shutter speed so that the background (and sometimes even a bit of the subject) has a sideways blur but the main portion of your subject is sharp and blur-free. The key to a great panning shot is selecting the right shutter speed: too fast and you won’t get the desired blurring of the background; too slow and the subject will have too much blur and will not be recognizable. Practice the technique until you can achieve a smooth motion with your camera that follows along with your subject. The other thing to remember when panning is to follow through even after the shutter has closed. This will keep the motion smooth and give you better images.

In Figure 5.11, I used the panning technique to follow this ball player as he ran in front of me. I set the camera drive mode to Continuous drive, and I used Tv mode to select a shutter speed of 1/30 of a second while the focus mode was on AI Servo.

Figure 5.11 Following the subject as it moves across the field of view allows for a slower shutter speed and adds a sense of motion.

Motion Blur

Another way to let the viewer in on the feel of the action is to simply include some blur in the image. This isn’t accidental blur from choosing the wrong shutter speed. This blur is more exaggerated, and it tells a story. In Figure 5.12, I was interested in capturing the movement of the merry-go-round. A fast shutter speed would have surely frozen the action, but it would not have told the story of the movement of the ride and the operator who was standing in the middle. Instead of moving with the action, I let the movement of the merry-go-round create the blur as I held the camera in a stationary position.

Figure 5.12 The movement of the ride coupled with the slow shutter speed conveys the action of the merry-go-round as it spins around the operator.

Just as in panning, there is no preordained shutter speed to use for this effect. It is simply a matter of trial and error until you have a look that conveys the action. I try to get some area of the subject that is frozen. The key to this technique is the correct shutter speed combined with keeping the camera still during the exposure. You are trying to capture the motion of the subject, not the photographer or the camera, so use a good shooting stance or even a tripod.

Tips for Shooting Action

Give Them Somewhere to Go

Whether you are shooting something as simple as your child’s soccer match or as complex as the wild motion of a bucking bronco, where you place the subject in the frame is equally as important as how well you expose the image. A poorly composed shot can completely ruin a great moment by not holding the viewer’s attention.

The one mistake I see many times in action photography is that the photographer doesn’t use the frame properly. If you are dealing with a subject that is moving horizontally across your field of view, give the subject somewhere to go by placing them to the side of the frame, with their motion leading toward the middle of the frame (Figure 5.13). This offsetting of the subject will introduce a sense of direction and anticipation for the viewer. Unless you are going to completely fill the image with the action, try to avoid placing your subject in the middle of the frame.

Figure 5.13 Try to leave space in front of your subject to lead the action in a direction.

Get in front of the Action

Here’s another one. When shooting action, show the action coming toward you (Figure 5.14). Don’t shoot the action going away from you. People want to see faces.

Figure 5.14 Shooting from the front with a telephoto gives a feeling that the action is coming right at you.

Faces convey the action, the drive, the sense of urgency, and the emotion of the moment. So if you are shooting action involving people, always position yourself so that the action is either coming at you or is at least perpendicular to your position.

Put Your Camera in a Different Place

Changing your vantage point is a great way of finding new angles. Shooting from a low position with a wide-angle lens might let you incorporate some foreground to give depth to the image. Shooting from farther away with a telephoto lens will compress the elements in a scene and allow you to crop in tighter on the action. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things.

The image in Figure 5.15 is one of my favorite action shots, and it all happened because I tried something different. As I was waiting for the race to begin, the horses started running out of their holding area and passing within a few yards of me. I had a wide-angle lens on the camera, and instead of bringing it up to eye level, I just held it down to my side and started shooting frames in Continuous mode. The AI Servo focus mode was picking up the horse and getting great focus, and I knew that my shutter speed was set very high from the last race. The wide-angle lens was capturing the horse in the foreground, the trees in the middle ground, and the great-looking sky overhead. The horse was positioned to the right of the frame, running toward the empty space on the left. It was also placed in the lower third of the frame, giving an excellent “rule of thirds” balance. (See p. 186 for more on the rule of thirds.) And this image is the result—just because I said, “What the heck?” and tried something a little outside the box.

Figure 5.15 Putting your camera in a different place can yield pleasing results.

Chapter 5 Assignments

The mechanics of motion

For this first assignment, you need to find some action. Explore the relationship between the speed of an object and its direction of travel. Use the same shutter speed to record your subject moving toward you and across your view. Try using the same shutter speed for both to compare the difference made by the direction of travel.

Wide vs. telephoto

Just as with the first assignment, photograph a subject moving in different directions, but this time, use a wide-angle lens and then a telephoto. Check out how the telephoto setting on the zoom lens will require faster shutter speeds than the lens at its wide-angle setting.

Getting a feel for focusing modes

We discussed two different ways to auto focus for action: AI Servo and AI Focus AF. Starting with AI Servo mode, find a moving subject and use the mode to get familiar with the way the mode works. Change from autofocus point selection to a single-point selection.

Now repeat the process using the AI Focus AF mode. The point of the exercise is to become familiar enough with the two modes to decide which one to use for the situation you are photographing.

Anticipating the spot using manual focus

For this assignment, you will need to find a subject that you know will cross a specific line that you can pre-focus on. A street with moderate traffic works well for this. Focus on a spot on the street that the cars will travel across (don’t forget to set your lens for manual focus). To do this right, you need to set the drive mode on the camera to the continuous mode. Now, when a car approaches the spot, start shooting. Try shooting in three- or four-frame bursts.

Following the action

Panning is a great way to show motion. To begin, find a subject that will move across your path at a steady speed and practice following it in your viewfinder from side to side. Now, with the camera in Tv mode, set your shutter speed to 1/30 of a second and the focus mode to AI Servo. Now pan along with the subject and shoot as it moves across your view. Experiment with different shutter speeds and focal lengths. Panning is one of those skills that takes some time to get a feel for, so try it with different types of subjects moving at different speeds.

Feeling the movement

Instead of panning with the motion, use a stationary camera position and adjust the shutter speed until you get a blurred effect that gives the sense of motion while still being able to identify the subject. There is a big difference between a slightly blurred photo that looks like you just picked the wrong shutter speed and one that looks intentional for the purpose of showing motion. Just like panning, it will take some experimentation to find just the right shutter speed to achieve the desired effect.