Tutorial for Action or Sports Photography

In order to avoid blury photos when shooting sport or fast moving action, pay attention to the shutter speed you are using. It is the length of time the shutter remains open. If it is slow, your subject will be blury. You need to have a plan. Being familiar with the sport will help you choose the best place. You need to know in advance what and how you are going to shoot. When choosing your location, keep the sun behind you. To get closer to the action a telephoto zoom lens is very helpful.

Set your camera to a Sport mode or dial the right shutter speed manually in the shutter priority mode. 1/500 of a second should work for most sports. In low light situations use higher ISO (the sensitivity of your camera) but be aware of grainy images that may result from high ISO settings. Also it is a good idea to use a continuos shooting mode to capture a series of frames at a high speed.



Another useful technique for photographing fast moving objects like racing cars is panning. You move your camera steadily as the subject moves. Jasin Boland gives advice to prefocus your camera on the ground, in place where you expect the subject will get to. Set the manual focus for that. Stay loose but hold the camera as stable as you can trying to avoid any vibration.

Another tip is to shoot in horizontal orientation of your camera.