Speed is cool right? I don’t know if it will happen to you too, but I enjoy capturing speed through the lens of my camera. The typical fast action that happens before your eyes in 3, 2 seconds or even less than a second. I love holding her. Every time I shoot a photo of something in fast motion, a huge amount of highly addictive adrenaline rushes through my brain.
Many blog readers have been asking me through comments in previous articles about what kind of camera to use to capture high-speed photos. And while it is true that the camera and its features is something very decisive, I have always ALWAYS said that the way we use that camera is also something that greatly influences the final result, how sharp our photo will turn out.
Well, without further ado, I reveal to you the formula that every self-respecting photographer (professional or amateur) must follow to take extremely sharp and clear photos of moving objects and subjects.
How to take a sharp picture of fast motion
On the one hand we have the camera settings that we will have to put in the following way. It is always recommended to use the Manual mode of the camera dial in order to control all the settings as we please:
1- Shutter speed
We must adjust the shutter speed of our camera to a very high speed. We can try with 1/500, if we see that it doesn’t work very well we try with 1/1000, if it still doesn’t work we raise the speed even more to 1/2000, and so on until we find the optimal point.
2- Aperture/diaphragm
As we apply the previous point we will realize that the photo is getting darker and darker. To combat this we will change the camera settings to a large aperture to allow enough light to enter. The aperture/diaphragm is expressed with the f/ value, a value that the lower the aperture will be, the more light will enter. For example f / 3.5 means a large enough aperture and therefore enough light will enter, but if the photo still comes out dark, we will lower the f / value even more (within the possibilities that our camera allows us). An f/1.8 value is will offer our photo much more light.
Beware, the aperture/diagram also affects the depth of field. A very large aperture (very low f/ value) will result in a very shallow depth of field and therefore the focused object will be VERY in focus and the background will be very out of focus.
Between point 1 and point 2 you have to experiment and play. The faster the shutter speed we set, the smaller the f/ value (larger aperture) that we will have to use.
3-ISO value
At this point we should be able to take a decent photo, but if we still get a dark photo, we can use the ISO value cautiously. Let’s remember that the ISO adds more light to the photo (since it makes the sensor more sensitive to photons) but it has the drawback that the photo acquires more noise.
4- Burst shot
Most current SLR cameras allow burst shooting. This will help us find the “golden moment” more easily, because even if our pulse moves a little or our hand vibrates something, if a photo is half blurred, the next one or the next one will have to come out well. Some cameras allow up to 10 burst photos per second, others only 3 per second.
Being able to capture the right moment that we are looking for is a real satisfaction, since it is like fighting against speed and defying the laws of physics with the desire to GET the moment that we like and keep it for ourselves. On the other hand, transmitting speed and movement through a still image is a challenge with which we will be able to measure our progress as photographers.
To finish: if reading this article you have felt frustrated because you just bought the camera and you don’t have the slightest idea how to make these settings, I invite you to become a VIP reader of the blog. As soon as you have registered, I will send you a PDF guide with enough information so that you lose your fear of your camera and learn to handle it with ease.
Do you know someone who likes to photograph breakneck speeds? Recommend this item to him. Good luck,