Advice on action stopping needed

[tjones8611]

What could have been done differently on this photo to stop the action of the dog and ball without cranking the ISO so high?

Exposure: 1/4000 sec
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
Exposure: 0.00
ISO Speed: 1600
Lens: EF50mm f/1.8 II

 

[bigtwinky]

With such bright conditions, you shouldnt need 1/4000 to freeze the action. You could of easily cut that down, which would allow you to bring down the ISO.
1/4000 1600 ISO
1/2000 800 ISO
1/1000 400 ISO
1/500 200 ISO
1/250 100 ISO

I assume the dog isn't moving at really fast speeds, do 1/250 might of cut it, but seeing as ISO 200 should be pretty clean on most modern dSLRs, 1/500 would of ensured motion freeze.

 

[robbie_vlad]

Deffinitely drop the shutter speed down to around 1/500th max. That will freeze all motion and allow you to drop your ISO 3 stops.

 

[tjones8611]

Does the distance to the subject have an impact on the shutter speed needed?

 

[Hooker771]

I work with TJones and we were having this conversation earlier (thanks for posting this, ass). I tried to last night but maybe I didnt have the right combinations? Im going to try again tonight with max of 500. The dog is VERY quick and much faster than I am, trying to stop his motion is pretty difficult but I agree that 4000 is like killing a fly with a sledge hammer. Thanks for the advice.

This was taken with same settings as above. I guess I wanted to make sure he was stopped, lol. Now, what benefits do I get from lowering my speeds and ISO? Would it be noticable?

 

[Hooker771]

Does the distance to the subject have an impact on the shutter speed needed?

How about the lens? Is the 50mm the wrong lens?

 

[robbie_vlad]

I would say not, although someone may correct me. Distance to the subject would have more of an effect on camera shake (your hands being unsteady) than freezing the action of the subject. At 1/500 or anything 1/focal length, however, camera shake will be no problem.

What camera are you using? Lowering the ISO below 800 on any camera will show benefits, but the extent of these benefits will differ depending on the camera body you are using.

 

[tom123]

Yes, the distance does have an impact. The closer you are to the subject, the faster the shutter should be. The rule of thumb for still subjects is that your shutter speed should be inverse of your focal length. For example for a 250 zoom you will never want to go slower than 1/250 sec for your shutter speed. Of course it is always better to use a tripod. In your case, the subject is moving. I would say 1/500 to 1/1000s should freeze the action. If the dog is far away from you then your own camera shake plays a bigger role than the dog moving a little bit.

 

[Overread]

Does the distance to the subject have an impact on the shutter speed needed?

yes - you can see this when you drive the car - the white lines on the road go by really really fast - but if you look away the trees at the edge will be going by slower and the far off distance will hardly be moving at all.

So yes the closer you are the more speed you will need. Myself I would shift into aperture priority mode for this shot - run your ISO around the 200/400 mark to start with (noise at these levels should be good) and your aperture as wide as you like and see how fast a shutter speed you can get. If your speeds are too slow you need to open up the aperture (if its not at its widest yet) and then consider using a higher ISO - or boosting the ambient lighting -- flash or coming back in brighter weather conditions (A reflector might help also).

err oh and thinking on the car thing it might be better if your the passenger rather than the driver when looking

 

[tjones8611]

I have ran into similiar problems with stoping actions at baseball games (day games)and using telephot lenses. I used a shutter speed of 1/1000 and ISO of 400 with the ball still blurs. Any higher ISO added to much noise and higher shutter speeds adversely affected the exposure.

 

[Hooker771]

Canon XS

 

[DReali]

Flash...

 

[Hooker771]

I didnt use a flash. Should I?

 

[Dao]

I didnt use a flash. Should I?

I guess it depends on how far away you are from the subject.

 

[KmH]

At full power, the duration of the flash from most speedlights is about 1/1000 sec., regardless of your ISO setting.

If you can use less than full power from the speedlight the flash duration gets even shorter.

At 1/128th power flash duration can be as short as 1/40,000 sec.