Hi! Newbie here with One question

Machine May

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Hi! I'm glad to be on this forum. I have a lot to learn about photography techniques; but I think I have a good instinct when taking shots. You can see some samples of shots I've taken here:

http://tracymilburn.com/public/img/Galveston/

Anyway, I have a question when taking action shots. I do a lot of videography of martial arts tournaments (VX2000) and I'd like to start taking more pictures, but I haven't had much luck taking action shots because they usually turn up blurring. I've tried the "sports" mode of my camera (Canon DSLR Rebel) but they usually still come out blurry. What am I doing wrong? Thanks
 
Um, I can't answer your question, but I do know your avatar needs to be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay smaller! HOW did you get it that BIG???


It should be no more than 100 pixels by 100 pixels and no more than 20kb :)
 
I figured the site would trim the avatar... it's a picture of my son I took recently at a german resturaunt in Plano, TX and then scaled it down (lol! yes) from 6.1 megapixels.

Core, "That avatar is hilarious!!!!!!"

Thanks dawg...
 
Your photo are blurry because the shutter is too slow. Sports mode does try to keep the shutter fast but you are probably shooting indoor where the light is poor.

What you need to do is put the camera in manual or shutter priority mode. Set the shutter to the camera's fastest flash sync speed (1/200 for you).

Now use your flash and set the aperture to get the DOF that you want. The flash will freeze the motion.

You might not be able to use a flash while shooting martial arts so you had better ask first. If you can't use a flash. You will need to turn up the ISO setting until you can get a good exposure while using a shutter speed of 1/125 at the least.

Another option is to get a faster lens. That would be a lens that can open up it's aperture to something like 2.0, 1.8 or 1.4. This would help you shoot at higher shutter speeds to freeze the action.
 
Your question has already been answered but I have to throw in a comment. Your avatar is friggin' hillarious!! Welcome to the forum, I'm sure you'll fit in nicely.
 
"Sports mode does try to keep the shutter fast but you are probably shooting indoor where the light is poor"

Correct, I'm typically indoors. So basically, you're saying when shooting action, an "automatic" mode like sports, etc. won't do the trick, I'll have to go to a manual mode.
 
Machine May said:
"Sports mode does try to keep the shutter fast but you are probably shooting indoor where the light is poor"

Correct, I'm typically indoors. So basically, you're saying when shooting action, an "automatic" mode like sports, etc. won't do the trick, I'll have to go to a manual mode.

Pretty much...but it really depends on how much light there is and how fast your subject is moving. You will have to learn just how fast your shutter has to be and then see what the camera is telling you when you press the shutter button.
 
"but it really depends on how much light there is"

Not a wohle lot... but the stage is lit up.

"and how fast your subject is moving"

VERY fast :) the last event I tried to cover photographically was a mixed martial arts event. most matches lasted about 6 minutes.
 
To raise shutter speed you open the aperture (go to a smaller f/#) and/or pick a higher ISO.

If you are using a zoom lens you may be stuck with f/4 or f/5.6 as your widest aperture. You can probably get a f/2 or f/2.8 fixed focal length lens for fairly cheap (compared to a fast zoom lens). This would give you 2 or 3 more stops which would be like going from a shutter speed like 1/60 to 1/250 or 1/500.
 

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