Best ways to reduce blur in moving objects???

[loveshootingpics]

Hello all. I would definitely appreciate your input on this. My question is:

I layman's terms, what are the best ways to reduce the blur, of moving objects? Indoor and outdoor? (for sports and dancing)

Thanks ahead of time for your feedback ya'll.

 

[480sparky41 40]

Use strobes.

Use short shutter speeds.

 

[Theninjaseal]

Very simple. Go to shutter priority mode (S or Sv) and move the shutter speed faster ( bigger numbers). Shooting people, usually 150-200 is good. Doing fast sports movements (like throwing, betting), you may want to move up to 500 or more. It all depends on the situation. In general, don't go below 100 when shooting people. And for dancing, catching that breathtaking sharp mid-air pose may require 320 or 500 as well. Get a feel for what works and what doesn't in different situations.

the thing is, increasing this shutter speed will make your photos darker, or you may need more light. If you're getting blurry photos in Auto, then it's probably because your camera thought that there wasn't enough light, so it slowed the shutter speed to brighten the picture - but that also makes blur.

If your photos come out dark in shutter mode, then you may not have enough light in the scene. A flash (external is best) or high ISO, wide aperture will help you get more light in your lens. If you have no idea what those things are, then read up or find a brighter scene. Usually when I'm outside during the day, I can get up to 1000 and still have a nice bright shot. Indoors or at night are different. When there's not as much light, you may not be able to get enough in your lens to make a bright picture (when your camera only has 1/100th of a second to gather up light)

I hope that makes sense. Dancing (like ballet0 can be hard to shoot because the hall is often dark. Sports outside during the day, you should be okay. :0

 

[SCraig]

Generally speaking: Increase the shutter speed. Of course this may induce unwanted problems such as having to use a wider aperture or higher ISO than desired.

If the subject is moving across the field of view (i.e. someone running, motorsports, etc.) pan with the subject. It takes practice to keep the subject centered but it will allow you to shoot at a slower shutter speed.

It the subject is moving in place (i.e. dancing) you can either allow some artistic blur in the arms and legs and use a shutter speed fast enough for the face, you can use a flash and a relatively small aperture to freeze the action, or a high shutter speed and relatively wide aperture. There are pros and cons to each and only you can decide what works best on a case by case basis.

 

[KmH]

Many sports shooters use aperture priority rather than shutter priority.

However, shutter speed is what controls motion blur.

 

[SCraig]

Many sports shooters use aperture priority rather than shutter priority.

However, shutter speed is what controls motion blur.

They are braver than me. I've been burned by that more than once. My 35mm camera is aperture priority only and I've missed more than one shot because it lowered my shutter speed more than I expected when I was too busy to notice what it did. Given a choice I will always use shutter priority or manual for sports.

 

[Solarflare]

Unless I would want to get blurr from motion, I would use aperture priority, aperture at maximum (or close), AUTO ISO 100 with shutter speed at whatever minimum I believe is sufficient.

 

[KmH]

Many sports shooters use aperture priority rather than shutter priority.

However, shutter speed is what controls motion blur.

They are braver than me. I've been burned by that more than once. My 35mm camera is aperture priority only and I've missed more than one shot because it lowered my shutter speed more than I expected when I was too busy to notice what it did. Given a choice I will always use shutter priority or manual for sports.

I just keep an eye on the shutter speed in the viewfinder and stay on my toes if its a partly cloudy day that with rapidly changing light levels.

 

[bratkinson]

Like SCraig, I've been burned more times than I'd like by shooting moving subjects in Aperture Priority mode, which is what I normally use to get the desired depth of field. Sometimes I get lucky, though, and their head and body stay put and only their arms are moving. But anything more than a couple in an event is too much, so lots end up in the bit bucket (deleted). Just recently, I've gone to manual shutter speed and aperature, and let the camera pick an ISO. That way I still get a decent exposure, but sometimes the light is too low and the ISO results in too much noise.

 

[Psytrox]

There's also panning... although this requires some practace.

 

[SCraig]

I just keep an eye on the shutter speed in the viewfinder and stay on my toes if its a partly cloudy day that with rapidly changing light levels.

My idea of "Rapidly Changing", and what caused issues for me, was on race tracks when a car would be in bright sunlight one second and in the deep shadow of a grandstand or billboard the next second. I would go from panning at a decent shutter speed to panning at something I couldn't hold steady in just a few frames. I would much rather have had shutter priority where I KNEW what my shutter speed was going to be the whole time.

 

[Derrel]

When shooting moving subjects where the RIGHT shutter speed is needed for getting creative blur--that is pretty much the ONLY time I will EVER use shutter speed priority automatic exposure. That means panning. And helicopters. Seriously, Helicopters. And of course, when attempting to photograph rain, And, at times, waterfalls. There are times when the shutter speed is the *key* factor in the success or failure of a photo, and when having a set shutter duration is very important. Many times, attempting to effectively create pictures that use creative blurring is a good way to approach moving subjects. Sometimes, "freezing" motion is not the best approach; art other times however, it might be more desirable than stop-motion attempts.