1 Dec 2007

Capturing action photographs


I’ve talked about how to shoot action with fast and slow shutter speeds, and demonstrated with two pictures of the horse trotting races. That evening, my group of students and I also spent time looking around the stables between races. This was all part of my plan to keep everyone ‘visually aware’. I did not want them to get fixated on one aspect of the event, but to explore their subject thoroughly.

I spotted the horse tethered to a short chain. He obviously wanted to see inside the stable door and kept stretching as far as possible. I wanted to see the top of his head because I thought it created such a beautiful and unusual angle. Especially as his mane dangled down and the combination of colours was so good. The horse's movements were very quick indeed – just snatches of action. They had to be anticipated, so the only place for the camera was firmly fixed to my eye.

That may sound obvious, but it is amazing how many photographers lower their cameras between shots and raise it again when they think the action is happening – don’t do it! The camera belongs to the eye. It is the only place if you want to capture instant action.

I waited several minutes for this picture, but feel I was well rewarded for my patience.

The light was fading, but I kept the ISO down to 200 for reasonable quality.
1/125sec f5.6

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