Fall is the perfect time for hiking, biking, and playing sports. The weather is clean, crisp, and refreshing – and it’s our last hurrah before hibernation mode sets in. It’s also one of the most scenic times of the year to take amazing photos your family and friends in action. You’ll want to capture every dynamic moment fall has to offer, whether you’re heading to the big homecoming football game, hiking up a nearby mountain or practicing soccer with the kids.
There is one slight problem – capturing motion in photography can be difficult to pull off. To help, we’ve pulled together the following tricks and tips around how to capture action shots that you can use this fall:
Get in on the action
If you’re looking for interesting angles and unique expressions for an action shot, try moving with the players along the sidelines or lying down in the grass and aiming your lens up at the subject (preferably out of harm’s way). Don’t be afraid to get creative with where you place your camera—the result will make for some really impactful photos that you may have missed otherwise.
Use burst
When it comes to quickly snapping a pic, you may be quick on the draw, but burst mode has you beat. In a fraction of a second your camera can snag up to 10 action photos—increasing your chances of catching the perfect pose.
Want to know more about burst and other camera specs? Our recent article on Camera Specifications provides an in-depth rundown.
Load up on memory space
If you’re using burst, you’re going to run through the SD card’s storage space almost as quickly as the soccer ball is booted down the field. Beat the full-card blues by getting a card with at least 95MB—or pack several empty SD cards with you just in case.
Increase your shutter speed
In order to make sure your photos don’t look as fuzzy as a Big Foot picture, you’ll need to determine which shutter speed is best for your picture. Use Shutter Priority mode to start and then increase or decrease shutter speed as needed.
Again, try to get creative with your action shots and the camera specifications you use. With some ingenuity and risk-taking, you can develop a style of action photography that’s all your own.
