Question On Taking Clear Action Pics

[TXAVy]

Heyas,

I was curious if anyone here can give me some tips on taking clear action pictures. If you happen to know Sony DSC pretty well all the better.

I have a DCS-P7 and was trying to take pictures of my dog doing agility obstacles (jumps) this weekend. I was only shooting from about 8-10 feet away, but most of the pictures came out with the jump and the area around it in focus, but the dog herself a bit blurred.

I tried aiming at the dog and getting it focused before she jumped (press button half-way) and then following her till she jumps and snapping the shot.

I tried changing the focus from Multi-AF to Center-AF, thinking that it would use her in the center to focus on instead of trying to get and average of what was in the frame.

Then I realized that it probably wasn't a focus issue, but a shutter speed issue, so I changed the ISO to 400 from Auto.

But after all of those tries I was still getting a clear shot of the jump, and a slightly blurry dog.

Any tips on how to get a clearer picture of a moving dog over a stationary obstacle with a DSC-P7? Thanks in advance!

 

[jstrickl]

I'm not too familiar with the P7 but I have the F707. You were on the right track to work the shutter speed. You need to switch to a faster shuuter speed. However, if you are in less-than desirable lighting conditions (you were using ISO 400 afterall), then your pictures may be too dark.

Bmontini? Calling Bmontini...

Jamie

 

[TXAVy]

Lighting was outdoors, afternoon, mostly overcast. No real shadows to speak of, but not dim either.

 

[bmontini]

Hey there TXAVy...

I did some research on your camera over at Steve's Digicams and found out a few things for you...

1. This is going to be a tough situation for you since you do not have a program AE mode that will allow you to set a fixed shutter speed.

That is the bad thing... But I do thing there are some things that you might be able to do to get some better pics (without seeing the ones that you have already!!) ISO 400 was a smart move making the camera more sensitive to light.. Also try playing with your EV values, this can speed up or slow down the shtutter speed too...


*Position yourself so that your dog is NOT coming "at" or going "away" from you, Have the do run Parallel to you This will decrease the speed of the distance changing and give you a better chance to focus correctly.

*Find something that your subject will be passing and focus on it (Half press), then wait for the subject to enter the frame and follow through with the camera as you press the button all the way.

A good way to practice this is to find an airport or highway where you can get close enough to see the "speed" of moving objects.. Practice following, focusing, and snapping all at once. Digital cameras currently have an inherent design issue.... when you press the button, it doesn't snap... there can be more than 0.1seconds between you hitting the button and it actually snapping. (0.1 seconds is 3 entire frames on your television!!)

Try chasing around a butterfly or something and trying to get it's picture...

Anyway you look at it, that entire DSC-Px Line of cameras has a small lens, which means less light = slower shutter speeds. I had a DSC-P1 and I had similar problems...

So hope for a bright sunny day or practice hard!!

I hope that this helps you out!!

 

[jstrickl]

Once again, an excellent answer! If I were using my camera to capture some action shots, what settings would you recommend for the shutter? For example, I'm at Indianapolis for next year's NASCAR race. How can I capture the car's going by 2 ways:
? car in focus, background blurry
? car blurry, background focused

Jamie

 

[TXAVy]

Thanks BMontini, those are great tips.

I think the small lens and somewhat low light might be exactly what was causing the problem as I don't remember this happening much before. Must have just been the overcast day. I wonder now if forcing the flash to be "ON" might have helped too.

Can you ellaborate a little bit on the EV settings and how changing that might change the shutter speed? That's one of the menu items that I just passed over as I wasn't sure what exactly it did.

 

[bmontini]

Once again, an excellent answer! If I were using my camera to capture some action shots, what settings would you recommend for the shutter? For example, I'm at Indianapolis for next year's NASCAR race. How can I capture the car's going by 2 ways:
? car in focus, background blurry
? car blurry, background focused

Jamie

Lets see here....
? car in focus, background blurry
First I would find your focal length by taking a few snapshots of cars "right in front of you" You may be able to do this by doing a half-press and then switching to Manual focus. ?This will give you the readout of the focus it just aquired. ?Then you will need to "remember" that point that you focused on and then start tracking the car with the camera (in manual focus). ?The further away you are, the better this will work. ?Follow the car and when it comes to that focal point, snap the shutter while following through.. ?This is difficult, but it can be learned... ?Airshows are GREAT practice. ?(or for that matter out the window of an airplane upon takeoff and landing...)

Maybe a good speed for this would be 1/30 or 1/60th?

This will produce (if done properly) a sharp car and blurry background... Of couse, you could just add motion blur with photoshop ?

? car blurry, background focused
Same Idea here, just don't move the camera. ?Half press the shutter and then Anticipate the car entering the framing of your photo by about .1 seconds or so. ?Experiment and you will get the hang of this... ? ?I would say that 1/30th would probably be great here... 1/60th if you are closer... ?You may need your Neutral density to do such a "slow" exposure in bright daylight.

A really cool photo might involve a pack of cars coming by as you steady your camera ?(small tripod anyone?) ?take a 1/15th or 1/8th or longer exposure (NDs will be needed) ?and you will get a whole blur of activity ... ? ?Very cool...

Hope that helps out some!!!

Brian

 

[bmontini]

Thanks BMontini, those are great tips.

I think the small lens and somewhat low light might be exactly what was causing the problem as I don't remember this happening much before. Must have just been the overcast day. I wonder now if forcing the flash to be "ON" might have helped too.

Can you ellaborate a little bit on the EV settings and how changing that might change the shutter speed? That's one of the menu items that I just passed over as I wasn't sure what exactly it did.

1st of all, I noticed that your camera "should" show the F stop and shutter speeds when you do your half-press. If you are down at 1/30th or so, you will get blurry for any moving object, I would like to see that number at least at 1/60-1/100 or so...

About the EV stops though... That is like a "volume Control" for the light coming in. When you change that value, you will see on your LCD, the image lighten and darken. I beleive if you lower the EV (make it darker) the shutter speed will speed up some... It does on my Sony DSC-F717... And it should on yours also... Don't forget to set it back to 0 when you are done!!!

Even if you pictures are a little dark, but in focus, you can fix that later in Photoshop or another editing software...

Good luck!!

 

[TXAVy]

Great thread, and thanks for the tips!

Sounds like adjusting EV is like adding (+) or subtracting (-) time from how long the shutter is open. And of course, since the shutter speed is usually in fractions of a second, it sounds kind of backwards. A +EV might change you from 1/60 to 1/40 shutter speed. Even though that sounds like a lower number, the shutter is open longer.

So if I'm following you (and the dpreview glossary definition of EV) the way to reduce blurry moving images is to speed up the shutter speed as much as possible (EV -1 or more) while still getting a picture that might be a little dark because it didn't get exposed for very long. And then plop that image on the computer and crank up the brightness a bit till it looks good.

That sound about right? I'm quickly turning from a point-and-shoot-auto-everything guy. Sounds like a dangerous and potentially expensive change.

 

[jstrickl]

It is TXAvy! Bmontini just got the coolest camera, the CyberShot DSCF717. It superceded my F707 that I've only had for about 4 months

I'm very happy with mine and Bmontini has taught me LOTS about using my camera. In fact, I just went to a Joe Satriani concert last week and took about 70 pictures. About 20 were excellent or very good. Not bad considering the lighting, smoke and the fact that Joe was constantly bobbing his head! For those pictures, I shot in auto with the ISO set to 400. Attached is one of my favorites.

Jamie

 

[bmontini]

Great thread, and thanks for the tips!

Sounds like adjusting EV is like adding (+) or subtracting (-) time from how long the shutter is open. And of course, since the shutter speed is usually in fractions of a second, it sounds kind of backwards. A +EV might change you from 1/60 to 1/40 shutter speed. Even though that sounds like a lower number, the shutter is open longer.

So if I'm following you (and the dpreview glossary definition of EV) the way to reduce blurry moving images is to speed up the shutter speed as much as possible (EV -1 or more) while still getting a picture that might be a little dark because it didn't get exposed for very long. And then plop that image on the computer and crank up the brightness a bit till it looks good.

That sound about right? I'm quickly turning from a point-and-shoot-auto-everything guy. Sounds like a dangerous and potentially expensive change.

Roughly.. All I can say is PLAY WITH IT!!

Watch just "turning up the brightness" that can cause washing out of some of the brighter points.. I would work with Photoshop's Variations or a general Gamma correction.. Brightness can kill a picture if not used carefully...

I don't think it will be expensive (yet) unless you decide to upgrade to a camera with some manual settings... That camera should be pretty good for a while..

At least you can go shoot 500pics and not pay a dime for deveolping!!!

Good luck...