Action man

Q I’m trying action photography, but my results have been spoilt by blur or wrong focus. How can I do it better?

A Without looking through all of your portfolio, Terrence, it’s not possible to be precise; but from what you’ve said, I am guessing there are a few minor techniques issues that need addressing. The first is shutter speed. Unless you actually want deliberate blur for creative reasons, you need to make sure your shutter speed is as high as possible to get pin-sharp action images. Depending on the action you are photographing, you will want to be aiming for 1/500 sec, 1/1,000 sec or faster. To be honest, the faster the better!

The shot above of the boxer training was shot at 1/2,000 sec, f/4 and ISO 400. These settings gave me everything I needed to ensure the image would be sharp, as long as I focused in the correct place. In this case, that’s the eye of the boxer! I used AI Servo (continuous focus): obviously there was a lot of movement and I needed all the help I could get from the camera.

I also only had a small number of focus points active, to avoid the camera accidentally focusing in the wrong place. This can happen frequently if you are shooting with all AF points active: the camera will just pick up on either the point closest to the lens or the area with the maximum amount of contrast.

Timing is also important. Pick your shots carefully rather than just keep on firing. I would recommend you have your drive set so that you can fire more than one frame in quick succession.