How to Photograph Action
One of the things that I enjoy the most about photographing nature is watching for the unexpected or sudden movements that animals make. Things like preening, stretching, jumping, running, etc. Always be ready for the unexpected and sudden movements and behaviours that your subject may do. One of my favorite movements to capture is the grizzly bear head shake. Join me on a grizzly bear photo tour and you will have plenty of opportunities to photograph and video these amazing bears. Capture them in full action on the Alaska Frishing Bears and BC Bears Photo Workshops.
One of the most important factors in capturing movement and action behaviours in animals is to make sure that you have a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the action. The image above was taken with Canon EOS-1D Mark IV Shutter speed: 1/2000 sec Aperture: 5.6 Exposure mode: AvExposure compensation: +2/3 ISO: 800. Lens: EF500mm
The shutter speed that you require will vary greatly depending on your subject and how fast the action is unfolding before you.
Here are a few tips on how to make sure that you are maximizing your odds of getting that action shot.
If you are shooting in AV (aperture priority) be sure not to have your f stop above f8 if you are in good lighting conditions. If you are struggling for light make sure to set your f- stop as wide as your lens allows, i.e. f 5.6, f4.5, f4 f2.8. This will help to ensure that the camera is getting as much shutter speed as possible. Remember to use your 3rd tool in the exposure triangle, your ISO setting. Increase your ISO as needed to make sure that you are getting a fast enough shutter speed to capture movement.
If you are shooting in manual, same rules as above apply, instead you are setting your shutter speed manually. Try to aim for 1/1000th as a minimum shutter speed and faster if available light allows for it. Increase your ISO setting and stop down as necessary to maximize your shutter speed options.
Use one point of focus, the center point, and always aim at your subject’s eye and head area. No matter what the subject or the movement we want to make sure that the eye is sharp even if there is wing or water blur that we want in the image.
Anticipate what might happen next. Always watch your subject even after capturing a couple of images, you never know what is coming next so save the chimping (looking at your images on the back of the camera) for later! Check out the Grizzly Bear Video!
