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February Challenge 2010 "Action"

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 9:17 am
by barbara_heide
Here is the thread for those who want to do "ACTION" shots in February...
I give it a go...


As we are learning, maybe someone could post a little topic, how to set your camera to do action shots....

and please do show your exif data, to see what settings are used for the shot...





All images should be fresh images taken for the challenge and not culled from the "archives"
Participants should comment at least on some of the images of fellow participants. If you receive a comment, you will return a comment....
Images should be about the topic of the challenge.

Have fun!

cheers
Barbara
Here is Alister's blurb... Thank You so much!
Hi all,

Barbara has asked me to write a short introduction to action shooting, so here it is:

With every breath we take into our lungs, our chest rises and falls, we take one step in front of the other to got to the bathroom and I blink every second or two when I look at all the images on PBase. Our world is full of actions and "reactions". We cannot exist without action, and even when we're doing nothing, there is a lot going on. To photographic "action" however, we need to express action, If we shoot with a fast shutter speed we freeze action. Falling strawberries appear to be floating in air, speeding trains are stopped in their tracks and waterfalls are frozen as if in winter, even though there was a rushing in our ears.

The viewers of our images cannot step into our shoes at the time the shot was taken, they do not have all their 5 senses running, they have to rely on one: sight.

As Photographers we need to express our emotions and our intentions within the two dimensional space of our photo frame, and here are a few tips:

1: Slower shutter speed show motion far better than faster ones, ways to do this in any camera are to shoot in TV mode and set the shutter speed to 1/3-1/50 of a second. These are slow enough for fast objects to blur because of their motion.
2: If you do want to freeze high speed action, you need LOTS of light, a big bay window on a bright day, or flash if you have them, falling objects, bouncing balls, all sorts of things.
3: Holding your camera in your hand and panning it at the same time as a car goes past will blur the background, but the car will remain recognizably sharp, this is a super technique for capturing motion.

Probably the easiest method is to shoot in lower light at longer shutter speeds, the motion blur tells a lot of stories and the subjects can be varied. It isn't just actions we can shoot, it is the effects of actions, kettles boiling, eggs falling and cracking, dropping a pile of spaghetti as the flash fires... endless..

Please feel free to PM me if you have any specific enquiries, I'll get back to you. We are off to Nepal on the 15th for a month, plenty of action there!! BUt I'll be around before then..

All the best,

Alister



Action is a very diverse topic"

Re: February Challenge 2010 "Action"

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 9:19 am
by barbara_heide
Her i s my first one...


http://www.pbase.com/barbara_heide/image/121580163


cheers
Barbara

Re: February Challenge 2010 "Action"

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 9:34 am
by availablelightimages
Here we go... our own thread... Let's rock :-)

http://www.pbase.com/image/121573473

Ali Benn

Re: February Challenge 2010 "Action"

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 9:35 am
by travelingrabbit
:mrgreen: My first "Action" photo for February. :mrgreen:

DON'T BLOCK THE BOX: http://www.pbase.com/travelingrabbit/image/121580056 :lol:

Re: February Challenge 2010 "Action"

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 9:40 am
by borisalex
Ok, let´s go!

#1: http://www.pbase.com/image/121576158

Cheers
Boris

PS. I will not do a lot in Photoshop, just keep the picture as taken!

Re: February Challenge 2010 "Action"

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 10:40 am
by availablelightimages
Hi all,

Barbara has asked me to write a short introduction to action shooting, so here it is:

With every breath we take into our lungs, our chest rises and falls, we take one step in front of the other to got to the bathroom and I blink every second or two when I look at all the images on PBase. Our world is full of actions and "reactions". We cannot exist without action, and even when we're doing nothing, there is a lot going on. To photographic "action" however, we need to express action, If we shoot with a fast shutter speed we freeze action. Falling strawberries appear to be floating in air, speeding trains are stopped in their tracks and waterfalls are frozen as if in winter, even though there was a rushing in our ears.

The viewers of our images cannot step into our shoes at the time the shot was taken, they do not have all their 5 senses running, they have to rely on one: sight.

As Photographers we need to express our emotions and our intentions within the two dimensional space of our photo frame, and here are a few tips:

1: Slower shutter speed show motion far better than faster ones, ways to do this in any camera are to shoot in TV mode and set the shutter speed to 1/3-1/50 of a second. These are slow enough for fast objects to blur because of their motion.
2: If you do want to freeze high speed action, you need LOTS of light, a big bay window on a bright day, or flash if you have them, falling objects, bouncing balls, all sorts of things.
3: Holding your camera in your hand and panning it at the same time as a car goes past will blur the background, but the car will remain recognizably sharp, this is a super technique for capturing motion.

Probably the easiest method is to shoot in lower light at longer shutter speeds, the motion blur tells a lot of stories and the subjects can be varied. It isn't just actions we can shoot, it is the effects of actions, kettles boiling, eggs falling and cracking, dropping a pile of spaghetti as the flash fires... endless..

Please feel free to PM me if you have any specific enquiries, I'll get back to you. We are off to Nepal on the 15th for a month, plenty of action there!! BUt I'll be around before then..

All the best,

Alister



Action is a very diverse topic,

Re: February Challenge 2010 "Action"

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 12:07 pm
by norm4fun

Re: February Challenge 2010 "Action"

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 12:57 pm
by emmelafoto

Re: February Challenge 2010 "Action"

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 2:42 pm
by rtwo
Well I thought we were doing Name the Title. Here is the shot I took for that that could be an action photol :) http://www.pbase.com/image/121585709

Re: February Challenge 2010 "Action"

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 3:18 pm
by denniswarren


Missed all of January, maybe I can keep up with the "ACTION' in February!

Re: February Challenge 2010 "Action"

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 3:23 pm
by barbara_heide
rtwo wrote:Well I thought we were doing Name the Title. Here is the shot I took for that that could be an action photol :) http://www.pbase.com/image/121585709



the "Name that picture" thread is here...: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=43129



cheers
Barbara

Re: February Challenge 2010 "Action"

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 4:36 pm
by maggie_falconi
Mi first capture:
http://www.pbase.com/image/121588326/

Nice to see some colors again!!!
hugs, Maggie

Re: February Challenge 2010 "Action"

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 4:49 pm
by laryl
ok I'm in.. I was thinking it would be hard, but I need to stop thinking that way and just do it! Action is something I see a lot of, I'm guessing it will be a lot of kid shots, a bit of a blog of my babysitting adventures LOL
I'm also doing a "details" pad at the same time (self inflicted idea I just can't get out of my head) so the gallery will have
two entries each day I hope. I hope you will take the time to view the second image I'll post but I understand if you don't.

Here's the one I just took this morning: http://www.pbase.com/laryl/image/121588561

Re: February Challenge 2010 "Action"

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 5:13 pm
by borisalex
Good start so far!

My #2: http://www.pbase.com/borisalex/image/121589380

Cheers
Boris

Re: February Challenge 2010 "Action"

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 5:41 pm
by jolka
I'm in and this is my first action shot - FLY! :P

http://www.pbase.com/image/121590160

Yes, colorful sky after a month of monochrome :)