Featured Technique

Take this shot: Action

Capturing a great action shot is one of the hardest things you can do with your digital camera. But with some patience and practise, images like this one are perfectly possible. Basically, the key principle you need to remember is that pointing your camera in a fixed direction and hoping to capture a fast-moving subject as it speeds past is a lost cause – your finger will simply not be fast enough. Instead, you need to pre-focus your camera onto the subject before you shoot by half-pressing the shutter button. This will save the time it takes for the camera to lock focus before taking its exposure.

Once you’ve done this you should follow the moving subject as it travels (a technique known as ‘panning’). Do so to ensure that the subject constantly remains in the frame. This will result in a blurred background, but that doesn’t matter – it all adds to the sense of speed. This technique should increase your chances of a good shot, but your most important tool – and one that’s available on most mid-range to high-end cameras – is the Continuous or Burst shooting mode. Selecting this mode will set your camera to capture a quick-fire series of shots (normally until the buffer is full) when you keep your finger pressed on the shutter button. Using this handy feature, the chances of at least one exposure being the perfect shot you’re after is significantly increased.

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