Learn How To Capture Action Shots
By Gary Hendricks, Fri Dec 9th

Do you find it a problem to shoot great action shots? Whetheryou are shooting pictures of a soccer match, or a fast movingcar, you may find it a great challenge to produce nice picturesof these subjects. In fact, the first thing you'll realize isthat digital are bad for action shots. That is why firsttime users, new to digital photography often gripe about howlousy their action shots turn out.

This article will give you some tips for shooting action shotswith a digital camera. Apply these tips and I'm sure you have abetter chance of getting a nice action shot.

1. Shutter Lag One of the major reasons whydigital camera cannot shoot nice action shots is due to shutterlag. On many digital cameras, when you press the shutter button,it may take an entire second before the photo is taken. Atraditional, analogue 35mm camera can take the picture within 50milliseconds. There is a world of difference between 1 secondand 50 milliseconds.

What this means is that you need to compensate for shutter lagwhen shooting action shots. Give extra time when framing yourshot, so that when you depress the shutter button, the photowill get taken at precisely the right time. Another option, ofcourse, if to get a higher end camera which offers less shutterlag.

2. Take Control Shots Another factor influencingaction photography is the shutter speed of your camera.

If yourcamera allows a very fast shutter speed (say up to 1/8000 of asecond), you can easily capture fast motion. If it only supportsa slower shutter speed (say 1/640 of a second), then you won'tbe able to capture such fast motion. One way to capture motionwith a slow shutter speed is to use the panning technique. Whenyou next shoot a fast action shot, try following through withthe subject. Track the subject, shoot the picture, then continuemoving the camera. If you practise long enough, you'll be ableto get a sharp subject with a blurred background - which is anice effect.

3. Camera Write Times The write time of thecamera is also important when shooting action shots. Somecameras will chug away to store a picture in memory each timeyou press the shutter button. This, of course, is terrible forcapturing action. One way around this is to ensure that yourcamera supports continuous shots. This way, the camera takes afixed number of shots, before writing them all to memory atonce.

Conclusion We all know action photography isexciting and very interesting if the pictures are taken well.However, action shots pose a great challenge, especially tonovice photographers. Do keep the above tips in mind the nexttime you take such shots, and I'm sure your results will bebetter.

About the author:Gary Hendricks runs a hobby site on digital photography. Visithis website at http://www.basic-digital-photography.comfor tips and tricks on buying digital cameras, as well asshooting great photos.