Alright so let’s talk about how to freeze motion in photography!
Video-Link: https://youtu.be/Hz8gismcDY8
Okay so today I want to talk about something that is one of my favorite parts when it comes to taking photos and here I’m talking about freezing motion.
And this is actually something that needs some practice. I see a lot of photos on Instagram where you can see that the idea was awesome but the final result wasn’t the best. And one of the biggest problems is that you need to capture something that is moving around. If you try to do that and use the wrong settings the final result is in most cases a blurry image and thats something we definitely want to avoid.
So thats why I want to give you some in-camera tips and tricks to get better results.
Shooting Modes
So let’s start with the first one and this is all about your shooting mode. If you want to take some good freeze motion photos don’t use the auto settings at all. In most cases this mode won’t actually notice what you try to do and you will waste a lot of time trying to get some good results. That’s why I don’t really like to use the auto mode at all. Instead switch to the manual mode because this mode allows you to use the right settings and you don’t rely on the decisions that the camera will make for you. If you don’t have any options to adjust settings like Aperture, ISO and ShutterSpeed it is most likely that you are currently using the AutoMode.
But don’t worry even if you have a smartphone you can switch between these modes. Some smartphones have a so called ProMode preinstalled in their camera app. Simply check your camera app settings and activate this feature. If you can’t find something like that I highly recommend to download an app that gives you full control. I mostly use Lightroom on my iPhone because this is
1. A camera app
2. It allows me to edit my pictures on the go as well.
So if you are looking for such an app maybe check that out. This is not sponsored by the way. I just use Lightroom on mobile and on my computer to edit my pictures.
Focus Modes
But now let’s move on with the second tip and this is all about the Focus Mode.
The right focus mode is actually something that is really important because if you try to freeze the motion your focus point needs to be on point.
So thats why I highly recommend to use the continuous focus because in this case you can use this to keep the focus while the key element is still moving around. So for example if you have a good face detection auto focus like the one of the R5 here you can use that to get some awesome images because it will keep the key element in focus.
Shutter Speed
Another really important tip is alway double check your shutter speed. In most cases the wrong shutter speed is one of the major mistakes if your photos aren’t sharp because if you use shutter speed settings that are way to slow your camera needs way too much time to take the photo. So instead it is really important to use a fast shutter speed to avoid this shakiness especially if you want to freeze the whole situation for a short amount of time to take a picture.
But there isn’t a specific shutter speed setting that I can recommend because it always depends on the situation. If you want to try to take pictures of a random person in the streets maybe a shutter speed of 1/200 can be totally fine but if you try to take pictures of a race car maybe you need to go up to 1 or 2000 or even more.
A good tip to practice that is to go outside on a windy day and try to capture pictures of leafs. Here you can easily practice all kind of stuff and try a variation of settings to figure out how to get the best results in all kind of situations.
ISO
But of course we need to talk about ISO too. Of course you can say “Ok I just use the maximum shutter speed all the time“. And yeah thats something you can do but in this case it is possible that you have to increase the ISO a lot. And this will have a negative effect on your image too because it will lead to more noise in your image.
Instead use the ISO settings to be more flexible with the Shutter Speed and Aperture options because you definitely need to adjust these settings all the time. So don’t be afraid to use ISO… but only use as much as you need.
Easy vs Difficult
Another great tip that we need to talk about is to think about what is going on. So as an example. If you want to take photos of some fish in a fish tank don’t try to hunt the fish with your camera. Instead use some food to make it easier for you to get the right shot. Or if you take pictures of people in the streets. Try to plan your photo ahead and wait until someone will be on the spot that you want to use. This makes it way easier to take better images because you already know what is going to happen.
Double Check Photos
The next tip is double check your photos. So what I mean is that if you have taken a couple of shots always double check your images. Open up the preview in your camera and zoom in to see if you nailed the focus and the settings. You can check that in just a couple of seconds and right after that you know if you need to adjust something. So definitely do that to avoid bad footage later on in the editing.
Stay Frosty!
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