Pascal Baetens. Nude Photography. The Art and The Craft. 2007

shArpness & blur 101

freezing movement

in images where the movement is frozen, time seems to be

standing still. it is the kind of treatment often used in sports

photography, where the viewer can analyze every aspect of

the movement. unlike blurred movement, this kind of image

shows you the model exactly at the moment you opened

your shutter, with no ambiguity. You will need to practice

releasing the shutter at the right moment to catch the

movement at its climax, but once you have mastered

this you will know exactly what you have shot. Freezing

movement requires a short shutter speed (about 1/250th

of a second or faster in the case of a dancer), a fast film

or digital iso, and a wide lens aperture or strong light.

Frozen moments

these clean, clear, and joyful images show a model who knows

how to move. With this type of image i tend to position the model

in the middle of the picture, because central focusing is easier

when you need to react quickly and don’t have time to reframe.

An alternative is to define a spot where your model will reach

the moment of the movement that you want to photograph.