6

CHAPTER
NIGHT AND LOW-LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY / Shooting Sports

When the subject is traveling towards the cam-

era, or away from it, you can freeze the action

with a much slower shutter speed. Take the

player in Figure 6-5; it was easier to freeze him

coming at me than it would have been if he were

moving across the screen. The same shutter speed

that could not freeze the ball in Figure 6-4 was

more than fast enough to freeze the runner in

Figure 6-5.

Obviously, the shutter speed you pick must actu-

ally freeze the action. Check the images on the

LCD on the back of your camera at 100 percent

them. This has to do with the amount the subject
actually moves in the frame. For example, in
Figure 6-4 the kicker is frozen in place at the end
of the kick but the ball is not frozen in place, as it
is moving fast, much faster than the players. The
shutter speed of 1/320 second was not enough to
freeze the ball, but it did come close. If you can’t
see the ball, it is the blurry, brown object next to
the helmet of the player in the white uniform.
The football was moving across the frame from
the right to left meaning that I would have
needed a faster shutter speed to freeze it.

ABOUT THIS PHOTO The shutter speed used here froze the kicker but was too slow to freeze the ball in the air. Taken at 1/320 second, f/2.8,
and ISO 2500.

6-4