Eagle Eye: Photography Techniques

Sports:
For sports photography, a fast and long lens (Prime or Zoom) is extremely beneficial. Lens with around 200mm (or more) focal length is required for long distance shots. Fast lens which can take photos using a wide aperture and very fast shutter speeds are very useful to capture the fast moving sportsmen or cars. Camera/Lens equipped with Image Stabilization and/or tripods are very helpful to reduce shakes in long zoom photos.
- In bright lights (outdoor sports), use a smaller aperture (like f/8) and fast shutter speed (like 1/500s) to freeze the subject. ISO can be kept at minimum since there is plenty of light. For this a long range zoom lens is required since the distances are greater.
- In low light condition (indoor sports), fast lens can be very useful to increase the amount of light entering the lens by using wide aperture (like f/2.8). Due to this, the shutter speed can be made faster and ISO need not be increased to very high (which introduces lots of noise at high levels). Also, using a wide aperture means a low depth of field giving a nice blurred background effect to isolate the subject.
- Use Shutter Priority or Manual mode to set the required fast shutter speed.
- Use High Speed Burst mode (continuous drive) to capture more photos at a high frame rate. Use JPG instead of RAW for longer bursts, since size of JPG is much smaller than RAW. In this way, there are less chances of missing a crucial shot.
- Use AI Servo AF (Canon) / AF-C (Nikon) auto focus to focus a fast moving subject (where focusing distance keeps changing) continuously as long as one of the AF point is on the subject.
- Panning:
  Panning is a technique used to emphasize the speed of the subject, where the subject is shown as stationery behind the streaks of a fast moving background going in the opposite direction of the subject.
  Panning is achieved by keeping the fast moving subject in one position in the frame and moving the camera horizontally (panning) in such a way that the subject remains in the same position in the frame during the time the shutter is open.
  If the shutter speed is kept slow, the background appears blurred in one direction due to the camera motion. The shutter speed needed for panning depends on the speed of the subject and varies widely from one type of sports to another. e.g. for an F1 car to be captured using Panning, the shutter speed can be kept faster than the shutter speed used to capture a football player.
  For a smooth effect, pan the camera in a smooth motion preferably using a tripod.
- Pre-Focus (Catch-in-focus/trap focus):
  Pre-Focus is a technique used to capture a fast moving subject at a pre-focussed location after the subject enters the frame. The user sets the focus at a pre-determined location where the subject may appear in due time and when the subject enters the frame, the user captures the photo using a high shutter speed to freeze the subject. This ensures that the subject is captured, properly focussed and sharp.
  Trap focus or Catch-in-focus is a technique available in some cameras in which the photo is automatically captured when the subject enters the frame and is in focus. This is achieved by setting a Auto Focus mode called Focus Priority (only available in few DSLRs).
Example of Pre-Focus (Faster Shutter Speed & ISO)

| Shutter Speed: 1/500s | f-stop: f/7.1 | ISO: 1600 | Focal Length: 35mm | Flash: Not Fired |