Motion/Action Photography

There are a few ways to photograph something that is in motion.  One way is to completely stop the movement.  The other is to creatively allow the motion to blur.  Both of these are equally useful, however they may need to be used in different ways.  Generally, with many things, it is best to stop the motion or else whatever you are looking at looks like a big blur, but if you are photographing something to show motion or speed specifically it can be nice to see it blurred.  Below are a few examples of both.

To stop motion you are going to need a very fast shutter speed and a decent amount of light.  Remember that the faster the shutter speed, the less light hits the film or the camera sensor.  This means that the action will be quick but also that you have to be in a well-lit area to get much onto your camera.  Or you have to use a flash!  A flash is very useful, but be careful.  Depending on the object that you are photographing, you may not capture the "motion" if you freeze it (think about a car.  If you stop it, it will look parked...).

To allow motion to blur a slow shutter speed is best.  Remember that a slow shutter speed is generally less than 60 or so when it comes to motion.  When I say 60, that means 1/60 of a second.  Yes that seems very fast, but not when you are photographing something in motion, particularly at a high speed.  A person running may be able to be "frozen" at 125 or 160.  A car driving will need to be at 250 or 300 probably to be completely frozen.

A lot of these settings may be difficult or impossible to access from some cameras.  In this case, you should just remember that on the regular settings, the brighter the light, the more frozen your photo will probably be.  If it is darker and you want a frozen photo you will need to use the flash.  Otherwise it will be blurrier.

Click on Photos to Enlarge

These two photos show how motion blur can be used in a good way.  In the photo on the left, the cars in the background are almost invisible in their blur while the headlights are still visible.  This shows a good amount of movement.  In the photo on the right, while the people are a little blurred, it works because you can see how much fun they are having jumping in the air!  The movement helps the image to give the best possible mood.

Click Photo to Enlarge

Above is an example of how motion blur is done incorrectly.  The people's faces are completely blurry and it is very difficult to see even what is going on.  Bad motion blur...

Click photos to Enlarge

Here are a few places where the motion has been completely frozen, but still show exceptional motion.  There is no question that each person is in motion when their photo is taken.  I used very quick shutter speeds and either lots of sunlight or a flash.  

Portrait Lessons - Full-Length

A full-length portrait shows the full body of a person from head to toe.  The most important 2 things to remember when doing these is (1) be conscious of your angles as to not make the subject look larger than they are and (2) be aware of your crop.  You don't want to take a photo of a subject straight-on because this will flatten them out as well as making them appear wider.  You also don't want to crop too close to the head or feet so that you leave enough room that the subject isn't scrunched into your photo.  Here are a few examples.

The rule of thirds is very useful when it comes to full-length photos.  Leaving extra space in the photo makes the subject feel less scrunched into the frame, but you have to decide where to leave the space.  Place your subject's eyes according to the rule of thirds and the composition will look 100% better!

Although a full-length photo has to show the subject from head to toe, it does not have to have them standing up or fully stretched-out.  Sitting, crouching, kneeling and laying can still make for full-length photos.  

Portrait Lessons - 3/4 Length

A 3/4 length shot actually is less of a measurement of the amount of the person in the photo and more of a way of saying, "A photo of a person that is not full-length but is more than a headshot."  There are no 1/3 or 1/2 lengths, so anything between a full-length and a headshot is generally called a 3/4 shot.  Usually, to be the most flattering to a subject, 3/4 of the subject is shown, but this is not always the case.  Below are a few examples of 3/4 shots with some information on each one.

A general rule when cropping portraits, is to never cut off a person at the joint.  This can include directly at the knees, waist, ankles or neck.  As always, though, when you know why a rule is in place, it is easy to find ways to break it without it looking bad.  When you cut a person off at a natural joint, they tend to look "chopped."  It looks less like you meant to do it that way and more like it was an accident.  It can also make the person look shorter or more "squashed."  One time when it sort of works out is when the person's joints are bent (as in the above photo).  She is cut off at the knees, but since we can see that the leg just below the knee is bent, our eye can complete the leg with no problem.  If it is not obvious where the rest of the limb is going, it is hard to complete the photo in your head and it just looks like it was lazily cropped.

Angles can work in pretty much any photo, not just in headshots as seen here.  If you are going to angle a photo, make sure that you make it obvious that it is SUPPOSED to be that way and not just that you have one leg shorter than the other or that you can't hold your camera straight.  Whenever you do something that will break a normal mold, make sure that it is obvious that you are doing it on purpose.  If you can't take a straight photo, that's fine, but tilt it enough that people will think you wanted it angled and not that you just can't take a photo.

Remember that people don't have to be standing when you take their photo.  For some reason, when people start off with portraiture, they stand their subject in front of something they think is pretty and snap some photos.  The subject can stand, sit, lay or any combination!  When taking a 3/4 shot I would not recommend them sitting in a chair facing directly at you or something because you will be taking a straight-on shot and their thighs are going to look huge, I'm telling you now!  This is a good example of a good angle and crop for a 3/4 length sitting position.

Don't be afraid to use space when creating a portrait.  See the rule of thirds here for information on interesting negative space.   

Portrait Lessons - Headshots

When taking headshots, the subject should be cropped no lower than the shoulders.  This is pretty much the criteria that sets a "headshot," but there are a lot of ways to make them look better or worse.  Here are a couple of examples of headshots with some information about them.

The subject does not have to be facing the camera, but the close-up is what is focused on with the headshot.  The low DOF (see this older post for more information on DOF) helps to bring the subject out of the background and more into the main focus of the photo.

A "catch light" is there there is a small light in the eyes of the subject.  This helps to brighten the eyes and draw focus there, when done right.  If the catch light is too large or if there is more than one light (like from more than one light in the room combined with the light from a flash), it can just be distracting.

The angle of the shot also does not have to be right on.  With a headshot, especially with an unobtrusive background, you can angle it quite a bit to add interest.  When there is not a lot going on in a photo, you have to make what is there really stand out.

Hats are something that a lot of people have to deal with when taking photos.  Use a fill-flash or change your exposure to make sure that the shadowed part of the face is still very visible.  Also, make sure to take the photo from a low enough angle that the eyes are visible under the brim of the hat.

An important part of a headshot is sharpness or focus.  Because the photo is going to be so close to the subject, there is little to no room for error here.  Even of nothing else, the eyes should be sharp.  That is a good way to decide if your subject is in perfect focus.  

Assignment Due

Your assignments are due TOMORROW!!!!  I know it hasn't been a huge amount of time for the amount of photos you need to take but this is mostly an exercise so that everyone can learn from the tutorials.  Please email me your pictures asap!!!

Perspective

Perspective is a work that pretty much everyone has heard and knows a definition of.  The version I am going for is a new perspective.  For this we really need to look at a subject from an angle that not everyone might see.  To really do this well, the best thing to do is take 20 or so photos of the SAME THING.  This will force you to move around.  Maybe you will lay on the ground to take the picture?  Maybe you can get a stool and stand up higher than the subject.  If this is a subject that is usually viewed from a certain level, move until you see it from a different angle.  This is a skill that will help tremendously if you are taking photos of pets or small children.  Most photos of children and pets come from an adult perspective, and this will help you, and anyone viewing your photos, to see them a little differently.

Notice the difference between these two sets of photos.  The only change I made with them was going from a regular standing position to sitting on the ground.  It really makes a difference of what you see.

In the cases of both of the above image sets, the photo from the regular standing height is far less interesting than the one where I changed my angle.  Below are a few other images showing a perspective that would be different than the angle you would normally view the subject.

    

Leading Lines

Leading lines are really exactly what they sound like.  They are lines within your photo that lead toward your main focus.  These, when used correctly, can be used to help bring more focus to your main subject.  The lines can be literal, such as the lines within fabrics, brickwork or a path.  The lines can also come organically from a horizon line or water line for example.

 This one is pretty self-explanatory.  The lines in the path go directly into the house.

 Here is an example of the organic lines.  The lines in the grass, the water and the sand all lead into the subject from the right as well as the lines from the bench leading into the subject from the left.

 In this example the lines from the bricks lead directly into the subject, and there is one that leads directly to his eyes, which really makes you look into them.

  Here we have a path that leads right into the couple walking away.

 Here is another example of nature creating the lines with the water line on the other side of the river.  Notice how the subjects eyes are looking right along the lines as well.

Framing

Framing is one of the easier techniques to understand, even if it may not be the easiest to execute correctly. Basically, use objects within your photo to crate a frame.  These can be anything, but you want them to stay at the edges of the image to draw the eye in wherever the main focus is.  Usually it is best if these framing objects are either darker or less in focus than the main focal point so that they do not draw too much attention.  Frames can be only on the sides (like the photo of the house), only top/bottom (like the one with the grave marker) or all around (like the one with the pond.  Generally, frames are in the foreground (closer to you) and the main focus in in the middle ground or background.  The main point should be in focus, though, which is why this can be difficult to execute.

Here are a few examples.

  

Depth of Field

The depth of field is basically how far into the picture you can see and have it still be in focus.  This is changed by the aperture (or f-stop).  Depending on the camera and its age, it may be called either one.  This is the small ring around your lens with the numbers ranging anywhere from 1.2-16 or so.  Most automatic cameras and/or digital cameras control this function through the camera, so that little ring doesn't need to be turned.  When we are taking photos and trying to make a certain part the "Focal Point" of the photo, we need to make sure that part is in focus of course, but we also need to make sure the rest of the photo doesn't distract from that Focal Point.  This can be done in many ways, but depth of field (DOF) is usually the easiest way to do this.  This can take some work and some adjusting.  To attain this shallow depth of field the camera needs to be set at a low aperture/f-stop.  Those numbers correlate to the amount of light coming into the camera.

Remember when setting your camera:

Low F-Stop = Large Aperture = More light = Shallow DOF

High F-Stop = Small Aperture = Less Light = More DOF

My high school photography teacher explained it in a way that, it must be said, made him look like a crazy person, but it is completely accurate and easier to understand, so I'm going to try to show you.  This works especially well if you wear glasses and you take them off.

First, open your eye like this and try to fous on something.  Once you have found something that you can focus on (you can hold it close to your face if you need to)  look around and see what you can see.  This is an example of a "wide open" aperture.  This will be a large aperture and small f-stop (small number).  You can focus on one thing, but the rest of the room will be more difficult to see.

Second, relax your eye and just look around.  Focus on the same object and look around the rest of the room.  You should be able to focus on more things, but still not be able to see everything.  This is a medium aperture opening.

Finally, squint your eyes so you are looking through your lashes.  Your eyes should be very nearly closed.  If you look around the room you should be able to see most of it.  At the very least (if your eyesight isn't that good) you should be able to see more than you could with the other two.  This is a very small aperture, which would be a large f-stop (large number).

In the following images, we have very "shallow" depth of field.  This means that the plane of the photo that includes the main subject is in focus but everything that would be in front of it or behind it would not be in focus.

  

Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds is a general rule for composing photographs in the most visually appealing way.  The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.  Proponents of the technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the subject would.  Here are a few examples of photos that use the rule of thirds.  Click on the photos to view them full-size and to better view the grid.

    

Use of negative space is one great way to utilize the rule of thirds. In these three photos, the subject is looking into the negative space, which draws the eye into the rest of the image.

  

When taking photos with a horizon line, the horizon should always be near the bottom or top third (never right in the middle).  This makes the photo more visually appealing.