Opposite Viewpoint:

When would it be desirable to have moving subject blur on purpose? Suppose you wanted a shot of an Orchestra but didn't want them to appear stiff or posed. An artsy motion blur might be just the effect you want. Click on this link to go to that gallery.

Taking Photographs

(2 - The Evolution - Focus on moving targets) or Back to Table of Contents

A Falcon swoops down to intimidate in this blurry image

What if the image you took doesn't seem that clear after the Auto-Focusing? The image of children running around the playground doesn't have the sharpness you'd expect? The speed of how fast the camera gathers light is the problem here. Having a subject move while you are photographing can be tricky. If you as the photographer are moving while taking the picture then the problem is the same with movement. This is the case with those tourists who shoot drive-by scenic shots on their vacation from the car window.

STEP 2:

Usually cameras have an icon with a person running or similar to change to settings you'll need. This "Sports" mode is a necessity if you or your targets are moving while taking the picture and they usually are. Even still life such as flowers blow in the wind. On some cameras this is called ASR "Automatic Shake Reduction". The center focus still applies while doing sports or motion shots. Try and keep the subject in the center of the view-finder. This sports mode increases the shutter speed which we will talk about on the next page.

On most simple point-and-shoot camera's there is also a "Burst" mode and this assists your motion shots as well. Burst mode takes many pictures in a row. People often complain that their cameras are slow. They push the button but by the time they hear the camera take the photograph the event has past. This burst mode fixes this and is often represented by an icon that looks like a few stacked rectangles. This is meant to represent multiple stacked pictures in a one after another fashion. In burst mode hold down the shutter button. The camera will take many consecutive images without a pause depending on what your camera's capability and storage are. Use this for instances when you are waiting for that exact moment a child blows out their birthday candles. When you get several pictures in a row you can later pick and choose the exact one you want and discard the rest. Throw the many duplicates away! You want the best of the shots and not quantity to bore friends. The caution In this burst mode is that the camera will eventually stop and digest all the images in current memory. At that point the camera will display as busy for a short while and not be able to take any more images.

Ideally if you are advanced you'll want to use "P" or Program mode of the camera. These modes let you set the shutter speed yourself and balance the aperture to match. On occasion the automatic sports mode on any camera may be decent but simply guessing on how fast the shutter speed should be. The images turn out just slightly blurry when perhaps you wanted a super crisp image. It's true that in many situations you may want a slight blur just to give the feel of motion to the viewer. On other occasions you'll want to raise the shutter speed to freeze the action with clarity. The shutter speed of 2000th of a second will freeze most moving objects pretty well. Many cameras let you change the shutter speed to 4000th of a second or even faster. As you turn up the shutter speed you'll eventually notice the image getting darker if the speed is too fast.

A hawk spreads its wings majestically slight motion blur

The second problem is that you might have the best shutter speed and get a blurry image because your lens could not focus fast enough. On SLR cameras you can turn off the auto-focus all together. This is needed so you don't have to wait between pictures if the auto-focus can't lock onto the subject. An example is a bird flying by. If you can't turn off the auto-focus then keep pushing the button half way down and keep the object in the cross-hairs and in focus till you are ready to take the picture. If you wait till you are ready to take the image then it may take too long to focus.

One technique used by professionals is to get focus on the area you expect your target to move into. When the shot occurs you are already in focus but in manual focus mode. For instance if you know horses are running around a track you could get the fence in focus on the corner you expect them to make their turn near. The auto-focus is then turned off and when the horses come to that corner all the shots should be in focus.

For another technique with auto-focus on, try and help the camera by trying to pan the camera along with the motion of the object they are photographing. This can be tricky as you need to be moving about the same rate as your moving target or else the image will be blurry.

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Written Jan2008 and updated Jan2010 by - Tracy Lee Rose