Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

Skylar,

While you are working to eliminate motion blur in your sporting photos, also consider the artistic effect of Stop Motion with a hint of motion blur from your principle subject.

Motion blur is usually caused by a slow shutter speed during exposure capture. This can be caused by several variables with camera settings. ISO too low, Aperture setting too small, Shutter speed set to slow.

If you increase the ISO to beyond 400 you may introduce digital noise into the capture. Post Processing can reduce this effect, but also soften the sharpness of the capture.

Flash can be a great asset to use in evening sports photos. It can allow for motion blur and freeze the action of the player. It can freeze all action within the range of the flash.

If your camera allows this, try "Second Curtain" exposure. In this mode the shutter opens and closes for the ambient lighting, and just before closing the flash fires. Action blur + stop action for the principle subject.

Michael G

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

Considerably higher shutter speed. Shutter speed can be boosted by also boosting your ISO. If you're using auto ISO, switch to ISO 400 or ISO 800 and you'll see your shutter speeds increase dramatically which will freeze movements that you are currently capturing as blur.

Daryl New Loc: Wellington,New Zealand

We use "P"on our cameras for sport,consistently faster shutter speeds than "Sport" mode.May help.Cheers

CResQ Loc: Cobble Hill, BC

Photography is all about the light, without it you do not have a picture - basic. Shutter speed, fstop (aperture size), and ISO form a triangle which is the basis for the manipulation of light that enters your camera. If one value changes you will need to change one of the other values to compensate (if you are shooting manually - if you are shooting in shutter or aperture priority mode the camera will compensate for you). Danilo is right on the money when he states to obtain sharp images of action subjects, it's all about the shutter duration. But fstop and ISO are obviously a consideration too especially in low light conditions, the more light you have the faster you can set your shutter speed.

Generally speaking under good lighting conditions:

If the subject is coming towards you or moving away from you can set a shutter speed of 1/250 to freeze the action.

If the subject is moving from left to right, right to left, or up and down you should set a shutter speed of 1/500 to freeze the action.

If the action is a little more involved, a surfer for example you will need to set your shutter speed to 1/1000 or faster.

Now when it comes to depth of field (what is sharp in your picture and what is not) there are factors that must be taken into consideration including:

Distance between your camera and subject
Focal length of your lens
Aperture size

The smaller the fstop # (aperture size) - the shallower the depth of field (less of your picture that is in focus)

The bigger the fstop # (aperture size) - the deeper the depth of field (more of your picture that is in focus)

Now changing from one extreme to the other (ie f5.6 to f11) is a trade off. At the smaller fstop size you will isolate your subject from its surroundings but you risk more of the subject being out of focus. At the bigger fstop size more will be in focus however you risk distracting from your main subject. As Danilo says, you will need to experiment because there is no hard and fast formula and every situation is different.

If the lighting is such that you need to boost up your ISO which increases your camera sensor sensitivity to light then so be it. At extreme levels you will introduce "noise" into your picture (grain) but most modern DSLR's can handle ISO's quite happily up to 1600 and maybe beyond (some are better than others). Having said that if you are happy with your shutter speed and aperture size but do not want to increase your ISO TOO high you can leave your picture maybe at 1 stop underexposed and boost it back up in PP software.

I hope I am not teaching you to suck eggs here. If I have erred in my information or omitted any important details there are a lot of really experienced people on this site that will correct me.

The bottom line is take lots of pictures and experiment, learn from the pictures that you are not happy with and enjoy the ones that you are. Reflecting Danilos great advice to you once again, there is a lot to be said for intentional blurring and artistic flair. Cheers

pounder35 Loc: "Southeast of Disorder"

Depending on the shooting mode a higher ISO will achieve a higher shutter speed. But not if you're in manual or shutter preferred mode. It's the basic trade off of shutter speed and aperture. Higher shutter speed means a wider aperture at the same ISO. Higher shutter speed to stop action = a more open aperture=less depth of field. A little blur in action shots can add to the photo. :thumbup:

CanonFire Loc: Phoenixville, PA

You've gotten great answers to your questions and I'm not going to cover ground that's already been covered. Instead I want to point out something to you about your second image that makes it stand out.

Look at the motion blur in that image. It emphasises the the action. When you look at the 2 players in the foreground, that blur shows the force of the impact of the player in white, that hurled that player in red into the air. The blur of the background players along with the forground action shows there was movement at the moment you captured that shot. That gives the photo impact and draws the viewer into the story that's happening right at that moment. You can almost hear the sounds of the game at that moment in time.

Blur has it's advantages to bring life to an otherwise static shot and add a touch of drama. Don't be afraid to use it.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

Faster SHUTTER speed, not ISO speed. You can learn to shoot manual, but you can also set your shutter speed and let the camera pick the best aperture and ISO combination. Manual gives you full control over everything. Setting your camera to aperture or shutter speed mode allows you control one aspect of exposure (two if you set ISO to a specific value), and leaves the camera in control of everything else. Focus and steadiness are your responsibility.