Olympics slow shutter shots: Anyone else notice all of the great slow shutter shots from the Olympics this year? I think some are with a strobe, but most aren't. Anyone have any tips...

sandiegosteve Loc: San Diego, CA

Anyone else notice all of the great slow shutter shots from the Olympics this year? I think some are with a strobe, but most aren't.

Anyone have any tips on slow shutter?

I've been trying with ice hockey and 25th gets great blur, but I can't keep enough sharp. 100th is ok, but not enough motion.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

For video?

sandiegosteve Loc: San Diego, CA

I've been seeing stills on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfQz3uslsAP/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfgJosZlQdI/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfSeWbZFgZm/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfOCoQ3FAwu/

I've seen others, but these are the ones I can quickly find.

Paulie Loc: NW IL

interesting... that one with speed skaters is great

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

Pan shots in stills.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

sandiegosteve wrote:

I've been seeing stills on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfQz3uslsAP/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfgJosZlQdI/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfSeWbZFgZm/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfOCoQ3FAwu/

I've seen others, but these are the ones I can quickly find.

Except for the one of curling (which is not in focus anyway) the others appear to be panning shots at a high but not freeze action shutter speed

sandiegosteve Loc: San Diego, CA

Fotoartist wrote:

Pan shots in stills.

Yes. And harder than they look (I've been trying). I'd be happy to hear some tips.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

sandiegosteve wrote:

Anyone else notice all of the great slow shutter shots from the Olympics this year? I think some are with a strobe, but most aren't.

Anyone have any tips on slow shutter?

I've been trying with ice hockey and 25th gets great blur, but I can't keep enough sharp. 100th is ok, but not enough motion.

Right! Sometimes, blur can be a good thing.

https://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-capture-motion-blur-in-photography/
https://digital-photography-school.com/fun-shutter-speed-motion-blur/

jacklewis014

It's a slow shutter (1/30,1/20, 1/10) and panning technique.
It's hard to do and task a lot of practice to move the camera at the same speed as the subject.
And the background is important to give you a clean shot.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

Check out Jeff Cables Blog. He had some and talked about it a few days ago...

Best,
Todd Ferguson

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

jacklewis014 wrote:

It's a slow shutter (1/30,1/20, 1/10) and panning technique.
It's hard to do and task a lot of practice to move the camera at the same speed as the subject.
And the background is important to give you a clean shot.

I think that might be the speed used in the curling shots, but the in-flight ski shots are probably a lot faster. At 30-50 MPH you do not need a really long shutter to get background motion blur. Think about it, to freeze that action you would need at least 1/1000. Anything slower is going to introduce blur. Probably not nice blur until you get below 1/200 or so. 1/60 to 1/100 would be where I would start for the skiers. Car racing uses and even faster shutter speed for background blur. Something in the 1/150-1/200 range.

The faster the subject, the faster the shutter speed and the more practice panning. You need to find that balance between blurred background and sharp subject.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

If using still cameras a simple technique is called PANNING and it works very well at slow shutter speeds.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

Panned shots are easiest in my experience when the subject is close to perpendicular to your shooting position. Any angle makes it more difficult but not impossible. I shoot drag racing and trains at about 1/80 to 1/100 shutter speed. These are moving at 50 to over 100 moh. I find it best to try to use a single focus point and pick a point on the subject and try to keep that focus point on the subject point. Being able to shoot a high frame rate doesn't hurt either.

Best,
Todd Ferguson

sandiegosteve Loc: San Diego, CA

Notorious T.O.D. wrote:

Panned shots are easiest in my experience when the... (show quote)

It does seem that 1/60-1/200 depending on the actual speed of your subject. I've been trying a lot of panning shots and haven't bottomed out on the best way. I might even want to add a monopod so the total blur isn't too exaggerated. I've found it to be a fine line between "shake" and "neat blurr" if you only come down a stop or two from what you need to fully freeze it.

What impresses me with the curling shots is how nice everything else looks. Like they were running in place.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

Some lenses have IS that supports panning motions. I think Jeff Cable said some of his shots were as slow as 1/10. I would think that 1/200 is going to be too fast ifor good panning in most instances...but it is all about experimenting and practicing...

sandiegosteve wrote:

It does seem that 1/60-1/200 depending on the actu... (show quote)