The Joy Of Running 1

The Joy Of Running 1
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

Getting quality shots of moving subjects is relatively simple using a DSLR. Here are some tips.

Shoot in RAW, it means you can fine tune the white balance later, as well as have more leeway in finding details in shadow areas and avoiding clipped highlights.

It was a bright sunny day so I was able to shoot @ ISO 100 and still have a high enough shutter speed. If it's a bit dull or less light consider increasing the ISO to raise the shutter speed.

Set the camera to AI servo mode, this tracks moving subjects and keeps them in focus so long as you keep your finger half pressed ont he shutter buttton.

Set your camera to high speed burst mode and rattle off shots of the moving subject.

Don't start shooting too soon though, remember you are shooting in RAW and the buffer may fill up before you get to the real action you want to record.

Take a look in your manual to refresh your memory on how many shots your camera can take per second in high speed burst mode and how many shots in RAW will fill the buffer, causing the shot rate to drop.

Import the shots into your viewer (I use Lightroom) select the keepers and flag those short of the mark for deletion. You can then convert the RAW file as you wish, playing around with teh sliders or using a preset. I opted to use an x=equals preset called warm storm. This has given a great separation of the subject fromt he background and really accents the bright sunny day that we had on the beach.

Fionas First Float

Fionas First Float
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

....alternative title suggested by my other daughter is "Wingardium Leviosa".

When I joined Flickr over 2 years ago one of the first photos I faved was this levitation shot by Miss Aniela http://www.flickr.com/photos/ndybisz/2915848831/in/faves-marklandon/

I'd told my girls about how I could make them "float in mid air" and so on rainy saturday evening we gave it a try and this is the result. Here's a basic overview of what you'll need to do

Set the camera to manual and dial in an appropriate shutter speed, aperture and ISO to get a well lit background. Using a tripod is critical to avoid movement between shots. A remote release is also useful or you could get by with the self timer. If using flash, also set that to maual too, so that the results are consistent. Take a shot of the background with no subject. This is the image that you will have at the bottom of the layer stack in photoshop, so that when you erase things later the background will show through.

Next introduce your subject and have them lie down on a chair or similar (in this case I was actually holding her up by lying underneath. Take a second shot with the subject and support in frame. You'll later remove the support in photoshop to create the illusion of levitation.

Load your images into photoshop and using a layer mask (allows for non destructive erasing) paint over the support area to allow the background to show through. You may have to do a bit of cloning to ensure that fabrics and hair appear normal vs creased/obscured and heh presto you have a levitiation shot.

I'll be doing more of these with the girls as they thought it was great fun.