How to Photograph Motion

Our tips for photographing movement: From a panning shot to freezing the subject

In photography, it is helpful if your model poses as still as possible, but what if your little nephew doesn’t want to sit still? Or if your dog or cat isn’t in the mood at all? To still be able to take a cool photo in these situations, it is important to know how to photograph movement as effectively as possible. Knowing how to photograph movement is not only useful, but it also offers plenty of creative possibilities to emphasise movement in the photo. In this article, we explain how to do that.

Freezing a moving subject

Are your children playing nicely in the garden or is your dog romping around in the grass? Then it’s fun to be able to capture that sharply with your camera. With these tips, that should definitely work.

Tip 1: Most cameras have a handy function for freezing moving subjects and getting them in focus: continuous autofocus. With continuous autofocus, your camera keeps tracking the subject and keeps it in focus. This way, you get sharp photos time after time and you don’t have to adjust the focus manually each time. Continuous autofocus is easy to find on your camera, but it is named differently for each brand. On Canon cameras you will recognise continuous autofocus as “AI-servo,” and on Nikon and Sony you will recognise it as “AF-C.”

Tip 2: To capture movement, you also need a fast shutter speed. Therefore, try to maintain a shutter speed of 1/800 of a second in daylight. Is it getting darker? Then choose a shutter speed of 1/500 of a second. Much longer than that will result in a blurry photo, and of course that’s not what you want.

Tip 3: Do you want to work with a flash? That is a bit more difficult, because most flashes work at their fastest at 1/200 of a second. To be able to work with a flash at shorter shutter speeds, you need a High Speed or HyperSync flash. These flashes work slightly differently, allowing you to benefit from flash even at shorter shutter speeds.

Tip 4: Almost all cameras can shoot in bursts. That means the camera takes as many photos as possible in quick succession. Burst photography is ideal for capturing action, because you record many moments of that action. In addition, you have multiple chances at a good and sharp photo. You only need to change the settings to continuous shooting (this is usually found near the self-timer) and then hold down the shutter button for as long as the action lasts. The camera will then automatically start shooting in bursts. Keep in mind: some cameras are faster than others. If you really want to take photos of sports or birds, it is recommended to pay attention to the maximum number of photos per second when purchasing your camera.

Tip 5: You now know how to freeze movement, but there are a few more things to keep in mind. If your camera’s continuous autofocus is turned on, your camera is constantly working hard. You guessed it: your battery drains faster. So make sure to turn off continuous autofocus in time and, if necessary, carry an extra (charged) battery. In addition, the memory card is important. To shoot in bursts, you need a lot of memory. It is also important that your memory card saves photos as quickly as possible; otherwise, your camera’s speed may be limited by your memory card. So use a memory card with large storage capacity and a high class, and you’ll be good to go.

Panning shot

Do you not only want to freeze action but also emphasise movement in your photo? Then a panning shot is a great idea. With a panning shot, you focus on your subject while the background is blurred. With these tips, you’ll master it in no time.

Tip 1: First of all, it is useful to put your camera in shutter priority mode, usually recognised by the symbols “Tv” or “S.” In this mode, you can mainly focus on the shutter speed without worrying too much about the other settings. In addition, just like when freezing movement, you need to set the autofocus to continuous mode. This ensures your subject stays sharp in the image.

Tip 2: There is no fixed shutter speed that always works. The shutter speed depends on the speed of your subject, the light conditions and the amount of blur you want in the background. So try out several shutter speeds. A good shutter speed to start with is 1/60 of a second. First observe what that does to your shot and then adjust your shutter speed up or down.

Tip 3: A panning shot is called a panning shot for a reason. You make a panning movement with your camera, which means you move the camera along with your subject. Because you move along, your subject appears sharp, while the background gets motion blur. This emphasises your subject’s movement and creates a special effect. Try to keep your sideways movement stable and follow a straight, horizontal line. This gives the best results.

Tip 4: As with panning shots, it is important to take many photos in succession. That way, there is always at least one sharp one. You can use the burst mode for this, but some cameras automatically take rapid photos when you hold down the shutter button for a while. Which method you need depends on the speed of your subject. For a motorcyclist, you definitely need burst mode. For a cyclist, usually not.

Action sequence photography

Do you want not only to emphasise the movement, but also capture the entire movement in one photo? Then try action sequence photography. In this type of photography, you capture a movement at multiple moments. You then combine these so you can see the whole movement in the photo. With this step-by-step plan, you’ll create the coolest action photos.

Tip 1: Just like with the previous two techniques, set your camera to burst mode and turn on continuous autofocus. This ensures that all parts of the action appear properly in the image.

Tip 2: With an action sequence photo, it is important to think carefully about the composition. Try to ensure you capture as much of the action as possible and that your subject occupies as much of the frame as possible. For example, let a skater begin on the left side of the frame, perform their trick in the middle and end on the right side. Of course, you can experiment with this, so see what works.

Tip 3: Hold your camera as still as possible. The photos will ultimately be placed on top of each other, and then it helps if the background is roughly the same everywhere. The only thing that should move in your photo is your subject. You can use a tripod, but for burst photography it is often easier to shoot handheld. So hold your camera in place and let burst mode do its work while your subject shows off.

Tip 4: When you think the perfect photo sequence is included, it's time to edit the photos. Without editing, you cannot create an action sequence photo. Choose several shots (between 3 and 8) in which your subject is sharpest and which show the action clearly. Then apply your desired edits to one of the photos in Adobe Lightroom, and copy those edits to your other photos. When you are done editing, simply click on “Settings” and select “Copy settings.” A window will open where you can indicate which edits you want to copy. Select all boxes by clicking “Check All” and then click “Copy.” Then open the remaining photos in your library, select them, right-click and click on “Develop settings” and then “Paste settings.” You now have the same adjustments applied to all your photos. This is important, because after this you will “stack” the photos. Export the series of photos to a separate folder.

Tip 5: After editing, go to Adobe Photoshop. Click on “File,” go to “Scripts” and click on “Load Files into Stack.” Select the previously created folder with photos via “Browse” and tick “Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images.” This makes it easier to line up the photos. You will now get a file with the different photos together. Because you always move a little, the edges are usually not completely aligned. Therefore, crop your photos with the crop tool. Then you can sort the different photos in the “Layers” menu so that they are in the order of the action. Now the more complicated part begins. Select the Polygonal Lasso Tool and make a selection of the action on the top layer. This doesn’t need to be very neat; in fact, it is better if there is some extra space at the sides. Then right-click the selection and select “Layer via copy.” A new layer will now be created containing only your selection. You can now make the original top layer invisible by clicking the eye next to the layer in the “Layers” menu. Repeat this process for all the different photos except the last one. Don’t panic if part of one selection overlaps another. We will fix this later. When you have created a separate layer for all the photos, it’s time for the finishing touches. There will likely be several selections that overlap. Select the copied selection in the “Layers” menu and then select the eraser tool. With this, you can remove the overlapping parts from each selection and fade them into the background until you have a great photo. This is easier if you have a fairly uniform background and if the images do not overlap too much. If body parts overlap in the sequence, you need to work a bit more carefully with the eraser tool, but the technique remains the same.