Pixiq

There are times when we want to freeze the moment and stop time in its tracks.  An example would be shooting at a sporting event when you want the precise moment frozen in time.  During these moments a faster shutter speed is needed, and knowing how to decide on the proper shutter speed depends on the focal length of your lens.  A long lens, say a 300, 2.8 lens, requires a faster shutter speed than a shorter lens to freeze the action.  The rule is to double the focal length, so if I'm using the 300 2.8 lens at a football game I would want to use a shutter speed of no less than 1/1000 of a second taking into consideration that older camera bodies go up only from 1/ 500th to 1/1000th.  With modern cameras of today we can easily shoot much, much faster.

Speed can also be shown in different ways and sometimes your images are stronger when you let the movement show.  If you want to stand out from the crowd it is sometimes best to do things differently than everyone else.  If 100 photographers are shooting the same football game and everyone is shooting at super fast shutter speeds it may not be a bad idea to do the opposite, shoot at a slower shutter speed to show the beauty of movement.

For the image shown I wanted to do precisely that, show the movement of my subject so the viewer can really appreciate what is happening in the image.  The feeling of showing movement is much stronger at times when you slow down the shutter and allow a little blur to increase the impact of your images.  

The image here is shot with a Sony A900 at F8 @ 1/60th of a second.  For more information on lighting and photo tips check out the videos available at the Gallery Store.

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