Advice for starting action sports photography.?
I would like to get into taking photography but sitting in a studio studding under a photographer taking senior and family portraits sounds too boring for me. Id like to get into action photography, so I decided to start with non-stadium sports, such as skateboarding and bmx. I need all the advice and tips I can get. I dont even know where to start. I am on a student/part time budget so I don’t have much money to spare. I have the Nikon D40 starter kit so I have the basic 18-55mm lens. I am considering buying a stronger lens and am considering Nikon 55-200mm f4-5.6G ED AF-S DX Nikkor Zoom Lens, would this be good? Again I need all the advice on phototaking I can get. Thanks. 🙂
Aga
Look at the manual for the D40. It’s has good tips in it and it’ll help you figure out how to work all the bells and whistles on it. If you’ve done that already, then I apologize for repeating the obvious. >_<
I like using shutter priority setting on my camera (I’ve got a Nikon D40 too 😀 ). You get to pick the shutter speed and camera picks the aperture for you. Turn the dial on the stop to the S and use the dial next to the view finder to pick your shutter speed. The higher the number, the more the camera will be able to "freeze" the subject.
If you’re going to be working with moving subjects, I’d use the auto-focus so that I wouldn’t have to try to mess with manual focus. I normally use manual focus when I’m photographing still subjects. With sports and kids, when you can’t predict what they’re going to do, I use the auto focus. The switch on your lens marked "A/M" is for switching between auto focus and manual focus.
Good luck!
my advice is to shoot HQ video and pull individual frames out.
References :
Look at the manual for the D40. It’s has good tips in it and it’ll help you figure out how to work all the bells and whistles on it. If you’ve done that already, then I apologize for repeating the obvious. >_<
I like using shutter priority setting on my camera (I’ve got a Nikon D40 too 😀 ). You get to pick the shutter speed and camera picks the aperture for you. Turn the dial on the stop to the S and use the dial next to the view finder to pick your shutter speed. The higher the number, the more the camera will be able to "freeze" the subject.
If you’re going to be working with moving subjects, I’d use the auto-focus so that I wouldn’t have to try to mess with manual focus. I normally use manual focus when I’m photographing still subjects. With sports and kids, when you can’t predict what they’re going to do, I use the auto focus. The switch on your lens marked "A/M" is for switching between auto focus and manual focus.
Good luck!
References :
Personal experiences and preferences working with my D40
The D40 is pretty hard to use for fast action sports. I’ve used the kit lens from my old D40 for skateboarding and BMX with the help of a SB-800 wirelessly triggered with Paul C. Buff triggers. (shot thru white umbrella)
A 55-200 is a terrible lens for skateboarding.
References :