Showing posts with label action. Show all posts
Showing posts with label action. Show all posts

Photo Essay: The Cross-country Race

The school in which I teach at had their cross-country race today, and I was the designated photographer. Ain't that great? I decided to use this opportunity to get lots of practice with my 135mm prime lens. I'm really starting to grow on this lens. I like it because for the focal length, I get f/2.8, which I really like. And the bokeh is quite nice, too! The only downside is that it takes a bit more time to focus as it's a manual focus lens, but I still enjoy using it. So, most of the shots below were shot with this lens. The only other lens I used was the kit 18-55mm lens for it's wider angle.

There'll be 18 shots in all. It's gonna take a while to load!


Rounding up the students


Get ready here, not there!

Amusement


Over-seeing the final preparations


Briefing


All ears


The starting line


Running fashion


The warm-up


Waiting for the word


Release!


The way to do it


Going for it


All heated up

Light speed


Winners' table


Tired but done


Keeping score

Action shots

I haven't gotten much practice in shooting moving subjects because most of the time, I'm either taking landscapes or slow-moving subjects. But yesterday, I decided to try out and practice some stop-action shots and some panning shots at the park (the light was ideal for this because it was really quite dark already). What did I learn? I learned that I have to have a great deal more practice.

The stop-action shots of my wife and daughter on the swing required me to time the shutter release just as the swing reached it's peak before moving to the other direction, when the swing would, for a very short moment, seem stationary. This was easier said than done! Out of the almost 10 shots I took, only 2 I deemed to be satisfactory. The rest were blurry and not the images that I intended to capture. Of course, the rather low-light levels didn't help either. I know I could have set my camera to continuous shooting, but I figured that wouldn't help me much in developing my sense of timing.

The panning shots were a rather similar affair. I had never really practised this, and the shots that seemed okay I thought were more chance than skill. So, perhaps more practice in this area is in order.




 
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