Stop Action . . .
By
John Terence Turner
Stock Asylum Columnist
Sept. 15, 2006
©
2006 John Terence Turner
As enamored as I am with the soft, swirling blurs produced by slow shutter
speeds, there is a place for the hard edges achieved with a really fast
shutter.
At times you really want all possible detail in a moving subject. To accomplish that, you want a shutter speed of 1/500th of a second or faster.
There is much left to the imagination when you’re shooting at 1/15th of a second. Details are suggested rather than presented for examination. Certain shots (and certain clients) demand that every detail be crisply rendered. To have every detail available for scrutiny can contribute strongly to the power of a photograph.
 Stopping the action with a high shutter speed can result in intriguing images that reveal incredible detail. (© John Terence Turner). |
Note the water drops on the skin of the diver as she arcs toward the pool. See the wrinkles in the bottom of her feet. Observe how the sun models the muscles of her legs. All of these details add richness to the picture. It was shot at 1/500th of a second at f4 with an 80-200 Nikkor.
The skier exploding through new snow on a cornice in Crested Butte is enhanced by the fast shutter speed that freezes the powder through which he is jumping.
The high-altitude (12,162 ft.) blue of the sky contrasts so sharply with the powder snow that the drama of the moment is enhanced by details of the explosion he is carrying with him.
 Snow floating in the air helps make this image work. ( © John Terence Turner ). |
The beach volleyball player’s intensity and concentration is captured by the fast shutter speed used to catch her going back away from the net for a save on a sunny day on Alki Beach in Seattle.
The little plume of sand raised by her dive adds to the story told by this picture.
Now that professional cameras offer auto-focus that handle subjects in motion and even those that are moving toward the camera, the creative options are almost unlimited.
Obviously those options diminish in low-light situations, which often require slower shutter speeds.
A photographer must include the likely light levels in planning for a shoot.
Sometimes that planning must include a change of location or an increase in the ISO number selected.
Finally, the woman skiing moguls (Ellie Pryor) is an example of stop action and good positioning relative to the sun. The majority of ski area runs face away from the winter sun, otherwise the snow would melt and ski seasons would be short. As a result, it isn’t hard to have ski shots backlit.
Backlighting is more flattering to models because it doesn’t reveal every wrinkle and blemish. To expose for it, I try to measure the light off the model’s face when she (or he) is standing in the same spot where I want to make the shot.
 Stopping the action lets the viewer see thing they normally would never notice in fast-paced sports action. Here the volleyball player seems to float above the sand. ( © John Terence Turner ). |
For skiing photography, there is a lot of light reflected all around off the snow, so shutter speeds can remain high.
One of the elements that make an active ski shot good is to have backlit snow flying.
For this shot, I selected a slope that had steep moguls with the light coming from behind the model but not directly toward the camera position.
Next, I sidestepped up to the mogul just behind the one on which the skier would make her pole-plant.
Then I sideslipped down the face of the upper mogul, using my ski edges to scrape snow down into the hollow between the two moguls and onto the top of the one where the turn was to occur.
This collected loose snow where the skier would turn, resulting in an explosion of powder in the shot.
This process had to be repeated every couple of turns she made in that location. I’ll bet you thought ski photography was just standing somewhere and letting your models ski past you.
The exposure was made at 1/500th at f4.
 Stop action technique, along with the backlit snow flying around the skier, combine to make this image work. ( © John Terence Turner ). |
Fast shutter speeds are less of a gamble than slow ones. It is an obvious and useful technique and certainly the sort of thing that a photographer should use early in a shoot for insurance, if nothing else. Know when to use it and how.
You can “split the difference” sometimes and have a shutter speed that is slow enough to let the extremities (hands, feet, etc.) blur while the trunk of the body, which moves more slowly, stays sharp.
The shutter speed you select will depend on the subject and the subject’s activity.
Some experimentation will be necessary because of the variables. Just arbitrarily selecting a slower shutter speed could result in ruining the whole effect, i.e. the trunk won’t be sharp and the extremities won’t be blurred enough for an interesting effect.
Experience is a wonderful thing.
Knowing what shutter speed will give you the desired result can save a lot of time, effort and sometimes, the whole shoot.
(John Terence Turner has been shooting stock photography for 20 years. His work can be seen at Getty Images, Alamy and, of course, The Stock Asylum, where his column appears twice a month. He lives and works in Seattle, WA.)
Turner's web site can be found at: http://www.johnterenceturner.com.
For more of his images: click here.
For all of Turner's columns: click here.
