ACTION AND PEOPLE PHOTOGRAPHY

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1 ACTION AND PEOPLE PHOTOGRAPHY These notes are written to complement the material presented in the Nikon School of Photography Action and People Photography class. Helpful websites: Nikon USA Nikon Learn and Explore Manuals for Nikon products Learning to shoot action is one of the most important skills any photographer can acquire. Successfully capturing action means being able to anticipate moments and knowing how to control the camera to catch those moments, in focus, without blur and with a good exposure. Not surprisingly, most good people photographers are good action photographers. And by people photographers we don't mean portraitists. We mean photographers who catch moments, because that means anticipation and being prepared. Which is also what sports photographers do. Goals for the Day In this class, our goal is to improve our action and people photography skills. Becoming a better action photographer will also make you a better people photographer. The best people pictures are about moments, and capturing them involves timing. People photography and action also both involve exposure for stopping action and controlling backgrounds. Our class will cover these two primary topics, and be broken down into two sections: 1 How to Shoot Action 2 Photographing People 1

2 Section 1 How to Shoot Action Light While light is essential for any type of photography, it s even more important when shooting action. That s because high shutter speeds are necessary if you want to stop action, and the single most important factor in getting those speeds is quantity of light. Exposure High shutter speeds allow us to freeze action, and that s what makes photography of this type so interesting. Being able to freeze a moment in time and study it as long as you like is one of the unique aspects of photography. There are three variables at work in exposure: ISO, aperture and shutter speed. ISO controls the sensitivity of the camera to light, and aperture and shutter speed are the two controls that can be changed to let in light. Since raising ISO affects quality (lower ISOs result in less noise and more saturated color), we generally try to keep it low. By opening or closing the aperture we control not just the amount of light that passes through it, but also how much or little depth of field occurs. And the general rule on shutter speed is to keep it high enough to avoid blur, unless we re trying for creative blur. When shooting action, however, ISO and aperture take a backseat to shutter speed. Most of the time stopping action is the priority, which means your goal is a high enough shutter speed to do that. You get there by changing ISO and aperture, even if the image quality may suffer slightly. Since ISO is now supporting shutter speed, rather than the opposite, there s a special feature you can use to help achieve that. All of Nikon s current DSLRs have a setting in the Shooting Menu under ISO sensitivity settings called Auto ISO sensitivity control. This lets you choose an ISO range to stay within and the shutter speed you don t want the camera to drop below. (Auto ISO is most often used in exposure modes P Program and A Aperture priority). If you re in this class, you re probably going to use an exposure mode other than Auto and that means Manual, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority or Program. Manual means just that, where you re responsible for setting both shutter speed and aperture. It s the most difficult to use, so most people are probably better served in one of the three automatic exposure modes. 2

3 Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Program modes all do the same thing try to help you get a proper exposure by automatically changing shutter speed and/or aperture. It would seem to make sense, then, that Shutter Priority would be the best choice when shooting action. And it can be, if there s plenty of light. Remember that in Shutter Priority and Aperture Priority, you set the shutter speed or aperture you would like to be using and the camera then chooses the best aperture or shutter speed (respectively) to achieve a proper exposure. But what if the camera is unable to make that match? Let s say you re using Shutter Priority because you re shooting action, and set the camera at 1/1000. The camera now has to try to find an aperture that results in the correct amount of light for a good exposure at the set ISO. Which means it s limited by the aperture range of the lens. If there s not much light, it will open the lens to its widest aperture, but what if that still isn t enough light? The result will be an underexposed (dark) picture, because the maximum aperture of the lens isn t wide enough to let the right amount of light in. That s because you ve locked the shutter speed it has to use. A solution to this would be to use a faster (wider aperture) lens. One reason fast aperture lenses are preferred by action photographers is because they can let in more light, resulting in faster shutter speeds. If you don't have a faster lens to use, another solution would be to increase the sensitivity of your camera by raising the ISO. At a chosen shutter speed, raising the ISO one stop will reduce the amount of underexposure by one stop, thus getting you closer to a good exposure. Raising your ISO to control exposure is a delicate dance and should be done carefully. If you want to do that, make sure your shutter speed is set just above what is needed to stop the subject s motion, and not excessively high. (As mentioned earlier, choosing a very high ISO may result in noise in the final image similar to film grain.) Aperture Priority is another automatic exposure mode, where you choose the aperture and the camera chooses a shutter speed. Aperture Priority can be a great exposure mode when shooting action because of the range of shutter speeds the camera can choose from. Instead of being limited to 5-7 stops of aperture, it has stops of shutter speed (30-seconds to 1/4000 or 1/8000). If you want a fast shutter speed, choose a wide aperture. If it still isn t fast enough, then raise the ISO. 3

4 Autofocus Today s Nikon autofocus systems have made getting in-focus pictures easier than ever. But not all autofocus systems are the same, and there are some things you can do to make them perform better. Light is a key factor not just in exposure, but in autofocus as well. The more (brighter) light, the better the autofocus will perform. That s another advantage to fast lenses. Since they let in more light than a slower lens, they ll help the camera focus faster. In addition to light, autofocus systems need contrast and detail. For example, if you point the camera at a featureless blue sky, it will likely hunt for focus. In situations where there s a lack of detail or light (during night photography, for instance), turning off the autofocus and manually focusing is often the best solution. Autofocus Modes This setting determines how the camera s autofocus works. Here s how that breaks down: AF-S called Single-servo, the AF system will find focus when you activate it (usually by pressing down half-way on the shutter button), and once it does, lock that focus at that distance as long as you maintain pressure on the shutter button. Once you push down all the way to take the picture, or release pressure, the AF is released. AF-C This is Continuous-servo autofocus, and the one most people shooting any kind of action will use. The camera starts focusing the same as above, but never locks, as it s tracking the subject s action. To keep your subject in focus it is very important that you keep the active AF point on the subject. This means panning with your subject if they move through the frame. Because the AF never locks, it will remain very responsive and continue to focus on whatever is behind the active AF bracket. AF-A This is what the camera uses in full Auto, or what we might call point-and-shoot mode. Based on the situation, the camera chooses between AF-S and AF-C for you. 4

5 AF-Area Modes These determine where the camera focuses and which AF sensor(s) it uses to control autofocus. Single The camera uses one point and only one point. Wherever that point is, that s where the camera will try to maintain focus. Dynamic-area This is a great choice for moving subjects and only available when the camera is set for AF-C. You can choose how many surrounding points will help in maintaining focus. With Dynamic, you can choose to use 9-points, 21, 25, 39, 51, 72 or 153, depending on your camera. It s important to remember that you always start with one active point, and if that point briefly leaves your subject, the camera will rely on those surrounding points to maintain focus. But, it also expects you to get that active point back on the subject quickly, or it will re-focus. And, the latest higher-end Nikon DSLRs also offer a Group option, which uses five points. 3-D tracking In Dynamic, above, if you keep that active point off the subject for more than a second or so, the camera will re-focus where that point is. In 3-D tracking, once the subject is acquired and tracking starts with the active point, the camera will then hand off that tracking to any of the surrounding points and continue attempting to maintaining focus, until you release focus. Auto-area Once referred to as closest subject, this is again what the camera would be using in point-and-shoot mode, where it chooses where to focus without your input, using the array of sensors available to it. As with exposure, a photographer s goal should be control over the autofocus system. That control entails not only how to set it up, but when it operates. Most Nikon cameras have a button on the back of the body, labeled AE-L/AF-L. That stands for Auto Exposure- Lock and Autofocus-Lock. When pressed in and held, the focus and exposure are locked at their current settings. This lets you put the focus wherever you want it in the frame and keep it there. Some photographers prefer to shoot action using back button focus, thus changing the behavior of the camera so it no longer focuses when the shutter button is pressed. Instead, 5

6 it will focus when either that AE-L/AF-L button is pressed, or on some cameras, when the AF-ON button on the back of the camera body is pressed. This allows you to focus on and track your subject continuously when the AE-L/AF-L or AF-ON button is pressed and held. The shutter can be triggered during peak action without having to reacquire autofocus. (To activate this back button feature and remove autofocus from the shutter button, the AF activation must be set to AF-ON only in the Custom Setting Menu, or change the behavior of the AE-L/AF-L button to AF-ON.) Timing While some of today s Nikon cameras can shoot up to fourteen frames per second, timing is still a very important part of photography. Relying on a fast frame rate to capture the decisive moment sometimes works, but not always. That s why anticipation is so important. Expecting the action to happen at that moment, then trying to time your shooting to capture it. Firmware/Cards Shooting bursts of images is sometimes necessary to catch the right moment, and all cameras have what s called a buffer of internal memory to allow them to shoot and record at their fastest rate. However, that buffer s always limited. Not surprisingly, more expensive cameras have larger buffers and faster frame rates, allowing them to shoot longer continuous bursts before having to write those images to the card. But all cameras have to write to the card at some point, and that s where high-speed, quality cards play a role. If the camera s buffer fills during the burst, before being able to write data to the card, the camera will either stop shooting or slow down until there s room for more images. The speed rating on a card (usually in MB/s, like SanDisk uses, though a few companies use X as a rating) shows how fast it can take that data. Faster cards will usually allow longer bursts, and tend to be more expensive ( faster memory is more expensive). Firmware is the software that controls the camera. Sometimes there are firmware updates for cameras that can, among other things, allow higher capacity cards to be used in that camera. It s a good idea to occasionally check to see if you have current firmware, and if not, read what the update addresses. You can see what the current firmware for your camera is by looking in the Setup Menu, Firmware version. Then go to and select the Nikon Service and Support tab and click on the Firmware updates link. If there s a newer version available it will tell you what that firmware update addresses, and if you decide you want it, follow the directions to download and install. 6

7 Section 2 People Photography There are a few key things you can do to make better people pictures. Surprisingly, they have more to do with light and background than the subjects themselves. Light Light has many different qualities such as strength, color and direction. The one that s often most important when photographing people is whether the light is hard or soft. Direct sunlight is considered hard light and so is direct flash, which might make you think the size of the light source isn t important. And you re right, to a point. It s the size relative to the subject that s important, and any light source that is small in relation to the subject is therefore a hard light, because it creates hard shadows and contrast. Hard light is dramatic and has a feeling of power. It also means contrast and saturated colors. There are times when all of those things will be just what you want when photographing people. But due to the strong shadows and contrast created, hard light can also be unflattering. If that s the case, you want to find a location that offers you soft light, or change the quality of the light yourself. Soft light is created by a large light source. And just like hard lights, that size is relative, depending on the distance to the subject. This means that an overcast day produces soft light, as does being in the shade, or can be created by using tools like reflectors or diffusers. 7

8 Controlling Light Moving your subject from full sun into open shade, or positioning them differently to the light source (angle) is one way to control light. Modifying light means you re taking some control over the light source and how it illuminates your subject. In some cases that will mean adding light, and a reflector is a simple and inexpensive way to do that. Reflectors simply bounce light from one place to another. Diffusers are another way to modify light, but in a different way. They re placed between the hard/small light source and the subject, essentially creating overcast lighting (a large light source) where none existed. If there isn t enough natural light, or you can t modify it the way you want, you can always try adding light with other tools. The less light there is to begin with, the less light you need to make a difference. A flashlight can be enough in some situations, to either fill in the area or add emphasis. If you need power (intensity), though, a flash, sometimes called a Speedlight, is a great solution. Direct flash, of course, is a hard light source because of its small size. That means it will create contrast and shadows, which as we already discussed, can be the wrong look for people photography. The simplest way to change that is to make it a larger light source by bouncing it off something (like a wall or ceiling). That s called fill flash. There are other ways to turn that small flash into a larger light source. You can shoot it through a diffuser, bounce it out of an umbrella, through an umbrella, or put it in a softbox. Once you realize the difference between hard and soft light, you ll be able to use that knowledge to make better people pictures. 8

9 Backgrounds and Posing As we ve shown, light is one important part of the process we can start taking more control over. The other is background. When choosing a background, the decision usually comes down to one of two options: either a background that s clean (not distracting in any way) or that adds information (location, event) to the picture. And there are times when the background actually makes the picture, with the subject playing a minor role. It s also important to think about what pose the subject should take. Having them stand slightly turned away from the camera, with their face turned back to you, is a classic portrait pose. You should also take into account where the light s coming from, and whether you want their body opened to the light or turned away from it. Finally, try to have a conversation with your subject, to put them at ease. Most people aren t comfortable standing in front of a camera, and that can be obvious in how they look. Try to get them to relax, and it will pay off in better pictures. Lens Choice Lens choice, of course, also plays a big role in background. First, the aperture can be used as a control for how much of the background is in focus. But aperture isn t the only factor in depth of field. Telephoto lenses offer shallower depth of field than wide-angle lenses. So combining a longer lens with a wide aperture is one way to create an image with shallow depth of field, especially when you re close to the subject. Of course, the opposite of shallow depth of field is great depth of field, where you actually want as much detail in the image as possible. So backing away from the subject and using small apertures (f/8, f/11, etc.) will give you a greater amount of depth of field, to hold as much detail as possible. Using a wide-angle lens will enhance that greater depth of field as well. Quality Concerns Maintaining high quality should always be a priority. If a proper exposure and white balance are used, JPEG is a good format with a lot of information and capable of very high quality. Having said that, RAW (NEF for Nikon Electronic Format in Nikon cameras) offers more flexibility in editing, as well as an uncompressed format with more data. 9

10 While everyone should make their own decision over whether RAW (NEF) is right for them, it s worth experimenting with, and there are times it can make a real difference. When photographing people, making sure that skin color is correct, or at least pleasing, is very important. Color is controlled by white balance, so understanding the white balance controls is a key to good color. Auto white balance has gotten very good in the last 10 years, and if you re happy with its results, great. But there will likely be times, particularly under artificial lighting, where you might be able to get better color using something other than Auto. The first step then would be to set the white balance control in the camera to the light you re working in (for instance, if you re under fluorescent lights, set to Fluorescent ). There s also the ability to change, or shift the color, afterwards in editing software. If shooting in RAW (NEF), then there s no loss of quality doing that. If in JPEG, there will be limits. Approaching color with the goal of accurate color is usually what photographers strive for, but there are also times where they intentionally want to shift the color, or increase it. The white balance controls can be used for that as well, and of course, those changes can be done afterwards in software also. The way Nikon digital cameras process light, with regards to saturation, contrast and sharpening, is through Picture Control. Like white balance, you have choices in that processing, which can affect all of those things. The default is called Standard. But of course, being digital, you have the option to choose other looks, which on today s Nikon cameras are Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome, Portrait, Landscape and Flat. It s also important to understand that Picture Control applies to both JPEG and RAW (NEF) files, but its effect may only be initially visible in JPEGs. That s because a JPEG is a finished image file, whose settings (and white balance) are applied in-camera to create a finished image file. RAW (NEF), on the other hand, is essentially unprocessed data from the sensor, which has not yet been turned into an image. It s just numbers, with information about how to start the processing of those numbers. Because of that, the software you use to process your NEF files will determine the look of those images. If using Nikon software, like Capture NX-D, then the NEF image will initially look just like a JPEG would, because it s getting the same processing in the software that the image would have had in the camera. If using third-party (non-nikon) software, then a NEF file will look at least slightly different than a JPEG, because that NEF will be processed by that software differently than the JPEG, which was created in-camera. 10

11 Any time you start raising the ISO on a camera, you risk having noise. Noise is most visible in dark areas, and more likely if you underexpose. If that noise is visible, it might be distracting to the point that you need to try to reduce it. There are various software packages that can help with this, but remember that the more you reduce noise with software, the more you soften the image. That means it s always a balancing act, trying to reduce visible noise without softening the image too much. Also, when photographing people, there will probably be times where the subject would like you to smooth their skin a bit, remove blemishes or simply make them look a bit better. Again, various software packages offer tools that can do a nice job of removing pimples or blemishes, and even smooth out wrinkles. And there are also some programs designed specifically for retouching, that can not just remove blemishes but smooth skin, change or enhance eye color, re-shape facial features and more. Finally, any time we talk about quality and photography, the heavy use of smartphones deserves a mention. While it s great to have a camera inside a small device you almost always have with you, it s important to remember the sacrifices in quality that go with that convenience. If you re shooting an important event, and sharing those photos immediately is important to you, then consider using a Nikon camera with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth technology. More and more of Nikon s DSLR s, Nikon 1 and COOLPIX digital cameras have this built in, which allows you to quickly and easily see the photos on your camera from your smartphone (ios and Android supported), then download that photo to the compatible smartphone (no wires needed) so it can be posted right away. And there are also some inexpensive adapters the Nikon WU-1a and Nikon WU-1b that add that Wi-Fi ability to some of Nikon s other cameras. If you re looking for more ideas, Nikon s Learn and Explore website is full of information and how-to articles on different directions you can take, and Nikon has a presence on most social media sites as well, offering tips, suggestions and instruction. In addition to those listed below, Nikon also has a Facebook page for people who attend Nikon School, where you ll have a chance to post your own photos for feedback, as well as take part in group discussions. It s at Facebook: Twitter: Instagram: YouTube: Google+: Flickr: 11

12 In Closing Photographers have always worked to grow and improve their creative abilities, and today s cameras, lenses, flashes and accessories make that easier than ever before. But more importantly is how well the photographer learns to use those tools. Photography always comes back to light and exposure, and taking control of the situation when possible to make the best picture. In both action and people photography, a big part of that is the moment, when the photographer presses the shutter button. Solving all the technical issues, making sure lighting, white balance, exposure and other settings are where they need to be means the photographer can concentrate on capturing that moment. And that means you ll make better pictures. Good luck! 12