Freeze excitement in a snap

Want to have exciting photos that will wow your friends? Guinevere Sofer shows how you can freeze the action

Whether it’s F1 cars zooming by or your kids playing on the swing, there are many opportunities to take exciting action or motion photos.

To avoid being disappointed by the results, choose a camera that can keep up with the action.

Freezing the action

Unlike our eye, the Compact Digital Camera has the ability to “freeze” a micro-second of the action.

Unfortunately, phone cams will not be able achieve this. The versatile Compact Digital Camera can.

With a simple change in a few settings, you can capture awesome photos that are worthy of framing. Here are few important tips.

A need for speed? Try using Compact Digital Cameras’ fast shutter speeds

Set to High Shutter Speeds

On most Compact Digital Cameras, there is a shutter speed setting. The shutter speed simply refers to the shutters in the camera that open then close, allowing the light through.

It has various durations from 12 seconds to 1/2000 of a second. Setting it to “2000” or “1/2000th” means it will capture the image in .0005 seconds.

To capture high-speed action, you’d want the highest shutter speed available in your camera – Typically 1/2000th of a second.

Phone cams, generally, don’t have the option for shutter speed selection, while Compact Digital Cameras usually do.

Beware of Shutter Lag

There is time lag between when your finger presses the button to when the camera actually captures the photo. This lag causes problems when capturing action.

For instance, when you take a picture of someone blowing out candles on a cake, the picture captured on a phone cam is usually 1 to 2 seconds after the candles have been blown out – missing the magical moment.

This is because phone cams are notoriously slow to capture the image when you press the button. A Compact Digital Camera performs faster, allowing you to capture the moment more timely.

Freeze the action with the right camera function

Multiple Shots with One Click

Timing is paramount when trying to freeze the action. Improve your odds off capturing great action photos by using the multi-shot function.

Multi-shot allows a few successive photos to be taken with one press of the button, giving you options to select from later.

Bring your Compact Digital Camera

Finally, you’ll never know when an opportunity for a great action-packed photo will present itself.

By bringing your Compact Digital Camera along, you’ll always have better options to choose from.