Even More on Tricky Lighting

Take action shots in a gym or at a convention center.

Dave Johnson

Feature: Photograph in Tough Indoor Environments, Part II

Spring is coming up in another month or so, and that means sporting events, exhibitions, trade shows, and children's recitals. You may want to take pictures at these events.

Last week, I explained how to shoot tricky indoor shots, such as those involving a convention center or gymnasium lighting. This week let's take things a step further and discuss how to shoot high-action photos in these types of tricky environments.

Use Rapid-Fire Mode

Action photos are the hardest kind of pictures to take with a digital camera because of the waiting time. Not only is there a delay between the moment you press the shutter release and when the picture is actually recorded, but many digital cameras make you wait a few seconds before you can take another shot. That's deadly when you're trying to catch fast-moving subjects.

The easiest solution is to enable your digital camera's rapid-fire mode. Many cameras let you shoot a continuous series of pictures, stopping the action only after the camera's buffer memory is full. The images must then be written to a memory card. Pressing the shutter release and triggering a bunch of rapid-fire photos can give you just what you need; one of the pictures in the sequence may turn out to be the perfect shot.

Make the Most of the Light You Have

If you're taking pictures at a track and field event, consider yourself lucky: You'll be outdoors, where you have plenty of light.

Indoors, though, your camera doesn't have nearly as much light to work with. That'll mean lots of blurry pictures as the camera uses long shutter speeds. To compensate, make the camera's sensor more light sensitive by adjusting the ISO control. Enter your camera's on-screen menu and change the ISO setting from Automatic (probably the default) and set it to the highest value in the list--like 400 or 800. That's akin to using fast film in a 35mm camera and lets you take better pictures in low-light conditions.

Take Advantage of Blur

Even with a higher ISO setting, you may still be shooting at a somewhat low shutter speed. So make the most of it! Motion blur can look great, adding a palpable sense of movement to your photos.

The trick is to minimize any blur caused by holding the camera. You should brace yourself against a wall, the side of some bleachers, or some other solid object that will support you. An even better solution is to set the camera on a tripod, leaving the head assembly loose so you can pan as needed. This braces the camera, so it won't shake when you press the shutter release.

Zoom Into the Action

Getting close to the action is important. I always take a few wide-angle shots to put the whole event in perspective, but most of the pictures I take tend to be fairly close, tightly cropped views of just one or two people. Be sure not to rely on your camera's digital zoom, though. Zoom in only as far as the optical zoom will take you, because digital zooms just magnify pixels, reduce the picture quality, and generally make a mess of your photo.

Dave's Favorites: Online Digital Photo Lessons

You can never know too much about the art and science of digital photography. Just chatting with a more experienced photographer can yield insights into shooting techniques you might never have thought of on your own. Heck, that's one of the main reasons for this newsletter--it's a venue for learning more about digital photography.

All.Digital.Photography is another worthwhile resource. Culled from resources across the Internet, this site is filled with nearly three dozen quick-and-dirty tutorials in all sorts of categories, such as vacation photography, rainy days, and fireworks. Some categories--bed-and-breakfast, for example--may inspire you to go have some fun.

The lessons are brief and direct, and I agree with all of the advice I've seen on the site. Bookmark it for a lazy Saturday or to reference right before you try to take pictures at a hot-air balloon festival.

Q&A: Choosing the Best Resolution to Archive Photos

I have written to several museums asking what resolution I should use to archive old photos that I would like to scan, but none have answered. I would like to save some of my old pictures so that they would be acceptable to archive in a museum. What resolution do you think would be acceptable?

--Gordon Merrick, Black Creek, British Columbia

The short answer, Gordon, is the highest resolution you can possibly get. I'd be looking to capture no less than 600 pixels per inch if you're scanning prints or at least 2000 pixels per inch if you're scanning negatives or slides. And once scanned, I'd store the image in a file format that doesn't sacrifice image quality for the sake of compression--that means TIFF instead of JPEG.

Those are just my recommendations. I spoke to a former curator at a local museum and he told me that there really aren't any standards in place for archiving digital imagery--but he agrees in principal with the guidelines I suggest.

Hot Pic of the Week

Get published, get famous! Each week, we select our favorite reader-submitted photo based on creativity, originality and technique. Every month, the best of the weekly winners gets a prize valued at between $15 and $50.

Here's how to enter: Send us your photograph in JPEG format, at a resolution no higher than 640 by 480 pixels. Entries at higher resolutions will be immediately disqualified. If necessary, use an image editing program to reduce the file size of your image before e-mailing it to us. Include the title of your photo along with a short description and how you photographed it. Don't forget to send your name, e-mail address, and postal address. Before entering, please read the full description of the contest rules and regulations.

This week's Hot Pic: "Decorated Window," by Reed Jenney, Los Altos, California

Reed says: "This photo was taken in St. Paul de Vence, a wonderful old provincial town in the mountains above Nice. I was walking through town with friends that were in a hurry, so I only took one picture to avoid being left behind. I used a Nikon CoolPix 995. This picture encapsulated, for me, much of the charm of the rural province."

We want your feedback! Send your comments, questions, and suggestions about the newsletter itself to comments@bydavejohnson.com. If you have a question that you'd like to see answered in the weekly Q&A, send it to question@bydavejohnson.com.

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