Stop-Action Photography: A Love Story

I LOVE taking stop-action photography! LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!!!

The Athenian Dancers
Memphis, TN

Why do I love it? I love it because it's a way to freeze a moment that happens in literally the blink of an eye.  My first personal experience with it was when I played little league baseball. A parent of one of my teammates had purchase a Canon SureShot 35mm point-and-shoot camera. They had taken pictures of my team playing ball on one Saturday and brought them for us to look at the next. (Back then it was all film and the film had to be developed. A three day turn around time was normal, two days was fast, overnight was unheard of and one hour...WHAT?????) This parent had taken a picture of me at the plate, mid-swing, with the ball just inches from the bat, and thus a fraction of a second from being smashed deep into center field!  ;-)

Anyway, that picture had an impact on me and definitely affected my style. It's one of the "things" I'm known for. Here's how I do it:

1. If taking photos of a sporting event, arrive early while teams are warming up. This way you can take some test shots and get your timing down.
2. Find the best location that:



AR-15 round hitting
a milk jug full of water

1. Accommodates the zoom capability of your lens.
2. Is unobstructed.
3. Will provide the best possible angle for the shots you want. 
3. Adjust for lighting
1. Set ISO at a minimum of 400.
2. Set aperture at f/8ish
3. Set shutter speed at 1/500, minimum
4. If those settings are overexposed, increase the shutter speed.
5. If those settings are underexposed, open the aperture more. f/5.6, f/4, etc



Dolphin Show
Indianapolis Zoo

6. If you can't go lower on the aperture, only then is it ok to increase your ISO. TRY not go higher than 800 if you can avoid it.
4. Set your camera's autofocus point to the one that will work the best for your shots. Conventional wisdom says to manually focus, but whatever, I use autofocus and it works just fine!
5. Remember in step 1 when I said to get your timing down? This is where that practice pays off. Press your shutter release button half way down justrightbefore your think your shot will take place, then...BAM!!!!! Press it all the way down and, hopefully, you'll have the shot you were looking for! Side note: If your camera has a "multi-shot" or "burst" option now would be a good time to turn it on.

Did I mention I LOVE stop-action photography?

If you have questions please feel free to e-mail me at ande@geminimm.com!

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