How to Take The Best Action Shots on Vacation

When you’re on vacation, it’s almost mandatory that you take photos of your holiday destination. Not only are they an excellent artistic hobby, but they’re also useful in commemorating your journey and experiences. Even if you’re not a fan of selfies, you can still remember your travels by taking photos of your surroundings. This is why knowing how to take action shots as a traveler is important since there’s a likelihood that you’ll want to shoot moving objects. Think rare birds darting across the sky or cultural dancers mid-step. Although capturing action shots can seem trickier, this is a photography skill you won’t regret learning.

Luckily, there are numerous tips you can follow to take the best action shots, even if you’re a beginner. To find out what they are, read through the rest of the article:

Pre-focus your shots

One of the simplest ways to capture moving subjects is by pre-focusing your shots. This means locking your camera’s focus on the subject where you want your camera to concentrate. By following this technique, you’ll be able to lower the lag time between the release of your shutter button and the actual taking of the image, resulting in crisper shots. But since this requires you to anticipate where the action will likely occur, observing your surroundings and trying to shoot a few photos first will let you determine the exact point to focus your camera.

Choose a fast shutter speed

When taking action shots, you’ll need to adjust your shutter speed. Because the slower your shutter speed is, the blurrier and hazier your image will be. And since you want to capture an object in motion, you must use a faster shutter speed to ‘freeze’ your subject. In most cases, a shutter speed as high as 1/500 or even 1/1,000 is the best camera setting when taking action photos. However, there will be situations where you’ll need a slower shutter speed to accentuate a subject’s movement. For instance, if you want to show that a car is moving, a slightly slower shutter speed is necessary to capture the motion blur on the wheels.

Use cameras with noise and stabilization features

Another way you can best capture action shots is by using a camera with noise reduction and image stabilization features. If your camera has these qualities, it will guarantee the quality of your images and make taking action shots more effortless. A camera type that satisfies this criterion is a mirrorless digital camera. A great example of this is the Fujifilm X-T5. Besides having a 40-megapixels resolution, it has a top-tier in-body image stabilization system and fast shutter speeds of up to 1/180,000. Additionally, it captures noise-free images with lower light sensitivity settings, around ISO 64 up to ISO 3200, and can still exceptionally reduce noise levels even at ISO 6400. This makes it a suitable digital camera option if you want to take action shots easily.

Experiment with burst mode functions

A notable feature you can also look out for when choosing digital cameras is their burst mode. With this feature, you can take several shots of the same scenario in quick succession, allowing you to have a variety of action shots in one go. An example of a flagship camera with burst modes is the Sony A1 mirrorless camera. This 50-megapixel camera can capture bursts of images at 30 frames per second (fps), providing you with high-resolution images at frame rates that are quick enough to capture fast action movements. They similarly have optical in-body image stabilization, letting you have both burst mode and image stabilization features in one piece of equipment.

Ultimately, you don’t need to be a professional photographer to capture amazing photos during your vacation. With the right equipment and technique, you can maximize the use of your camera in taking action shots. For more photography tips, on RaulersonGirlsTravel.