Digital Photography: The Missing Manual

Chapter 3. Beyond the Simple Snapshot

There you sit, surveying your boxes of old photos. Snapshots of your family. Vacation snapshots. Snapshots of tourist attractions. But they’re all snapshots. Then you think of professional photos you’ve seen in magazines and newspapers. There’s the extreme close-up of a ladybug on a leaf, with the bushes in the background gently out of focus. There’s that amazing shot of the soccer player butting the ball with his head, frozen in action so you can see individual flecks of sweat flying from his hair. And how about that incredible shot of the city lights at night, with car taillights drawing colorful firefly tracks across the frame. “How do they do that?” you wonder. “And why can’t I do it, too?”

Actually, you can. You can get most of these brilliant effects with little or no special gear. All you need are a few practical shooting techniques and the willingness to get out there and experiment. With a little practice, you can take pictures that are just as compelling, colorful, and intimate as the shots you see in magazines. This chapter lays bare professional photographers’ trusty secrets. You’ll never take a dull snapshot again.

Shooting Sports and Action

Everybody’s seen those incredible high-speed action photos of athletes frozen in mid-leap. Without these shots (and the swimsuit photos), Sports Illustrated would be no thicker than a pamphlet. Through a combination of careful positioning, focusing, lighting, and shutter-speed adjustments, you ...