Digital SLR Cameras & Photography For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Chapter 9. Action, Flash, and Other Challenges

In This Chapter

• Avoiding that lagging feeling

• Shooting in bursts

• Freezing action

• Flashing your subjects

The difference between a novice digital photographer and one with some solid experience is often apparent in how the shooter handles challenging photographic situations. Action photography, electronic flash photo-graphy, and situations that combine both electronic flash and available light seem to be the trickiest for photographers who are making the transition from neophyte to grizzled veteran. (Nobody really looks forward to being grizzled, but remaining a neophyte forever isn't a pleasant prospect, either.) These types of photography all offer challenges on both the technical and creative levels. If you can handle them, you can tackle anything.

This chapter looks at some of the technical stuff that you need to understand to make the transition, while taking top-notch action, flash, and sequence photos. Although you can find a bit of nuts and bolts here, stay calm and stick it out — my intent isn't to make you go nuts and bolt!

Kind of a Lag

Shutter lag, first-shot times, and those annoying pauses between photos do more than interrupt your photographic momentum — they can cause you to miss photos. Fortunately, of all digital cameras, dSLRs do the best job of reducing those awkward moments to a minimum. In the following sections, you can find ...