Nikon D600 For Dummies

Capturing Action

Using a fast shutter speed is the key to capturing a blur-free shot of any moving subject, whether it's a flower in the breeze, a spinning Ferris wheel, or, as in the case of Figure 9-6, a racing cyclist.

Along with the basic capture settings outlined in Table 9-1, try the techniques in the following steps to photograph a subject in motion:

Figure 9-6: Use a high shutter speed to freeze motion.

1. Set the Mode dial to S (shutter-priority autoexposure).

   In this mode, you control the shutter speed, and the camera takes care of choosing an aperture setting that will produce a good exposure.

2. Rotate the Main command dial to select the shutter speed.

   Refer to Figure 9-1 to locate shutter speed in the viewfinder, Control panel, and Information display. After you select the shutter speed, the camera selects an aperture (f-stop) to match.

   What shutter speed should you choose? Well, it depends on the speed at which your subject is moving, so you need to experiment. But generally speaking, 1/320 second should be plenty for all but the fastest subjects (race cars, boats, and so on). For very slow subjects, you can even go as low as 1/250 or 1/125 second. My subject in Figure 9-6 was zipping along at a pretty fast pace, so I set the shutter speed to 1/500 second. Remember, though, that when you increase shutter speed, the camera opens the aperture to maintain the same exposure. ...