The Enthusiast's Guide to Night and Low-Light Photography, 1st Edition

27. FREEZING THE ACTION

IT’S IMPORTANT TO be able to freeze the action in a photo, especially when you’re shooting events like sports, concerts, and weddings. There are actually two ways to freeze moving subjects: you can use a fast shutter speed or you can use a flash. Let’s look at both of these methods and when you can use them.

Shutter Speeds for Action

The shutter speed freezes the action by causing the camera to open and close the shutter quicker than the subject moves. So the faster the subject moves, the faster the shutter speed needs to be. To freeze the action in low light, you need to know how much light there is in the scene and how ...