Free Inquiry Week 2- Using Action Mode

October 1, 2022

Taking pictures of a moving target on auto mode can be very tricky. Often when I try to capture a moving subject most of my picture results tend to be blurry. In order, to reduce blurriness of a moving target I decided to explore the sports/action mode on my camera. Keep in mind that I am a very amateur photographer. With saying that, I had so much fun experimenting with the action/sports mode. My topic was my running dog Charlie, in the past it has been so difficult to capture him when he is running, this is his happy place! Often when I took pictures of Charlie running on auto the image was very blurry and the cameras focus would be the ground or the background. When I used the sport/action mode the camera instantly adjusted for the movement. This made the moving subject, focused and clearer.

On auto mode the general setting are : Aperture: F 3.4, IOS: 320, Shutter Speed: 1/30. The camera chooses what setting to select based on the auto focus

Sport/Action Mode

Aperture: F 5.6, IOS: 800, Shutter Speed 1/800

Aperture: F 5.0, IOS: 800, Shutter Speed 1/1600

Again keep in mind that my photography skills are ranked very amateur and my goal is to have a better understanding of my camera settings. I have two examples of photos in action mode, the second photo was more zoomed out which made the action more difficult to focus. The first photo was zoomed in and the camera used a faster shutter speed, causing the result of the first picture to be more clear and focused on the subject. What I learned was that although the camera is in a action/sport mode it still adjusts for shutter speed.

This video by Fatdragon (youtube) has a lot of good information in the first three minutes, its a bit dull and boring but informational. I liked how they used the exact make and model camera as the one I use (Cannon Powershot), this made the information very relevant to my learning.

Video from Fatdragon, Canon Powershot SX40 HS Tutorial: Step Three – Sports Mode, youtube