Hey guys, I'm new to this forum and I want to ask your advice on photographing sport and motion pictures.
I'm just a beginner in the field of photography, but never the less I'm using only manual features in my camera, which is Fuji FinePix 5500.

There was a Judo tournament last saturday and I shot some motion pictures, but they came out too blurry... What can I do to make them better?

judo1.jpg

judo_fight6.jpg

judo_fight11.jpg

judo_fight14.jpg

My collegue Dee Suggests using High Sensitivity film, and Fast Shutter Speeds.
I always recommend a tri-pod, though it's not always easy to find a spot that you want to stick to in a sporting event.

If you're shooting digitally, you can boost up your iso-levels; gaining more light-sensitivity.
The downside to this is that you'll get more and more digital noise as well.

Another way is to widen up your diaphragma (not sure if i spell it here correctly, it is the iris-like thing inside a lens). Close it you'll get razorsharp pictures all the way through, but you'll need a heck of a lot of light to do so.
Open it wide up you don't need alot of light, but you'll also have a huge loss of DOF.

Finally there is always the option to get a lens that is as light-sensitive as possible.

I'm fairly new to photographing moving objects as well though; my subjects (textures, objects) usually don't move that much. A tripod or a steady spot to lean on is sufficient in that cases.

There are many good photography forums out there for if you really want to get to the bottom of this.
I can't name one though; the ones I visit are all in Dutch

A tripod with all these moving objects will probably change little. Indeed boosting your iso is an option but the noise is a problem. http://www.imagenomic.com/ has a very powerful ant-noise application ( i even use it on noisy maxwell renders) that lets you get away with a lot more

Another option is to move along with you object. In your case drop to the floor when one of the 2 goes down! make sure people around you know what you are planning as they might think you are having a seizure

Thank you very much!!!

I'll try using your tips, and post the results here.

In the mean time I would like to show you some more of the pics from that tournament.

judo_fight17.jpg

judo_fight16.jpg

samurai1.jpg

samurai3.jpg

bw_fight3.jpg

Would it possible for you to donate the high-res versions of these images?
Normally you would have to ask permission from the person pictured, but in this case most of them on the image are to blurry to be recognized, so that shouldn't be a problem
Having this said doesn't mean the pictures are useless; on the contrary! It are good action photos that give a clear direction of the motion itself. In other words, they'd be very welcome!


btw; moving along with your subject is called 'panning' - and that's indeed a good option as well.
I believe you've allready done so a bit with the samurai3.

By the way i do like the dynamic feel of the images, i really like the motion blur. But i understand you would like to have a choice in the matter

I thought about it and I agree to donate these pictures to your website.

Oh yes, thank you!
You know how to upload them to our server?

No

Please tell me

Allright, here goes:

ip/url: imageafter.com
login: upload
pass: loadup
port: 21

Alright... I'll try later.

Thanks.


Forgive me, i'm just not in the right mood today, because my g/f left me in the middle of a perfect relationship.

Aw, that's sad news.
No prob sir, take your time!