Hello! My name is Heather Wilson and I’m thrilled to be able to share with you a few lessons I’ve learned about movement photography.
My passion is to capture people’s stories in a single frame. People have always captivated my attention. Whether I am sitting at our local Starbucks or walking the streets of a major city, I love striking up a conversation with strangers and learning about their lives. Photography is an incredibly powerful medium for telling their story.
As much as I love taking pictures of others, my favorite subjects are my children. I have a beautiful daughter who is 13 (going on 17) and twin 11 year old boys who always keep me on my toes. Much of the “little years” were spent capturing their lives at home, in the back yard, or at the park. But these days I’m chasing after my children on the dance floor and at the skate park.
I’ve learned a great deal about movement photography over the years. I hope something I’ve learned along my photography journey can be of help to you as you capture the moving stories of the people in your life.
Allow Activities Where You Can Anticipate Movement
When my children were young I would often give them activities to do where I could anticipate movement or action. Some examples could be:
playing with water using the hose/pool/rain/puddles
jumping on the bed or having a dance party with fun music they enjoy
biking riding, rollerblading, any moving toys
These activities helped my kids have fun while I got to shoot. They would often forget that mom even was taking pictures! Activities like these lend themselves to very natural movements and expressions from children.
Choose Activities Your Kids Love
Many times I choose activities based on things my kids love to do. Once I have an activity for my kids in mind (something they naturally engage in), it is easier to place them in good lighting, get natural expressions, and allow me time to scope out the scene. Mostly this included our yard, which is neither fancy, time consuming, nor costly! It’s simply a place they felt the most comfortable.
Some examples of this is include jumping on the trampoline, running around, or driveway activities like riding bikes or skateboards. On the rare occasion we did go to a park, choosing a park that I was both familiar with and comfortable with the lighting was important to me to capture the moments of their time without too much thinking on my part.
Prepare Camera Settings Lens Length Beforehand
Once you have chosen activities and know where you can anticipate movement, adjust the settings on your camera. Do this before any action or activities begin. I often will select my focal length and use a longer lens (I only use prime lenses). Selecting a lens between 50-135mm is a great fit for capturing my kids. This enables me to be away from the action and get very natural moments and expressions.
My go to settings are in the ranges of an f stop of 2.0 to 3.5 depending on the light. Shutter speed in most important when taking photos of movement if the goal is to freeze the moment. I often had shutter speeds as high as I can given my lighting situation somewhere between 1/300 and 1/6500 or higher if your camera and light allow.
Get Creative With Angles
Don’t be afraid to look, feel, or act a little silly to get those natural smiles and movement. Lay on the ground while your kids are riding bikes and wait for them to pass by. Get under the trampoline for an all together different look and feel. When possible, get on their level. Sit on the swing next to them and shoot while it moves. Or jump in a hammock if you are lucky enough to have a place for one! Creative angles do not often look glamorous while capturing them, but they can produce fun, engaging, life-giving photos that tell the story of your life.
Most importantly, have fun. Enjoy those moments that are all-together too fleeting!
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