I need to find out how to take good action shots. For instance, of skateboarding... where the subject is moving, but not super fast, however the board is moving fast, like in the middle of a flip trick (where the board is spinning and flipping and the person is moving much slower over it). Any suggestions?
[Reply]

What camera? Increasing Shutterspeed will help accomplish this but it all depends on available light. Adding another flash will help too. Or you can go out and spend 5K+ on a lens that has a lower Fstop.
[Reply]

ok question....

I took a photo (non moving object) and it needed more light. Besides adding more light on top of the flash. Do I increase the iso or exposure? What's the effect?
[Reply]

Going back to Darrel who was wanting the 18-200. Is he looking to have photos published and make "art" or is he looking to capture a moment at hand?
[Reply]

Increasing your ISO will provide you with more light but will also provide you with more grain.

To compensate for light, either open up your f stop (but you do lose depth of field, meaning objects that are near each other won't all be in focus) or you can reduce your shutter speed (which is OK as you said it is not a moving object, so blurring is not an issue). Practice shooting slow shutters and if you move too much, use a tripod. Or better yet, do both shutter and f stop.
[Reply]

Nikon D5000... no flash except the built in one (in fact, I wasn't using even that) and under what, I believe, were fluorescent lights.
[Reply]

Lowering the Fstop will allow more light to hit the sensor (or film) but this can make the picture have a shallow Depth of field . Increasing the ISO cam make it grainy. So if you need more light and it is a stationary object the best thing to do would be to raise the fstop to around F11 and have a longer exposure (tripod required) and an ISO of 200 to 400

What camera are you using?
[Reply]

Dan,
For what you are looking for, best route is expensive. You need a fast lens.
[Reply]

Sounds like we both know what we are doing as our answers almost mirror one another.:-)
[Reply]

Nikons SB-600 would do the trick. It is a more powerful flash than the on board one that will freeze the object mid frame.
[Reply]

Anybody in here do old school in the dark room black and white photography? I have a fair amount of paper and film from when I spent my life in the local colleges dark room. Anyone interested shoot me a PM
[Reply]

That is my flash.
Well worth the money.
Add a Gary Fong Diffuser to do indoor and anyone will shoot like a PRO.
[Reply]

Personally, I haven't done that in years. With digital, don't even see the need to ever use all my medium format equipment, let alone 35mm. Digital is much too easy of a way to go.
[Reply]

I myself am working towards a Digital Nikon but with a baby coming in January my camera will probably have to wait a few monthes
[Reply]

Thanks for the info blueface & wolfgang.

Nikon D3000

My cousin is letting me borrow his 200mm lens he got at Circuit City when they were closing their B&Ms. You said it's a crap to be able to zoom too much right?
[Reply]

I took this picture using only my cameras on board flash.

picture info.
18mm
F7.1
1/200 sec
ISO 400

Image
[Reply]

I think its great to have the capability to zoom. As long as there is enough ambient or supplemental light you are golden :-)
[Reply]

Do any off-brand ones work close to as good? That flash is more expensive than my 55-200 lens!
[Reply]

What about quicker moving things like kickflips/tre flips/etc. where the board is whipping around... have you taken any of those?

Seeing pictures like this confirms that I have no clue what I'm doing with my camera...
[Reply]

If you want a good blog on strobs and lighting check out

http://strobist.blogspot.com/

he has a deal setup for packages here

http://www.mpex.com/page.htm?PG=Strobist%20Kits
[Reply]