Best shutter speed for capturing cyclists / canoeist

[RonanCork]

Hey All,

I'm filming tomorrow some video and photograph footage on my Air2S.

I'm fine with the video side of things - my question is in relation to the photography part

I'll be photographing people cycling (not fast - just leisurely around the grounds of a hotel) and also people canoeing (again - not fast, just leisurely on a lake by the hotel)

What shutter speed would you guys typical try for to best capture this sharply ?

Understood I can just test it out myself but wanted to ask anyways - as I've only mostly shot stationary objects/structures rather that moving ones.

Thanks Ro.

 

[FLDave]

In auto, shutter speed will be automatic it needs to be in auto mode as your brightness is not likely to be constant throughout the shoot, Your emphasis should be on the best shots, not perfect shutter speeds. Besides, what is your reasons for wanted to control shutter speed? How you shoot is so much more important. Will your subjects be be moving perpendicular to your line of site? How close will you be to your moving subjects? Will your subjects be moving toward or away from you? When you be following/tracking subject movement or maintaining a more or less stationary drone position. Those are all important aspects to consider before a perfect shutter speed.

 

[Ty Pilot]

It really depends on what you're trying to achieve. You say you're shooting people on bikes (not fast) and canoeing. A lot of sports photography is shot at 1/800th to 1/1000th of a second to freeze most action - so in a football game, a receiver jumping in the air to catch a football - shot a 1/800th will freeze the human, and the incoming ball. But something like a baseball player hitting a pitch will show a little motion in the bat and if the ball is hit (and in frame) will be blurred.

And this brings up the point of the question. Part of sports photography is to impart these senses of motion. For instance: if you shot a horse race at 1/1000th, you'll likely stop most of the motion but if you ramped the shutter down to 120th or even 1/60th, and panned with a horse, then you'll impart the action into the picture as most of the horse will be visible, legs a little blurred at the feet, and all of the background blurred. This gives the viewer the impression of speed and movement which when done right, is very powerful.

But if you're using a drone to capture moving objects, follow-panning becomes a bit of a challenge and in fact, the drone itself may be moving. So for that reason you will probably find the the higher shutter speeds (for simple drone photography, in most cases) will be your friend. But don't be afraid to try something new.

 

[karlblessing]

Ty sums it up pretty good. It's mostly how you want that look. If you want to be able to have a sharp frame thru out to print perhaps higher shutter speeds tend to be better, though may have to increase your ISO to get better exposure depending on the brightness of the day. But having that lower speed with a good follow on the subject can aid to motion blur.

The lower speed is going to be more ideal for video though, that motion blur helps bridge one frame to the next without making it look so jumpy when the motion creates too much gaps between frames.

But also at a distance depending on just how close you're going to get to the cyclist with a drone, the shutter speed becomes a little less impactful as there won't be as much motion blur at larger distances with just a 35mm equivalent lens, at worst it may just appear a little soft, but mainly if you're capturing pictures while in motion.

 

[Dangerly]

You've gotten some great advice so far. For closeup photos, I think motion blur can add to the feeling of speed, and it helps to understand the blur can come from two different places:

1. The drone is still when the subject (bike, canoe) is moving - the subject will be blurred while the background is crisp
2. Drone is tracking the subject. The subject will be crisp while the background is blurred

Both can look good and feel like speed, but you should think about what you want to blur. To get more blur, throw on an ND filter and just keep it in auto mode.