Please help me set up my Camera!

[NRSDude]

Hello, please help me! i want to take action shots of mtn biking, i dont know how to set up my camera or what techniques yo use. I have a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-p52. I can get it to take perfect still clear pictures but when i try to take action shots there all blurry. can someone please tell me how to set my camera for action shots or if it can. Or any techniques to use?
Thanks-
Sam

[Photo-John]

Sam-
Welcome to PhotographyREVIEW.com! All mtb photographers are welcome here

I haven't had the pleasure of using one of the Sony P-Series cameras yet. But I've got the point-and-shoot mtb photo thing pretty well polished. The basic trick is to follow your subject with the camera while you're taking the picture. That will make your background blur instead of the subject. Pre-focus where you plan to take the picture and follow the rider, pressing the shutter-release button slightly before the rider is where you focused. And just like throwing a ball, make sure to follow-through after you take the picture. Practice makes perfect! And more than one shot is always a good idea, too. Pro photographers sometimes do the same shot for hours before they get it exactly the way they want. Don't have any illusions about getting it right in one shot.

Does your camera display the shutter speed before you take the picture? If it does, you'll have some more flexibility. If your shutter speed is high enough you'll be able to take pictures without panning. Panning is for when your shutter speed isn't fast enough to freeze the subject. But if you're in bright sunlight you should be able to get shutter speeds fast enough to freeze your subject. The Fujifilm FinePix Z1 I've been using is completely auto. But when I lock the focus it shows me the shutter speed in the lower-left corner of the LCD. If that shutter speed is 1/250th of a second or faster I can try shooting without panning. If it's under 1/250th, better pan, unless it's a XC rider on a climb

[NRSDude]

John, thanks for the help, ill try panning. Also a few quick questions, should i put the camera on auto mode or where i can select focus, iso,ev. If you could please explain to me what selection to the put those on.
Heres what i can selects from
ISO: Auto, 100, 200, 400
Focus: Center AF, Multi AF, 0.5m, 1.0m, 3.0m, 7.0m, and unlimited
EV: 0EV - 2.0 ev

These are probably stupid question but i have no idea.

Oh yea and when i hold down the button before i take a a picture it says:
F3.8
60

thats when i have it focused on my computer screen, is that the shutter speed you were talking about?

THANKS-
Sam

[Photo-John]

Just like you were always told - there are no stupid questions. All those controls are on the camera for a reason. They all offer you some kind of control over your photos. Asking questions is the right thing for you to do. I will ask if you read the manual, though. Most camera manuals actually have a fair amount of basic photographic exposure information - if you read them.

ISO is the light sensitivity of your camera. The higher the number the more light-sensitive the camera will be. However, higher sensitivity will also mean more noise (digital grain). So for best image quality, you should keep your ISO setting low. With your camera I'd try not to go over ISO 100. And I wouldn't use auto. In Auto, the camera will try to always keep the ISO higher in order to make sure you get good exposures. It's better for you to take control, keep the ISO low, and control the exposure yourself. If you find you really need ISO 400, you can make that decision yourself.

The numbers you saw on your camera - F3.5 and 60 - are the aperture and shutter speed. These two numbers are the absolute basics of photographic exposure. There are two main variables that control how much light gets to your film or sensor - your aperture and your shutter speed. The aperture is the size of the hole in the lens that lets light get to the sensor. And shutter speed is the amount of time the camera allows light to reach the sensor. For sports we're usually most concerned with shutter speed. Your camera is shooting at 1/60th of a second. You'll never freeze any action at that speed. Like I said in my last post, you'll want at least 1/250th of a second if you aren't going to pan. At 1/60th of a second you absolutely need to pan if you want a sharp subject. You should also consider using the flash. Force it on. I would recommend never leaving your camera flash set to auto. Always use manual on or manual off.

Always use the center auto focus option. Anything else is a bad compromise. Learn to prefocus and pan, or prefocus and recompose.

The EV numbers represent exposure compensation. Exposure compensation allows you to lighten or darken your exposures. If your camera doesn't have aperture priority, shutter priority, or full manual exposure modes, exposure compensation is your main exposure control. You can also learn to use your camera's spot meter to lock exposure.

I think that covers it. If you still have your manual, use it. And definitely feel free to ask more questions. There's a lot of knowledge here. And I've been shooting mountain bike with point-and-shoot cameras for a long, long time. Once you learn the rules, it works pretty damn well. Problems usually have much more to do with photographer education than the camera itself. Once you learn how your camera works you can get the most out of it. There are tried and true methods for getting great action photos from compact cameras.