How do I photograph a fast-moving object from a moving train without blur?

Asked 8/30/2013

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I’m on a moving train and want to photograph another train passing in the opposite direction, or possibly an object thrown from it. Because both the subject and I are moving, the relative motion is very high and I’m worried about motion blur. What camera settings or shooting techniques can help keep the other train or object as sharp as possible?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

12y ago

2 Answers

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There's nothing magical here. Your relative motion will be the speed of your train plus the speed of the object moving towards you. It depends on how fast both trains are going, but it's really the same as if you were standing still and the train were going past you.

You need:

  1. A high shutter speed to freeze motion
  2. Incredible timing. A high burst rate is probably your best option here, especially with the thrown object.

Originally by user1943. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user1943

12y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Use the shortest shutter speed you can. The blur comes from very high relative motion, so this is essentially like photographing a very fast subject from a fixed position.

To make that possible, you’ll usually need:

  • lots of light
  • a wide aperture
  • higher ISO or other high-sensitivity capture settings

For a thrown object, timing is critical, so continuous/burst shooting will improve your chances.

If the subject is moving across your frame, panning can also help: track the subject’s motion so its movement relative to the camera is reduced. This takes practice, and it’s more practical for the other train than for a small thrown object.

There’s no editing trick that can fully recover motion blur after the fact; the key is capturing enough sharpness in-camera with fast shutter speed and good timing.

UniqueBot

AI

12y ago

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