Capturing Fast Moving Objects With an Ultra-Compact Point & Shoot

Today's Ultra-Compact Point & Shoot camera's pack fantastic imaging into playing card sized packages that are easily taken anywhere, but many lack any manual controls. And while many situations an average photographer may encounter using an Ultra Compact may not call for any creative control, you may find yourself in a situation you may want to be able to have some better control over your camera`s functions .

My Canon PowerShot SD950 does not allow a shutter speed selection. While on a family trip to Ocean Shores over the weekend, I was trying to get some pictures of my brother in law's dog jumping into the canal chasing a tennis ball. For the most part the camera was selecting a shutter speed of 1/160, which may be fine if not for trying to capture a flying dog and getting more than a golden brown blur in the middle of the frame.

So what to do? One way to get around this lack of control is with some creative manipulation of the camera's light meter and utilizing the Auto Exposure Lock feature to get the faster shutter speed. To do this, find different lighting points around you to focus on. Once you find an appropriate shutter speed, lock the exposure and recompose. Also experiment with the exposure compensation feature, as that can effect the camera's choice in shutter/aperture combination.

Using this technique I was able to get a shutter speed of 1/640 to capture this shot of super dog chasing the ball into the water, complete with recently splashed down tennis ball, wet fur rain drops and glassy water reflection.

Blessings,

Jesse