Motion photography: how to capture movement in your images

From children and pets playing in the garden, through to flowing waterfalls in landscapes, action sports and beyond – photography gives you the opportunity to capture life in motion, in a single still.

As a photographer, you have two main choices. You can either freeze the action to capture a definitive moment or you can use motion blur to give a sense of movement and speed. Your Canon camera is packed with technology that you can harness for both approaches, as we explain here.

The most crucial factor in how you capture movement in your photos is controlling the camera's shutter speed. It's a good idea to test and play around with shutter speed until you have found what works for you. Most DSLRs have a maximum shutter speed of either 1/4000 sec or 1/8000 sec, whereas some mirrorless EOS cameras give you the option of using an electronic shutter for even faster shutter speeds. At the other end of the scale, slow shutter speeds enable moving objects to blur naturally, which can be very effective in creating a sense of movement.

The Tv (Time Value) shooting mode in Canon's DSLR and mirrorless EOS cameras is often referred to as Shutter Priority mode. It's great for motion photography, as you can simply select the shutter speed you want to use, and the camera's metering system will automatically adjust the aperture for correct exposure.

In some very bright or dark lighting conditions though, the range of shutter speeds available to you might be limited. This may mean when shooting in poor light you can't use a fast enough shutter speed to freeze your subject, or on bright days you can't extend the exposure long enough to introduce creative blur. The easiest way to resolve this is to use your camera's Auto ISO mode in conjunction with Shutter Priority mode. Your camera will then automatically set the sensitivity so you can shoot at these fast or slow shutter speeds.

A shutter speed of 1/250 sec should be fast enough to freeze people walking around, whereas 1/500 sec is better if your subject is moving a bit quicker. For faster objects such as cars and birds in flight, shutter speeds of 1/2000 sec, 1/4000 sec or quicker are preferred. It's important to experiment with different shutter speeds until you have found what works – and remember to have fun!

Small children and dogs tend to move quickly and often erratically, so a shutter speed of 1/1000 sec should be sufficient, about the same works for shooting athletes.

The Kids and Pets shooting mode often featured in PowerShot cameras uses multiple focus frames to ensure that autofocus performs well, tracking the subjects. For EOS cameras that don't have a Kids and Pets mode, switch to Servo AF (continuous autofocus).

The Sports Scene mode available on most Canon cameras is a good starting point for freezing fast action. It changes the shooting parameters of the camera to favour fast shutter speeds as well as tracking moving subjects with Servo AF and firing bursts of multiple shots with Continuous Drive mode. However, to create motion blur in your sports photos, you're better off switching to Tv (Shutter Priority) mode and setting the shutter speed you require.

The Canon EOS R System cameras include Eye AF in tracking mode, enabling the camera to identify and lock focus on your subject's eyes which is a reliable way of following your subject as they move.

Slow shutter speeds and long exposures enable you to create motion blur in your photos. Again, the speed of the moving object will determine how slow the shutter speed needs to be.

A shutter speed of 1/30 sec works well for bicycles, whereas shutter speeds between 1/60 sec and 1/125 sec work well for cars and motorcycles. If you want to blur a waterfall, a relatively long exposure of 3-5 seconds is best. This also works well for 'blurring' people out of shots when they're walking around, effectively removing them from architectural shots of street scenes or busy landmarks.

In bright daylight, it can be difficult to achieve a shutter speed long enough to create motion blur, even if you're using a narrow aperture. To overcome this you can place an ND (Neutral Density) filter in front of the lens to reduce the amount of light hitting the sensor, allowing you to extend the exposure. In some instances, your exposure might go beyond 30 seconds. In which case select the camera's manual mode and use the Bulb setting.

When you're in control of the speed, you can really get creative with video. Time-lapse photography captures a number of frames at regular intervals to give the effect of speeding up movement or time. You'll need to take a sequence of pictures at regular intervals – find out more in our time-lapse guide.

Cameras such as the Canon EOS 250D and EOS R System have a built-in time-lapse movie mode, to make it even simpler to capture striking videos.

Select Tv shooting mode with any DLSR or mirrorless camera and aim for a shutter speed of around 1 to 4 seconds. Zoom in and autofocus with a light press on the shutter button. Next, fully press the shutter button to begin the exposure, and about halfway through, start zooming out using the lens' zoom ring. Aim to complete the change in zoom setting at the same time as the exposure finishes. Alternatively, you can start with the lens zoomed out, and zoom in during the exposure.

Capturing light trails created by moving vehicles is a great way to convey a sense of movement. In darkness there's little chance of overexposure, so you can use a Bulb exposure and leave the shutter open for a few minutes if necessary, to get lots of light trails into the shot. Just make sure your camera is mounted on a tripod or other solid, vibration-free support.

Another trick is to use a flashgun to illuminate a moving vehicle, so in addition to capturing light trails, the car, motorcycle, train or even bicycle is nicely exposed. You'll need to set your flashgun to rear-curtain flash mode, so the flash is fired at the end of the exposure instead of at the beginning. With regular front-curtain flash, the light trails will appear to extend in front of the moving vehicle rather than behind it.

When working with slower shutter speeds to create motion blur, camera shake is an ever-present danger, especially with telephoto lenses, resulting in the main subject being blurred as well. Image stabilisation can be a big help. Some Canon IS (Image Stabilizer) lenses have automatic panning detection, which applies correction only in the vertical plane when you're panning horizontally.

Other Canon IS lenses have switchable dual-mode image stabilisers, where mode 1 is for static shots and mode 2 is for panning. A few lenses, such as the Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM and EF 70-200mm f/4L IS II USM, even have a third switchable stabilisation mode, which only applies stabilisation during actual exposures. This can make it easier to track erratically moving objects in the viewfinder.

Canon's EOS R5 and R6 cameras also feature IBIS (in-body Image Stabilisation). This can work in tandem with the image stabilisers of optically stabilised lenses, for even greater steadying performance.

Read our Panning tips for action shots guide for more.

A number of recent EOS cameras including the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV and EOS R System cameras feature a Multiple Exposure function. You can use this in conjunction with the Continuous Shooting mode to capture multiple stages of action in a single frame. You'll get the best results if there's a clear difference between the subject and the background, for example with a light subject against a dark background or vice versa. For more information, check out our Multiple exposure shooting guide (available in selected languages).

Another option is to use a flashgun. The Canon Speedlite EL-100 has a programmable strobe flash mode. Firing a series of flashes during a long exposure can capture a moving object at several points along its path, against a stationary background.

Movies can look much more dynamic if you move around with the camera while shooting, instead of having it locked in place on a tripod. Many of Canon's DSLRs and mirrorless EOS M and EOS R cameras feature Movie Digital IS. This is a form of electronic image stabilisation, just for movie capture, which can offset camera shake and give you much steadier results. It can also work in conjunction with optical Image Stabilisation in lenses, and the in-body IS in Canon's EOS R5 and R6 cameras.


Written by Matthew Richards