2019 WEEK 49: Action Sequence Photography

I was recently in Moab, UT and came across some base jumpers at the top of a cliff. I quickly grabbed my camera out of the backseat of the car and shot in burst mode as each person jumped. When I downloaded all of the photos to my computer, I realized that I might be able to stack a full series of frames together into one photo. I was so excited with how it turned out that I decided to make it a challenge for all of you.

This style of photography is called “Action Sequence Photography” and is probably most popular with sports photography, but I have also seen it used in wildlife photography with great success. Basically, you can use it with any subject that moves through the frame, especially when that subject has a different stance in each shot such as a pet or child playing in the yard or someone dancing.

I’m sure you’re wondering how to create an Action Sequence photo. Step 1 is to shoot a sequence of photos in burst mode. You will want to freeze the action in each shot, so remember to set your shutter speed accordingly. Step 2 is to combine the photos in any photo processing software that uses layers. Here are some tutorials to get you started:

SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY TUTORIAL 📸 Basketball Action Sequence (taking the photos)
PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL 🖥Sports Photography Action Sequence (putting the photos together)
Shoot an Action Sequence Ep 130: Take and Make Great Photos with Gavin Hoey
GoPro Hero3 Burst Tutorial: Make An Action Sequence Using FREE software (GIMP)

For those of you who don’t like post-processing, there appear to be phone apps that will create an action sequence for you automatically. I haven’t tried any of these myself, but here is a free one that looks promising: Motion Shot (by Sony) on either iPhone or Android.

To recap this week’s challenge:

Create an action sequence photo.
Post your photo during the week of Sunday, December 1 and Saturday, December 7.
Please remember to comment on at least FIVE photo submissions this week by answering the question “why?” in your comments. In other words, “why do I like (or not like) this photo?” or “why did this photo catch my eye?” Thank you!

The friendly community guidelines are pretty simple:

Take a new photo for the current weekly theme, not something from your back catalog or someone else’s image.
Post your photo each week to our active communities on Facebook or Flickr (or both). Tag the photo: #2019photochallenge #photochallenge #tempusaura
Don’t leave home without your camera. Participating in the 2019 Trevor Carpenter Photo Challenge is fun and easy.