On the North Shore of Maui, surfers and windsurfers alike arrive every morning at Hookipa Beach hoping to catch the next biggest wave or ride the constant wind. When I made this image, I was hoping to freeze the action of a surfer “wiping out.” Although my first few rolls were great records of fun in the sun, it seemed everyone out that day was an expert surfer. Although I was tempted to leave, I decided to be patient and was soon rewarded. The wind picked up, and with it, even larger swells began to form. My patience was soon rewarded when one surfer took a really big hit from a thundering wave that knocked him off his board and sent him flying. A few minutes prior to making this image, I had set my exposure by aiming my tripod-mounted camera and lens toward the blue sky above the horizon line. With my shutter speed set to 1/500 sec., I adjusted the aperture until f/8 indicated a correct exposure. As a result, I was more than ready when the action began to unfold.

The first photograph I ever saw that used the technique of freezing action showed a young woman in a swimming pool throwing back her wet head. All the drops of water and the woman’s flying hair were recorded in crisp detail. Since the fast-moving world seldom slows down enough to give us time to study it, pictures that freeze motion are often looked at with wonder and awe.

More often than not, to freeze motion effectively you must use fast shutter speeds. This is particularly critical when the subject is moving parallel to you, such as when a speeding race car zooms past the grandstand. Generally, these subjects require shutter speeds of at least 1/500 or 1/1000 sec. Besides race cars on a track, many other action-stopping opportunities exist. For example, Sea World provides an opportunity to freeze the movement of killer whales as they propel themselves out of the water from the depths below. Similarly, rodeos enable you to freeze the misfortunes of falling riders. And on the ski slopes, snowboarders soar into the crisp cold air.

When you want to freeze any moving subject, you need to consider three factors: the distance between you and the subject, the direction in which the subject is moving, and your lens choice. First, determine how far you are from the action. Ten feet? One hundred feet? The closer you are to the action, the faster the shutter speed must be. Next, determine if the action is moving toward or away from you. Then decide which lens is the most appropriate one.

For example, if you were photographing a bronco rider at a distance of ten to twenty feet with a wide-angle or normal lens, you’d have to use a shutter speed of at least 1/500 sec. to freeze the action. If you were at a distance of one hundred feet with a wide-angle or normal lens, his size and motion would diminish considerably, so a shutter speed of 1/125 sec. would be sufficient. If you were at a distance of fifty feet and using the frame-filling power of a 200mm telephoto lens, 1/500 sec. would be necessary (just as if you were ten feet from the action). Finally, you’d need a shutter speed of 1/1000 sec. if the bronco rider were moving parallel to you and filled the frame either through your lens choice or your ability to physically move in close.

Bryan Peterson has been a successful commercial photographer for more than thirty years. His first book, Understanding Exposure, was a runaway best-seller, with more than 250,000 copies sold. In addition to being a contributing editor at Popular Photography Magazine, he is also the author of Beyond Portraiture, Learning to See Creatively, and Understanding Digital Photography. His newest book, Understanding Shutter Speed, will be published this April. A well-known instructor, he is the founder of the online Perfect Picture School of Photography (www.ppsop.com). He lives in France. His book is available from Cord Camera, as well as other retailers.