How to take digital photos of active kids

A sporting event can be a gold mine when it comes to taking great photos of children. Soccer matches and swimming lessons are prime material, but capturing fast action can pose challenges. How can you be sure to take digital pictures that are truly worthy of frames? Here are a few easy suggestions:

Pick your spots. Just like the pros, scout out the sidelines before your child's soccer match or basketball game starts and place yourself where you think most of the action is likely to happen.

Go to their level. Photograph children at their level or even try extreme angles. It may help to sit on the ground as you shoot. This technique will magically improve your photos' composition.

Ready, set, freeze. Use a fast shutter speed, between 1/250 and 1/4,000 of a second. Faster shutter speeds help freeze the action rather than capture motion blur. If you cannot manually adjust the shutter on your camera, switch to a fast shutter-speed scene mode such as sports.

Give them room. In postgame shots, go beyond asking your kids to say "cheese." Stand back and use your zoom settings to try to capture them at surprising moments. Be sure to take extreme close-ups as well. You'll collect a variety of interesting photos, rather than just posed shots.

The beauty of digital cameras is that you can take as many pictures as your media card will allow and you can edit or delete them as you go. Take lots of pictures and have fun. You only have to print and frame the ones you love.

This story provided by North American Precis Syndicate Inc.