David Pogue's Digital Photography: The Missing Manual

Chapter 6. How They Did That

There you sit, surveying your boxes of old photos. Snapshots of your family. Snapshots on vacation. Snapshots of tourist attractions. But they're all snapshots.

Then the professional photos in some magazine or newspaper hit you. There's the brilliant closeup of a ladybug on a leaf, with the bushes in the background gently out of focus. There's the amazing shot of a soccer player butting the ball with his head, frozen in action so completely that you can see individual flecks of sweat flying from his hair. There's the incredible shot of the city lights at night, with car taillights drawing colorful firefly tracks across the frame.

You can't help but wonder: "How do they do that?"

Some of these special shots require an SLR, but most of them involve nothing more than good technique—and knowing when to invoke your camera's special features. With a little practice, you can take pictures just as compelling, colorful, and intimate as the shots you see in magazines.

This chapter is dedicated to laying bare the secrets of professional photographers. May you never take another dull snapshot.

The Frozen Sports Shot

Everybody has seen those incredible high-speed action photos of athletes frozen in mid-leap. Without these shots (and the swimsuit photos), Sports Illustrated would be no thicker than a pamphlet.

The secrets are listed below. As a handy bonus, mastering the ...