In order to "stop" the motion in sports, use a very fast shutter speed (short exposure time) which, in turn, requires either a lot of light, or a high ISO.
The ski jumper at Lake Placid in this collection was shot at 1/1600 sec, while the free-style skier was shot at 1/4000 sec. The sports mode on a point 'n shoot camera selects a fast shutter speed for you.
The basketball shot, because it was indoors in very dim light, was shot at 1/250 sec (relatively slow) at a high ISO. In order to compensate for the relatively show shutter speed, I timed the shot to occur at the height of the shooter's jump, when his motion was minimized.
That is, I would like to have been able to use a faster shutter speed for the basketball shot, but there wasn't enough light. So I boosted the ISO to get the fastest shutter speed I could in the conditions. And then further compensated by waiting for minimum motion.
© Jerry Weimar Photography
