rex 8 Posted February 14, 2011 Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 Hi Guys, Finally brought myself a DSLR after 12 months playing with a minolta film camera. Only got a 55mm kit lense at the moment but managed to convince my mate to let me borrow his Nikon 70-300mm lense for a few weeks. Still not got the hang of trying to get an in focus shot of the dogs running......??? any pointers? tried shutter priority, apperture, action mode, just cant seem to get them. was a lovely clear morning sun behind me just couldnt get it! Managed to get a couple I was happy with and still learning and playing on photoshop aswell.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rex 8 Posted February 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 Couple I was happy with... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rex 8 Posted February 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kay 3,709 Posted February 14, 2011 Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 Rex i love sheep i am glad someone else takes pics of them i dont feel so mental now :laugh: Great pics i love the sheep on its own & the group with the tree in the background .. very nice :thumbs: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rex 8 Posted February 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 Thanks for the kind comments Kay, I think they are great to photograph. Any pointers on the dog pics? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kay 3,709 Posted February 14, 2011 Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 Thanks for the kind comments Kay, I think they are great to photograph. Any pointers on the dog pics? In my case i try to get the best i can with the camera & lens which are very basic .. to be honest i use the running man setting for anything that moves quickly I think i could get better results with a quicker lens & perfect light but this lens i use isnt to bad The sheep make great subjects & some of the gormless faces they pull while watching them make me smile if nothing else Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rex 8 Posted February 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 Yes they sometimes just seem to be looking at you like ' what the bloody hell are you doing in my field ' haha! The best ones I took where with the running man mode but still pretty crappy, Im sure someone explained to me to use shutter priority and speed 250/500 tried that but still no joy, any one else go any ideas? Just took this one aswell... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
undisputed 1,664 Posted February 14, 2011 Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 (edited) Yes they sometimes just seem to be looking at you like ' what the bloody hell are you doing in my field ' haha! The best ones I took where with the running man mode but still pretty crappy, Im sure someone explained to me to use shutter priority and speed 250/500 tried that but still no joy, any one else go any ideas? Just took this one aswell... You'd be better with the lens that you got with the cam the 70-300 not great for action shots. Put on sports mode (running man) and shoot away Ps got into your settings and make sure its in continuous shooting...thats the pic with the roller coaster Edited February 14, 2011 by undisputed Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rex 8 Posted February 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 Thanks allot for the comments, will give it a go next time I get chance! Would a tripod help with the 70-300mm lense? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PoCk0 40 Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 Put your ISO up and shoot at the lowest aperture possible. This will enable you to up your shutter speed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MuttleMcTuttle 21 Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 (edited) Rex - a few pointers - Shutter (speed) priority is the best setting for action shots, and for running dogs it will need to be a minimum of 1/500 sec, preferably around the 1/1000 sec. You can get away with lower speeds if you "pan" track the action but you need a smooth steady hand to do this successfully and it won't help if they are running towards you. As some have said, upping the ISO will help you get a better shutter speed, but you may lose quite a lot of image quality at anything above ISO 800. Opening up the aperture will give you more shutter speed too, but the wider the aperture, the less depth of field (shallower focus) so your focussing will be more critical. The longer your lens the less depth of field you will have at big apertures, so try and keep above f8 if you can. That means you will need plenty of light, so while you're still in practising mode pick nice bright days. Auto focus will be slower and less reliable in low light too. Hazy sunshine is ideal. Looking at your shots I'd say the issue is with the focus rather than the speed. In which case you need to make sure that your auto focus is set to continuous. Even then, you may find that the AF struggles with subjects coming towards you at speed... Also make sure that your focus point is locked on to the dog. I tend to just use the middle focus point anyway! AF works by using contrasts, so a plain black dog won't be the easiest subject for it to initially lock on to. Also, make sure that you have a good battery in the camera, and use a fast memory card as it can make a big difference to the write speed and you can bet your life that the once in a lifetime shot will appear before you when your camera's buffer is full... A tripod will help when using the longer lens in some circumstances, but for fast moving subjects you need the fast shutter speed anyway so camera shake shouldn't be such an issue. It is difficult to track moving objects while you're using a tripod unless you have a gimbal head, or similar. A monopod is slightly more manouverable and might be a better option. The 70-300 is the best lens for the job - at 55mm you will need to be very close to the action to get the pup filling the frame, and bearing in mind that the best action shots of dogs running towards you are to be had when you are down at their level, there is often a meeting of dog and photographer, which can end badly (remember to take lens cloth to wipe off dog noseprints...) Good luck and have fun with your new camera. Don't worry if you don't get all great shots - with action shots it's easy to rattle off a 100 frames to get only a couple of stunners Edited February 15, 2011 by MuttleMcTuttle Quote Link to post Share on other sites
blackstaff 488 Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 MuttleMcTuttle - Thats a cracking reply Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rex 8 Posted February 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 Muttle Thanks very very much for a great and informative response! what your saying makes sense and the next time I can get out in the sun I will hopefully have some improved shots. I am still having to get it into my head that im not shooting in film and thinking of wasting films, digital I can shoot shoot shoot and delete review as I see fit. once again thanks allot, im sure there will be more questions and queries to come in the future ATB Rex Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PoCk0 40 Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Another thing you may find useful is if you set your shooting mode to continuos. Then you can continuosly take photos. Most low end cameras will take 3-4 frames per second. This will enable you to get lots of shots, and like you have said, just delete the rubbish ones. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Romany 1,065 Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Another thing you may find useful is if you set your shooting mode to continuos. Then you can continuosly take photos. Most low end cameras will take 3-4 frames per second. This will enable you to get lots of shots, and like you have said, just delete the rubbish ones. This is a good point, its one of the important things for me when I choose a camera, as I am totally wildlife, I have two cameras at the moment, and both have the capability of 8 fps..mind you, Ive had camera with less and got some decent shots.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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