June/July Assignment: Action Photography

[Nancy and Georgia Brown]

For this assignment we will focus on your dog running towards you.

I've provided the guideline in pdf form as it doesn't clutter up the top of every page in the discussion. I know we would all rather see pictures!

I've tried to make it as simple as possible. There are things I recommend doing and not doing, but please note that I am trying to make it as easy as possible to get your dog in focus.

Please read the pdf attached. Let me know if you see anything that needs to be explained better or added to make this as user friendly as possible.

Also please state your camera settings with each photo: ISO, shutterspeed, aperture, and focal length.

And happy shooting!

action.pdf

[DJ & Chance]

I also love the perspective!

[Scotty]

ISO: 2500

F/5.6

1/1250 sec.

Still very new to this, this shot was in a pretty shaded area so I had to go somewhat high on the ISO and I had the lens as far open as it would go at that focal length. But it turned out a touch grainy. I have little idea what I'm doing with photo editing so I just kinda played with it until it looked better.

[Nancy and Georgia Brown]

It's a lovely scene. Looks like the camera focused on the tail and not the eyes. Happens to me all the time!

It's hard with darker dogs. If you squint your eyes and look at the picture you will notice that it is hard to separate the eyes from the coat. Because the camera often uses contrast to pick up a focus point it will probably have a hard time nailing focus on the eyes so it will look for something with more contrast nearby, such as the tail, or often in my case the ears.

One other tip that may help you in this particular location: The light is coming from behind your dog, you can see by the shadows in the image. If you photograph from the opposite direction you will have your dog running into the light so there would be more light on the face and this help with the focus also.

2500 is a bit high, but don't worry about that. 

Can't wait to see more!

[Scotty]

Yeah I definitely noticed the focus on the tail. That wasn't my best focused shot, but I thought it did the best job of really showing that he was running with the ears frozen up & him kind of floating mid stride. Some of the better lit & focused ones you could barely tell that he wasn't just standing still. That plus there is just something cool about the lighting in this one.

That makes sense about the focus looking for contrast, he's got that white puff in his tail & I've noticed on a few different shots the tail being the focus point. And I didn't remember setting ISO that high, I was somewhat surprised when I was going over the RAW file. But even with that I had to adjust the exposure to get it to a decent brightness, I also was able to pull a little more green out of the grass.

Thanks for the tip about the direction as well. When I get home tonight I'll try to work on one of the other ones that was in better focus.  

[DJ & Chance]

So much better than my initial tries at action shots with Chance!  Keep at it!

[Joani, Skadi & Elli]

Not that I am wanting to use this photo for a calendar submission, but wanted to thank-you Nancy for the lessons.  I am out practicing today and notice the difference immediately...F4.5 1/100 ISO 220 55m (55m-300m) .

[Nancy and Georgia Brown]

Thanks! Can't wait to see what you do.

[DJ & Chance]

Ditto!

[Joani, Skadi & Elli]

Altho these are not action shots, I just wanted to share how much different I see my photos with these last lessons.  I tweeked  these in PSE, but not nearly the amount I normally have to...I just see these as brighter colors, sharper images..thanks again Nancy.  I am struggling, however, with the "action" shots but have been practicing, practicing, practicing!

[Nancy and Georgia Brown]

My biggest fan!

Lovely photos and the flowers are great! (her coat, mostly the head, has a touch of green cast but otherwise nice)

Action is challenging and you have to be prepared for a lot of throw aways. I do believe the skill of the photographer is more important than the equipment, but when shooting action, and using autofocus, the equipment does matter, I hate to say. But the skill is also very important. Just take tons of photos and practice. Review your photos with a critical eye and pay attention to your settings while you are reviewing. If you aren't sure what went wrong please post your photo with your settings and I will do my best to help you.

If you are having trouble make sure you are following the instructions religiously. 

[DJ & Chance]

These are really nice!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Joani, I love that second shot!!