Action shots in low lighting...Tips?

ninjakatt

ninjakatt

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Name
Sarah
Edit My Images
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Hi... I am slowly learning how to use my new camera on manual ( a steep learning curve coming off a D50 with lovely Auto buttons!)

One area I am struggling with is taking pictures of my horses and friends horses in low lighting ie indoor arenas...

These pictures are of my friend's stallion and as you can see whilst they are the 'shot' I wanted ie legs etc all in the correct place! They are dark and not at all crisp...

I was using a Nikon D300 with a Nikon 70-200 2.8 VR lens...

1- Exposure: 1/100. Aperture: f/2.8 Focal Length: 102 mm
3331263162_18a7ffb74d.jpg


2 - Exposure: 1/80. Aperture: f/2.8 Focal Length: 98 mm
3331261718_f33393db50.jpg


I would like to see them brighter...with the horse sharper... What am I doing wrong?

Thanks for any advice...
 
Need to boost your ISO and higher your shutter speed.
You have a low shutter speed creating the blur.

The higher ISO will introduce more noise, but something like Noise Ninja can get rid of most of it :)

Hope That Helps
Jamie
 
J4MIE_P said:
Need to boost your ISO and higher your shutter speed.
You have a low shutter speed creating the blur.

The higher ISO will introduce more noise, but something like Noise Ninja can get rid of most of it :)

Hope That Helps
Jamie
Click to expand...

:agree: The only way to do it is to increase your ISO to enable you to up your shutter speed. I don't know what the performance of the Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 lens is like, but it might also add a little sharpness if you close the aperture a little, say to f3.5, rather than using the lens wide open. Most lenses suffer a drop in image quality at their very widest aperture.
 
I took some pics in an indoor school last year that needed f/2 so all I could do was get the ISO to the maximum which gave me a workable shutter speed and I increased the exposure im Elements afterwards. Its not easy in a lot of the indoor arenas :(
 
Try shooting in RAW, underexposing a lot (by setting a high shutter speed if you're using manual), then correct the exposure in whatever RAW software you use (I use Rawshooter). The results can be quite satisfying as long as you know the limits of shooting in RAW and don't underexpose too much. This way you can get sharp images that are exposed correctly too.
 
I agree with the above however I had a play with NX2 and managed to get some improvement.
I then wondered about Picasa, just used I'm feeling Lucky and got this

3331261718_f33393db50a.jpg
 
It really is a lot harder then some people think - we have been doing a few indoor winter shows (on our website). we found that 1/100th is a bit too low unless the horse is really still - 1/300th is much better.

we found closing the lens from f.2.8 to around f3.5? made a lot of difference, to the amount of keepers as the shots were sharper, but just as important the depth of field at 200mm f2.8 is shallow so the focus needs to be spot on - having it set at f3.5 helps with this - horses do have some depth.

if you use high iso - "dress to the right" - that is the histogram needs to be to the right to keep noise to the minimum.

A great tip (i should charge for this one:lol:) - follow the horse and take the photo when it is in the best light.

we use manual (the light is fairly constant) and adjust exposure up or down by around 1/2 a stop based on the colour of the horse.
 
Hi,

Firstly, the combo you have there is very, very capable, a D300 plus a 2.8 70-200 VR is a fantastic set up that will yield excellent results.
A bit of a brush up with technique and you'll be well on your way.

One of the most valuable rules that was strongly advised by many a sports shooter, early on in my travels is:

Never sacrifice faster shutter speeds to get a cleaner ISO.

RichardC27 said:
.....but it might also add a little sharpness if you close the aperture a little, say to f3.5, rather than using the lens wide open.
Click to expand...

Not something you will have to do with a 70-200 VR, it's a razor sharp lens wide open, losing 1/3rd of a stop of light isn't necessary.

To freeze a subject, a good starting point is 1/320th so increase your ISO so you can achieve this at least.
On average 1/400th to 1/640th are fairly safe for many different subjects in motion.

Finally, your AF methods, you need to have the AF switch on continuous focus mode (C).

In addition you can experiment with AUTO ISO, it's a feature that I can't do without when shooting sports.

Hope this helps

T.
 
Wow thank you everyone for your thoughts - lots to be trying out there... Suvv what a difference that has made... That's picasa? I've heard of that but never tried it or seen it in use... I have Fireworks (because it works so well with Dreamweaver) and Aperture 2 but have not yet got the hang of APerture 2... I am just downloading it on this laptop to try and get my head round it...

Sporty snaps I had a look at your site - some lovely pic there - the Arabs all look very amusing int heir winter woolies!
Ok so the basics of that is that I need to up the ISO and the shutter speed... I tried a few higher shutter speed shots... they were too dark but have to confess I didn't up the ISO... Rooky mistake huh! Can you tell I've only been using the Manual mode 5 weeks!

Hadn't thought of using ISO in Auto mode... will give that a try as well - thanks a lot... I'll post the next ones I do and hopefully there will be an improvement! lol
 
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