Dog sport event

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DogphotosAG

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Helen
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hello guys, I hope I'm in the right section.

I'm an amateur photographer, a friend of mine that is organizing a local dog event asked me to be the event photographer (it's a dog sport called agility), I had an entry level Nikon but a while ago upgraded to a Nikon d300, since there are lots of extra features Im not familiar with and this is a huge project for me, I'm looking forward to any tips related to the camera settings (I own 70-300 nikkor VR). I'm sure that the manual would help but there are only few days since the event and i don't have enough time. So.. I need low shutter speed (1/320 or lower) and I should be at least 15m away from the dog but inside the field, the weather will probably be good. Any tips related to the frame, technique or whatever you would consider as important would be really helpful for me but what is more important for me is to use my camera with the best way possible so tips for shutter, ISO, colors, tips for blurring the background or whatever I can't even think right now would be nice, plus a light edit at photoshop afterwards. It's not professional but I'd love to give the best result. Thanks in advance! Any help will be highly appreciated!!
 
Agility is fast and furious, so you are going to need a shuuter speed of a lot more then 1/320, 1/500 min and better at 1/1000 so you may need to up the ISO my D300 really didn't
like to go above 400iso
You will also need a fast focusing lens, not used the 70/300 so no idea how fast it is, I used use a 70/200 2.8 VR, it's the larger aperture that blurs the background.
Do you know anyone with dogs that you can go for a walk with and practice fast moving animals ?
 
Helen, Ingrid is right - you're going to struggle, even in bright sunlight!
I've been to a fair few agility shows and even competed in them, the dogs are super fast, and if you're photographing Collies, you'll struggle as they're like lightening!

The best photographs of this sort that I've seen come from a 'tripod & trigger' setup... Camera mounted on tripod and fired by means of a remote trigger system such as Triggersmart where the dog breaks an infra red beam which releases the shutter - have a look at this : http://www.triggersmart.co.uk

I'm sorry if I sound negative, but it's really hard to get good sharp well focussed images head on (which look the best) but if you're just panning across the arena (i.e sideways on to the running dog) you'll do much better, but that ISO will need to be high!

I'm not sure you'll be allowed into the ring either - it's normally just the judge and the handler, but things might have changed since I was in to it?

But good luck - would love to see what you get, don't forget to get down low and focus on the eyes :)
 
HopefulM said:
I'm not sure you'll be allowed into the ring either - it's normally just the judge and the handler, but things might have changed since I was in to it?

But good luck - would love to see what you get, don't forget to get down low and focus on the eyes :)
Click to expand...

When I was involved we had Stewards in the ring too, to check contacts points, but random people is a defo no go as the dogs move so fast and you don't want anyone getting in the
way of either dog or handler, as with the carriage driving I do these days, although I have access to areas the public can't get to, not in the ring except at presentations
 
Wow, thanks for the response! I have been photographing dogs for a while, some of the photos when the dog is running is out of focus and that's one of the issues I need to improve with my technique, it's one of the things I was actually hopping to get tips for. Anyway, I could use an entry level dslr (d3200) if you believe that it would give better results but compared to my old camera, I love the blurred background of the d300, but that doesn't count in this case.

Some of the participants will train tomorrow and I'm allowed to be there so any experiments suggested can be done then, unfortunately the training will be in a different place.
 
Take both cameras and see which you find gives you the best results and any lenses you think might be useful.
ith the limitations of the 70/300 I would try pre-focusing on a particular obstacle and doing burst shots if possible,
I may be wrong but I doubt it could cope on continuous AF, how good are you and manual focus on moving objects ?
 
Helen,

Not a Nikon user nor have I photographed fast running dogs.
If you are not happy with manual then I would suggest using aperture priority and increase your ISO to give you a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the action. Also, set the camera to continuous AF, use centre point focus and burst mode.
This is how I would tackle the event given your circumstances, but not knowing you camera and lens I could be wrong.
Good luck, enjoy the day and try not put too much pressure on yourself.
 
Sgt_Bilko99 said:
good luck, enjoy the day and try not put too much pressure on yourself.
Click to expand...

Sadly when you are the official event photographer it's not an option :(

I do admire people who do it for a living, luckily I don't do that many each year
 
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Thank you again for your replies. Today's photo shoot went pretty good :) the fact that I'm able to know dogs next move is pretty helpful. Only a couple of pictures out of focus.

Another thing I'm a bit confused about, I've created my logo and using it with brush tool but the thing is it's different size depending on the photo, can someone help with that? I want my logo to be in every picture, same size and same place.
 
Gremlin said:
Agility is fast and furious, so you are going to need a shuuter speed of a lot more then 1/320, 1/500 min and better at 1/1000
Click to expand...

What Ingrid said really. For fast moving dogs like this, I use 1/1000 and auto iso to ensure I can keep that speed. Fast focusing lenses too. I may drop lower to introduce some motion later on but only when I have must have in the bag (as it were)

I know its a bit late now but try to frame quite loosely. On a modern high Mp camera there is some scope to crop but it you miss a nose it ain't coming back
 
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We teach our trainee sports photographers to start by focusing on fixed points to guarantee some shots, and whilst we don't specifically cover dogs, the principle remains.

Choose which areas you'll be trying to shoot, pick a jump or a pole, focus on that and get your timing right with the dog in the right position.

That will help your get your eye in for the timing and that in turn makes the following shots easier.
 
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