Hints on greyhound photography

Photodiva

Photodiva

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Carol
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OK. Deep breath. My footie club now has a tie in with a local greyhound, now named and sponsored. All the shots so far by people of said doggie look pretty awful. I'd like to get some really good shots of it for the club/owners. Never done this sort of thing before, although I've seen some awesome shots I'd like to emulate. Does anyone here have any experience of this? I've only been to a greyhound track once in my life as a 'punter'. What do you need to take into consideration when shooting a race? I also thought taking a few pics while training said doggie during the daytime might be 'easier'. Any thoughts on that? I don't want to set myself up to fail, so any help would be appreciate.
 
From my limited experience, you'll need a fast-ish lens and a camera thats half decent at high ISO, I doubt you'll be able to use flash, most races seem to happen in the evening (at least the ones I went to did) I found I could get reasonable close to the start which can make a good pic of the dogs bursting out of the traps, and you may be able to get a frontal shot from a corner, but you will need to track focus if they are coming towards you, as they are moving a fair pace.
 
I photographed greyhounds for a number of years while doing photography for a rescue (Picking up the pieces the racing industry can't be bothered to deal with) and I have also photographed lurchers at full speed.

You will need a minimum shutter speed of 1/500 to get anything resembling a sharp shot ideally above 1/1000th. This is a tall order indoors in the evening - high ISO and fast glass required. Daytime would be easier - plus at practise you will have plenty of opportunity to focus on the one hound.
 
What about later in the year when it's daylight a lot longer?
 
RichardtheSane said:
I photographed greyhounds for a number of years while doing photography for a rescue (Picking up the pieces the racing industry can't be bothered to deal with) and I have also photographed lurchers at full speed.

You will need a minimum shutter speed of 1/500 to get anything resembling a sharp shot ideally above 1/1000th. This is a tall order indoors in the evening - high ISO and fast glass required. Daytime would be easier - plus at practise you will have plenty of opportunity to focus on the one hound.
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I thought of your name as soon as I saw the post title.

You ought to put a link in to your 120-300mm review on the 'other site'! :lol:
 
Hi. Thanks for the replies. Have you a link to any of your pics, Richard? I look forward to having a go at this when the opportunity arises.
 
I went to the Dogs LOL
not easy subject to capture as the dogs are small and go very fast and they generally only go past once while racing so its a one time only deal for each race

when I went - I thought it would be easy 'wrong' got a few nice one's but the one pass makes life very hard
anyway a few of my efforts so yopu get the idea

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cheers
Chris
 
Hi Buttkicker
I can see that it isn't easy to get 'the' shot, especially if I had to pick out one dog and it wasn't in the lead! May be I'll see about training session shots first ...
 
I used to have a lurcher myself, and now a staffy cross, both of whom I've enjoyed photographing. Personally I'd be aiming for at least 1/1000 to get reliably fast shots. Sometimes you will get lucky at lower speeds, but it is more of a lottery.

Fast glass (f/2.8 or faster)and long glass will help. Fast glass will get the camera's AF system to step it up a notch and long glass will keep the dog at a distance and give the AF an easier time of it. If you can AF at f/2.8 but shoot at, say f/4 or f/5.6 then you'll have more wiggle room. In good light (direct sunshine) you should be able to get 1/1600 at f/5.6 and 200 ISO. Sweet. :)

The 50D AF is good, if you can keep the centre point on target, but that's really the tricky part. Practice makes perfect. I'm much better at it that I used to be, but I still make mistakes.

Here are a few of my lurcher, EXIF intact....

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and of my staffy x, EXIF intact....

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Hi Tim.
Thanks for the tips. I see you used 400mm, the longest I have is my 70-300mm.
 
@ Tim - I know this is not the critique area of the site but I wanted ot say that those shots are brilliant! The second and third are just glorius! :thumbs:

@ Carol - What dog track are you going too?
 
Photodiva said:
Hi Tim.
Thanks for the tips. I see you used 400mm, the longest I have is my 70-300mm.
Click to expand...


You don't have to shoot with a long lens. The first one of my staffy was at 100mm, and shot with a dedicated macro lens at that. Although the length you need really depends on the access you have and how far away the dogs are. The shortest lens I've used for shooting running dogs is my 85/1.8 prime, which has fast AF and that lovely bright aperture for high shutter speeds. The downside is that the dog has to be really close to get a frame filling shot at 85mm, even on a crop body. At 40mph+ that is going to be a hell of a challenge for the equipment and the photographer. If the dog is passing by rather than heading straight at you then that means the angular velocity will be much faster too, requiring you to have quicker responses to follow the dog and keep your focus point where it needs to be. 300mm will help you out a lot. I tend to use 400mm more, simply because I have it available.

But it's not all about focal length. It's AF speed too. That's where something like a 70-200/2.8 can be an advantage, especially if the light is poor. You may not need to shoot at f/2.8 but it will help the AF if your lens has that option. The two side on shots of the staffy were with my 70-200, at or close to 200mm, and both at 1/2000 and f/3.2

DeeJay said:
@ Tim - I know this is not the critique area of the site but I wanted ot say that those shots are brilliant! The second and third are just glorius! :thumbs:
Click to expand...
Thank you. :)
 
Hi Tim. I just love those head-on shots. That's what I visualise. I have a 70-200L on a crop body, so will plan on using that when the opportunity arises. Waiting for some decent weather to put this into practice! I can see I am going to need a lot of luck to nail this type of shot!

David - it would be Crayford dog track, if I get to go there. The dog ran the other night but under its 'old' name. Will see about going there hopefully during the summer months.
 
Carol another thing to think about, just for practising, when I worked at Southend Greyhound Kennels we had a morning when injured dogs would be taken to the track and checked over by the vet and then put in a practise race to make sure they were fit.

I dont know if they still do this, but you could make some enquiries.
 
Photodiva said:
Hi Tim. I just love those head-on shots. That's what I visualise. I have a 70-200L on a crop body, so will plan on using that when the opportunity arises. Waiting for some decent weather to put this into practice! I can see I am going to need a lot of luck to nail this type of shot!

David - it would be Crayford dog track, if I get to go there. The dog ran the other night but under its 'old' name. Will see about going there hopefully during the summer months.
Click to expand...

I'm sure there is a old fable that changing a racing dogs name brings nothing but bad luck. Good luck !!
 
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