Shutter speed for horse events?

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Dave Pickett

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Dave Pickett
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I have been taking a lot of pictures recently of my daughter show jumping, but the results have been mixed, mainly the subject is not as sharp as I would like. I set my D90 to a min shutter speed of 1/800th, but I suspect this is not high enough, anyone got experience of what shutter speeds are needed?

I have been using anything from 10mm (right next to the jump!) to my 70 - 300 at full bore.

(any other tips welcomed!)
 
What auto focus point / mode are you using?

You need to use AI Servo (I think it's called Continuous AF on Nikon?) and also really a dedicated focus point - the centre one is best.

A bit of a guess here but 1/800 should be enough, but if you are shooting in Aperture Priority it may be if the camera is selected a big aperture / low f-stop the camera has focussed or prefocussed before you shoot.
 
My camera is set to Aperture Priority around f4, I open the lens up wider if the light is poor. Generally nothing less than 1/1000 for jumping, with camera on AP I've used speeds up to 1/2000 but normally it stays between 1/1000 and 1/1600.
 
am using single point and continuos focus, on program but essentially the shutter speed stays at a min 800th due to the relatively small apertures (f4 or so) Camera adjusts the ISO to suit.
 
Having just checked the exif from a couple of my pics, :agree: with Twizzel

For a bright sunny day, most of the better pics were f3.5 or f4 in apparture priority and ISO 200. The camera used shutter speeds between 1/1000 and 1/2500 :eek: Which with a focal length between 70 and 200mm thats quick enough to freeze most things.
 
Well for my work i tend to use shutter priority mode (unless the light is being difficult) and have the shutter speed set to around 1/800, This is more than enough to freeze the action so I am guessing that you need to sort your focussing out

As said above, AI Servo and centre point focusing for sports is best
 
Is the lens actualy sharp... theres no point expecting a soft lens/camera combination to capture a moving subject if it can't give a sharp representation of a static subject.
 
I work on the principle that 1/1200 is about the lowest I'll go (not always possible though!), and upto 1/3000th depending on the light. I don't think anything over that is of any benefit, so stop the aperture down to sharpen things up.
 
I'm not convinced that shutter speed is your problem. I've just looked through a selection of my photos from motor sport events (rallying in particular) and the shutter speeds are rarely below 1/400 and the photos are sharp.

Can we see an example?
 
jontucker said:
I'm not convinced that shutter speed is your problem. I've just looked through a selection of my photos from motor sport events (rallying in particular) and the shutter speeds are rarely below 1/400 and the photos are sharp.

Can we see an example?
Click to expand...

I don't think I've ever shot a horse jumping at anything below 1/800 and had it come out remotely sharp? :suspect:
 
jontucker said:
I'm not convinced that shutter speed is your problem. I've just looked through a selection of my photos from motor sport events (rallying in particular) and the shutter speeds are rarely below 1/400 and the photos are sharp.

Can we see an example?
Click to expand...

Different kettle of fish mate, cars don't change shape as they move.
 
Have your lenses got VR and if they do, have you made sure it is switched off?
 
Prepares to be shot down, but...I took several show-jumping shots at the Malvern 3 Counties Show. Most were taken at 1/200 or 1/250. Okay, so they're not stellar images, but they came out pretty sharp, so I also don't think shutter is the issue here.

3674703596_aab752d053.jpg


(N.B. from memory there will be some PP sharpening on this shot).
 
mmmm VR has been on all the time, will have to try it off cheers. Pretty sure its not focussing, the jump itself and other areas in the same plane are sharp......will try and post an example tonight
 
jontucker said:
Agreed but horses don'tdo 80mph+ through dark woods do they!? :suspect:
Click to expand...

Depends how fast the rally car was going when it hit them! :)

Dave Pickett said:
mmmm VR has been on all the time, will have to try it off cheers. Pretty sure its not focussing, the jump itself and other areas in the same plane are sharp......will try and post an example tonight
Click to expand...

Make sure it's off, it doesn't stop movement, just compensates for a wobbly arm
 
You could maybe have a play with manual focus?

Always be shooting on your widest possible aperture at your focal length, if it's f/5.6 then try to get closer if you can.

Do you have photoshop? Have you tried the unsharp mask to bring a little sharpness to your shots?

Some advice perhaps, I found that using the unsharp mask in Lab colour on the 'lightness' channel works really well for animals with very thin/shiny fur/skin. Try it and see how it comes out.
 
Dave Pickett said:
mmmm VR has been on all the time, will have to try it off cheers. Pretty sure its not focussing, the jump itself and other areas in the same plane are sharp......will try and post an example tonight
Click to expand...

So it sounds like you are pre focusing on the jump rather than panning ...... OR if you are panning you are either using the wrong focus point or accidentally slipping off the button whilst panning and losing focus from the horse.

Practice makes perfect - Also try not to use high speed drive / fps, use one shot and you soon learn the best timing for the perfect shot
 
When I used to do equine photography, I tended to use (Obviously depending on the conditions etc); 70-200mm f2.8 or 300mm f2.8. F4-F5.6, ISO400-ISO500 and 1/500th upwards.

20080912083152_dsc_6822.jpg


20080911173212_dsc_6146.jpg


20080912083241_dsc_7771-edit.jpg


:)
 
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