Tips for shooting a marathon

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Jamie
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Hi guys,

My dads running club have asked me if I can take few snaps of them in a couple of marathons in the next few months. Just wanted to see if anyone can give me a few tips fairly new to photography.

Thanks Jamie
 
Nikon d3100 with kit lens and 55-200mm non vr
 
I would go with the 55-200mm, don't know if you have the possibility of changing spots quite easy, but do so if you can and keep an eye on your backgrounds, monopod can be useful, and practice a bit of panning with people running, you can get great shots that way. Careful with your shutting speed or you will have lots of blurry pictures. Presetting your camera beforehand on the spot the runners will pass will help a lot too.
 
What kind of shutter speeds should I be looking at. Also what's a good monopod to invest in. Not to pricey tho.
 
I would shoot you manual mode to be honest. It depend on the time of the day ..... I would shoot with a fast shutter speed and aperture wise it really depend what you want and the light available. ISO wise either use auto ISO or manually set it yourself and adjust when needed.

Auto ISO on Nikon system is very good.
 
For running you want a fairly high shutter speed and can use a fairly wide aperture to blur the background. Whether you use a short lens or a long lens depends on where you are taking photos from, both have their uses.

You don't need a monopod, although if you are covering the London Marathon and have to try to take shots of everyone and are out on course from before 9am to 6pm, then it gets useful.
 
I'm a volunteer photographer for our local Parkrun and being a relative beginner have had mixed success.
Things I've learned from my experience;
Use shutter priority if you're not comfortable with fully manual mode (I'm not ;))
Use servo focus.
Use auto ISO.
Runners might not move particularly fast but their limbs do so unless you want to add an element of motion, use a high shutter speed.
Burst mode is a good way of getting more keepers but if it's a busy race you'll soon amass a huge amount of shots, I've taken over 500 during a multi-loop 5k with just 90 participants! :eek:
Choose your position carefully to give yourself a clear view of the runners approaching from a decent distance, being a marathon course you'll find plenty of good places to camp.
I agree about not using a monopod, sometimes you'll need to suddenly grab a shot and hand-holding will be much easier.
Have fun! :cool:
 
Thanks for your help I'm out this weekend I upload the shots so I can see what you think
 
Don't take them all standing up straight either, experiment with crouching down varying amounts, or even dropping to one knee (take a beanbag or something to kneel on ;)).
Look forward to seeing them! :thumbs:
 
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