tnste Loc: New Westminster, BC

I thought your pictures were quite decent. As someone else said, you are being too hard on yourself. However, when it comes to sports photography, you will need the longer lens and typically they will cost more than the camera. That is just the way it is. I have a Canon 7D and it is reputed to be the best camera for sports and wildlife photography. In fact it was built for sports and wildlife photography. I also have a Canon 70-200 L series lens which is tack sharp but costs in the area of $1300 for an f4 lens. Depending on how far away you are from the subject you might get away with a lens of this focal length. You do not necessarily need to go with a prime lens. I also have a 150-500 mm Sigma lens which actually costs less than the Canon 70-200 and it takes great pictures.

kanap Loc: Southwest Florida

How do you find this information about the OP's photo? Must you first import it into your (my) PP program?

Don Fischer Loc: Antelope, Ore

I don't shoot a Canon so you might not be able to do what I'd do. I think you need a high res camera. Mine is 12 pix and I can really crop out a lot of a photo and still get a good image. Mostly I've shot my camera on A setting. I turn off auto ISO. I start at about 640 ISO and do a test shot. If I need more, I up it a bit. These are done before the event start's. I've tried different aperture's but have decided somewhere between 6.3 and 8 work best for me. One thing I screw up to often is to set white balance. I don';t think I would try using M on the moving animals. But then again I've just started trying M. Oh yes, use continuous Servo and continuations focus and get the action in the center of the frame and crop later. Someone else mentioned to first get the shot, then crop later. That is what I do. Couldn't get the knack of using cont focus and trying to keep focus on an object that is moving quickly while trying to frame a photo, worry about that later, get the shot first.

I've done couple rodeo's around here but it was in the film day's. I also had a 70-300 lens as my longest lens, it works unless you have a really huge arena. Get right on the edge of the arena and as close as you can to where the action will start but still give a good front shot. If I did one now, I believe I'd take two lens, my 70-300 and my 170-500, I suspect the 70-300 would get used the most. Get the shot and crop it later. One more thing, shoot in burst's. I usually get about 4 burst's on one dog before turning to the other dog. You might try getting 6 or 7 shot's on burst. I have never been able to get the better shot's by timing my shot's, get some really nice one's shooting in burst's. Bear in mind that shooting in burst's allow's you to get body and leg position's you'll never be able to see with your eye, they are here and gone to fast.