husker415 Loc: Nebraska

Going to photo a race this weekend and could use some ideas on ways to be successful. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks from a newbie!

Picture This

Photograph the the runners' preparation, start, finish and emotions during the race. Also, keep an eye on the bystanders, they're part of the race as well.

A good sports mode is aperature priority with a low enough f-stop to blur background and enable 1/500 shutter to stop action. Use ISO to raise shutterspeed if necessary, high speed drive mode, servo/continual focus and shoot, shoot, shoot.

HEART Loc: God's Country - COLORADO

Great advice, Picture This!
----Also, if you can commandeer another person to shoot from other positions, an extra body helps.
----Some interesting shots can be made from the ground facing up at the runners - especially at the starting line.
----Also look for great spectator shots while you wait. If there are watering stations along the route, the runners may bunch up to retrieve the water, getting some interesting takes.
----Some (not all) 5K's allow walkers/strollers. You might find some interesting shots from the less robust walkers.
----Contact your local newspaper. See if they will accept photos, and what format (raw, jpeg, etc.). All accept on-line submissions. You never know - they may even be willing to pay for them!

Don't forget to fully charge your battery(ies), and format your card(s). With this experience, you can now scout around for other venues to film. Have a great time - and if you like what happened, post some of them to the hog!

husker415 Loc: Nebraska

Thanks for the advice. I will post pics. Weather forecast has 60% chance of rain which might slow me down a bit? We'll see. Appreciate your help!!

HEART Loc: God's Country - COLORADO

Just in case, Amazon has a large section of waterproof camera bags. Just a thought. Might also look thru some of the UHH threads to see if anyone has posted in that arena. Good luck this weekend!

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=waterproof+camera+bags&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=4341625679&hvpos=1t3&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9335310311242521837&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&ref=pd_sl_1yr6xaq7nf_b

husker415 Loc: Nebraska

Yeah, have looked briefly at rain camera bags. It's something missing from my bag for certain. Let's hope no rain. 900 wet runners would be great to shoot though? :) Thanks for the advise. Going to pickup a new mono-pod for the race also. Sigma 100-300 f4 is a heavy lens. Plus, found out that it's a 10K race not a 5K. More time on scene.

HEART Loc: God's Country - COLORADO

Sounds like you're going to have a great time! Post some pics when you're done.