Red Sky At Night

I need some help. I already know I purchased a camera (D850 with 70-200 lens) that’s way over my head. I want to be able to shoot well focused sharp pictures of my dogs (whippets) in full motion running and playing. I’ve been able to get a few shots with the camera set as it came out of the box. I know nothing about shooting in manual but hope to learn. Unfortunately there is not a camera store nor photography club anywhere near me to help. I can’t even find a camera buff near me. So I apologize for asking a question that will probably make all of you groan. BUT if I don’t ask I won’t know. So, when all of you are shooting your sports events (live action shots) are you shooting in manual or some other mode? What is the best way to stop action. Thanks so much for any suggestions you can offer.

Joe Blow

You're a beginner with a full blown, pro camera. Forget shooting manual for the time being. Manual works best when you can take your time setting up your shot. Books have been written about how to do photography. Long books.

Daytime sports will see me shoot around ISO 400 and an Aperture of 8.0 in Aperture priority. That gives me a fairly fast Shutter speed of 650 to a 2000. If my shutter is more than that I will close down the aperture to 11 or so.

Nightime sports require a lot more time. I will stay in Aperture priority but boost my ISO to 3200 or more. I will open the Aperture to 6.3 or even 5.6. I am aiming to keep my shutter above 250. Indoor sports are similar. But, lighting varies between venues. Some I won't bother shooting in.

While some would use Shutter priority for shooting sports, I just do the math in my head, knowing the Aperture I want.

jim quist Loc: Missouri

I shot a lot of collegiate sports before I retired and always used manual. 1/500 of a second should freeze most action. You want to keep your ISO as low as you can so you can avoid noise levels, noise will give a grainy look to your pictures. You want to use the f-stop, the aperture, to blur out the background. If you set that for 2.8 you will get better blur, if you set it at f-32 you will have everything in focus. However, 2.8 may not give you the sharpest photo.
Manual isn't as complicate as people think, and learning to shoot in manual will give you a feeling of mastering your camera. Read the owners manual to learn to use the camera.

For a starting point I think I used these settings and adjusted as I needed to expose for the face.
Daytime: shutter 1/2000 ISO 100 F-stop 2.8
Night, stadium lights: shutter 1/250 (or faster) ISO 1200 f-stop 2.8

If it was cloudy and the sun was in and out of the clouds, or at a stadium where the sun setting cast a shadow on half of the field, I would shoot in aperture priority.

Red Sky At Night

Thank you. I will try your suggestions.

Red Sky At Night

Thank you for these suggestions. I will try them. As fast as movement is in sports and my fast dogs I did not think manual would be possible. I’ll give it a try with your settings.

Daryl New Loc: Wellington,New Zealand

Practice,practice,the more the better.We have young people out with us doing sports photgraphy and always tell them."Patience,practise and persistence".the more you shoot the better you'll become.
Have people compliment us on a shot,and I think to myself,thanks,but there's years of practise gone into that shot....lol

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The earlier comments focused on exposure. If you want well focused images, you also need to use the auto focus capabilities of the camera / lens. Check your manual and find how to set the auto focus to Continuous-Servo AF (AF-C). Then, look at your AF-Area Mode. Assuming you can work with the dogs in somewhat predictable settings (example, running back and forth across a yard passing your position in a consistent view and light), consider using a single point or a 9-point dynamic area. You can start with the center point or 9-point cluster around the center. As you develop skills and confidence, look to move the focus point to the "leading" third in the frame for the direction the dogs move, particularly important if you use the wider f/2.8 aperture in one of the earlier exposure suggestions.

Finally, update the Shutter Release mode to continuous high-speed. Shoot in 1- to 3-second bursts resulting in 5- to 20-images at a time. If you went out with the dogs say for an hour or 2, you'll easily have 500+ images, with maybe 5 to 20 "keepers" after culling. When you have those keepers, look at the image details and determine what worked (aperture, shutter, focus point, focus mode, drive mode, white balance, etc). Incorporate those settings into your next practice effort and repeat.

Red Sky At Night

Great advice. Will try it all. Thank you.

Red Sky At Night

Good advice. Thanks.

Spideaux

For $10.00 each for each lens i purchased cheat cards downloaded to my I phone which i use to program my canon 80D before each shoot. It doesn't take long and you get where you can remember moat of the settings.

Red Sky At Night

Thank you for that suggestion. I will have to look to see if there is something like that for my lenses with my D850.

Spideaux

go to: cameratips.com/cheat-cards

Red Sky At Night

Will do. Thanks!!