shooting action in the shade

[My2Girls66]

Any tips on proper settings to get clearer shots? I had the camera(D80) set on Program mode- f/5.6, 1/50, ISO200, 18-135mm lens

 

[YesDear]

I am assuming you want to stop the action on the dog? If you do you will have to increase the ISO to say 800 or 1600 to make the lens faster. Set your camera to shutter priority and probably start at a 1/250 of a second for that dog. I would recommend that you spot meter on the dog if you can.

If the dog is what you are trying to take, the shadows are not the issue, the shutter speed is. On matrix metering the camera is getting a lot of inconsistent info with all the light and dark spots. I think your camera will do three frames per second. Set it on continuous and see what you get. Try RAW if you camera will absorb that resolution at faster shooting.

I hope that answers your question, if that is your question.

 

[annnewjerz]

Does your lens have VR? I don't have a lens without VR, but I would imagine that would help with the blurriness of the pictures by reducing the camera shake if you are shooting handheld.

I have taken some action photos of the dogs with my 18-200VR in Auto and they have come out pretty decent (although not post or smugmug worthy). I don't remember the exact shutter speed, but I know it was fast enough to freeze the action of the dogs with just a little bit of motion blur around the back legs. You can also practice panning and see how that works next time around.

 

[maccagerl]

Does your lens have VR? I don't have a lens without VR, but I would imagine that would help with the blurriness of the pictures by reducing the camera shake if you are shooting handheld.

VR doesn't really have anything to do with it, because if your shutter speed is so slow that that you are experiencing camera shake, then it is definitely too slow to stop action!
In order to stop action, you need a fast shutter speed, maybe 1/250 to 1/500 or so. If you are shooting in such low light that increasing your ISO still doesn't allow you to shoot at those shutter speeds, then you will have to forego the shoot, or use flash.

Another way of showing action is panning. Follow the dogs movement with the camera in a smooth movement and then click- your dog will be sharp and the background will be blurred. You will need to practice this in order to do it well, but it's a very effective way of shooting action.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Teach your dog to sit still and then use a tripod.

 

[GrillMouster]

There's more than one way to shoot action. Which technique you use will depend on what you want to achieve in the image. Freezing motion works best in situations where you will capture the subject in a position that would be impossible for it to be in if the subject were not in motion. An example of this would be a skateboarder upside down in mid-air over a ramp. People can't hover upside down in mid-air, so even though the picture is sharp and has no motion blur, it's clear that the subject is in motion. On the other hand, if you were to freeze the action of a car driving down the road, the image would be pretty boring, because it's not obvious that it was in motion; for all you know, the car could have been parked when it was photographed. If you were to use a slower shutter speed and keep the camera stationary (maybe on a tripod), then anything that's moving would have motion blur, and everything that is sationary would be sharp. The slower the shutter speed you use, the more blurry the objects in motion will appear in the image. An example of when this works well is when photographing moving water. The water would have a soft, silky appearance from it's motion blur, but the rocks, folliage, fountain, etc. around it would be perfectly sharp. Another option is to use a moderately slow shutter speed and panning the camera, follow the motion of the subject. The result would be an image in which the subject is relatively sharp, and the background is blurred into streaks of light and shadow. This is a nice effect that captures the energy of motion, yet still leaves the main sufficiently sharp that it's recognizable. You can combine the above techniques with flash. Rear curtain flash combined with a slow shutter speed would create an effect where the subject's forward motion causes blur behind it, and the flash freezes the motion right at the end of the exposure. An example of this technique would be a photograph of a car in relatively sharp focus, and trailing behind the car are red streaks caused by its tail lights.

In order to achieve proper exposure, you may have to adjust the the ISO and/or aperture and/or lighting to maintain proper exposure. For instance, you said that the settings for the picure you posted were f/5.6, 1/50, ISO 200. If you wanted to increase the shutter speed to 1/250 to help freeze motion, you'd need to you'd need to compensate for the 2 stops of light you lost by adjusting the ISO and/or the aperture to add a total of 2 stops of light to maintain the same exposure as you had originally. So, you could use any of the following combinations: f/5.6 + ISO 800, f/2.8 + ISO 200, or f/4 + ISO 400. There are several more combinations you can use if you adjust the aperture and ISO in 1/2 or 1/3 stop increments. Additionally, you have the option of adding artificial or natural light by using flash units, strobes, or reflector. You may also adjust the lighting by moving the subject(s) to a different location. Some times moving just a few feet or even a few inches can make a world of difference.

 

[My2Girls66]

Thanks all
This particular shot was unplanned so basically I was at the mercy of whatever the camera was set at. For future reference- boost ISO-must ingrain that in my head! If I set the camera to auto ISO would it have chosen a higher/high enough ISO? I was standing in the sun- shooting into the shade. I need to try spot metering more, also.
As for keeping this dog still Not a shot!

 

[maccagerl]

Thanks all
If I set the camera to auto ISO would it have chosen a higher/high enough ISO?

If your priority is to stop action, such as with your shot of your dog, then you would set your camera to Shutter Priority and set the shutter speed to a minimum of 1/250.
Then your camera ( if it has the ability to ) will choose the aperture and ISO to give you the correct exposure for the shutter speed you have selected.
Go out and practice, and you will get the hang of it!

ETA: If your camera doesn't automatically adjust the ISO ( read your manual to find out ) , you may have to set it manually before going into SHutter Priority Mode.

 

[GrillMouster]

I'm not sure that you understand. For the moment, put ISO out of your head. ISO has absolutely nothing to do with why the image is blurry.
The image is blurry because the shutter speed was too slow. You should have used a faster shutter speed. That's your answer.

Using a faster shutter speed will reduce the amount of light exposing the camera's sensor, so if you did nothing but increase the shutter speed, the image would be underexposed (too dark). To counteract for the reduced light caused by the faster shutter speed, you'll need to adjust either the aperture or the ISO or both. Using a wider aperture lets more light into the camera. Increasing the ISO increases the sensor's sensitivity to lights (but it also increases image noise). If you had increased the ISO or set the camera to Auto ISO, the camera may not have automatically increased the shutter speed; you'd still have the a blurry photo. However, if you increased the shutter speed, and the ISO was set to Auto, then the camera would have increase the ISO so that the image wouldn't be too dark.

Automatic and Program modes in most cameras only set a shutter speed that is sufficient to counteract camera shake, based on the focal length. If your subject is moving, or if you're on a moving vehicle, then that shutter speed is too slow to freeze motion. So, you need to use a faster shutter speed. You can select the shutter speed in Manual mode or Shutter Priority mode. On some cameras, Program mode allow you to select from a range of aperture + shutter speed combinations that produce equivalent exposures by rotating a dial or pushing a button.

 

[My2Girls66]

I gotcha. Shutter speed first- then to counteract the underexposure the faster shutter speed will cause then boost ISO.
Thanks

 

[Quicklabs]

Remember, too. VR only helps your hand held camera shake. It will not stop a speeding Lab. Minimum is 1/500. Use a shutter priority and start there. I will be very hard to get a shot in the shade. You'll probably need to shoot in the sun in JPEG on continuous unless you've got a fast buffer. I have to shoot all my "Lab action shots" in JPEG, and I think that's what the dog sports photographers do as well.
Just keep practicing. It's sometimes hard to get a useable one. Good luck!

 

[GrillMouster]

You know all about speeding labs, Quicklabs. LOL
Beautiful dogs.

 

[handicap18]

I'm not sure that you understand. For the moment, put ISO out of your head. ISO has absolutely nothing to do with why the image is blurry.
The image is blurry because the shutter speed was too slow. You should have used a faster shutter speed. That's your answer.

While I think you've done a good job of explaining what to do, to make a statement the one bolded above IMO is wrong.

Shutter speed, aperture and ISO all have to work in conjunction with each other to get the "correct" exposure your looking for.

I do agree that AUTO ISO isn't the way to. Program mode wont necessarily get you want you want either. However, in Shutter Priority if you want to get a working f/stop with 1/250th in a shady environment then you will need ISO to be your friend and adjust it properly. I suggest that when shooting action you should use at least ISO 800. Based on the EXIF provided by the OP, if using ISO 800 in program mode with that f/stop on that lens, the shutter would have increased 2 stops from 1/50th to 1/200th. If the OP had the lens all the way out to 135mm, then the 1/200th shutter speed would have been fine. Also at that focal length on that lens the widest f/stop is f/5.6 so there is no doubt that even with AUTO ISO set to 800 that if the camera choose that ISO the shutter would have been fast enough.

Another thing to look at when shooting a moving subject is to choose AF-C rather than AF-S and use Dynamic Focus rather than Spot Focus or Closest Subject Focus.

 

[GrillMouster]

While I think you've done a good job of explaining what to do, to make a statement the one bolded above IMO is wrong. Shutter speed, aperture and ISO all have to work in conjunction with each other to get the "correct" exposure your looking for.

How was that statement wrong? I didn't say that ISO is not important to exposure. In fact, I believe that both of the explanations I provided in this thread adequately explain that aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and light all have a symbiotic relationship in achieving proper exposure. However, exposure wasn't the point of the conversation, how to stop motion was the point. It appeared to me, judging from the OP's earlier response which focused exclusively on increasing ISO and didn't mention shutter speed at all, that she didn't understand how shutter speed effects motion capture.

If the OP had taken the same image with the aperture and shutter speed manually set to the same numbers of the original image, but increased the ISO, the exposure would change, but the subjects in motion would still be just as blurry as they were originally. So, I'll say it again, "ISO has absolutely nothing to do with why the image is blurry". The image was blurry because the shutter speed was too slow. As I said before, if you increase the shutter speed, you'll have to compensate for the resulting reduced exposure by either using a wider aperture, increasing the ISO, adding light, or a combination of these things. Now, where is this explanation wrong?

If someone says that she's unhappy with her image because the depth of field was too shallow, would your answer be "just increase the ISO"? I hope not! You'd explain that a smaller aperture and/or increased subject-to-camera distance can put more of the subject in the range of acceptable focus, and that adjustments to the aperture may necessitate adjustments to the shutter speed and/or ISO to achieve proper exposure.

So, gain, aperture, shutter speed, and ISO (and light) are all important to exposure. However, each of those elements also has a unique primary effect, such as depth of field (aperture), and motion control (shutter speed). Photographers need to know those direct effects, so when they troubleshoot, they know what adjustment will correct the problem they're trying to fix, then know what other adjustments are necessary for exposure, accepting that compromises may be necessary.

 

[handicap18]

How was that statement wrong? I didn't say that ISO is not important to exposure. In fact, I believe that both of the explanations I provided in this thread adequately explain that aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and light all have a symbiotic relationship in achieving proper exposure. However, exposure wasn't the point of the conversation, how to stop motion was the point. It appeared to me, judging from the OP's earlier response which focused exclusively on increasing ISO and didn't mention shutter speed at all, that she didn't understand how shutter speed effects motion capture.

If the OP had taken the same image with the aperture and shutter speed manually set to the same numbers of the original image, but increased the ISO, the exposure would change, but the subjects in motion would still be just as blurry as they were originally. So, I'll say it again, "ISO has absolutely nothing to do with why the image is blurry". The image was blurry because the shutter speed was too slow. As I said before, if you increase the shutter speed, you'll have to compensate for the resulting reduced exposure by either using a wider aperture, increasing the ISO, adding light, or a combination of these things. Now, where is this explanation wrong?

If someone says that she's unhappy with her image because the depth of field was too shallow, would your answer be "just increase the ISO"? I hope not! You'd explain that a smaller aperture and/or increased subject-to-camera distance can put more of the subject in the range of acceptable focus, and that adjustments to the aperture may necessitate adjustments to the shutter speed and/or ISO to achieve proper exposure.

So, gain, aperture, shutter speed, and ISO (and light) are all important to exposure. However, each of those elements also has a unique primary effect, such as depth of field (aperture), and motion control (shutter speed). Photographers need to know those direct effects, so when they troubleshoot, they know what adjustment will correct the problem they're trying to fix, then know what other adjustments are necessary for exposure, accepting that compromises may be necessary.

Based on the information provided by the OP, ISO has a lot to do with why the image is blurry. The 18-135mm lens has a max aperture of f/5.6 starting at around 110mm. So there is no way, with the focal length used, that you could have gotten a wider f/stop because the OP was already at f/5.6. If you increased the shutter speed and not the ISO you would have gotten a drastically underexposed image. Based on the light available with this image and the camera mode used, what would have been the best thing to do was to increase the ISO. So, IMO, your statement that "ISO has absolutely nothing to do with why the image is blurry", is wrong. In program mode on this camera is your already maxed out at the aperture and if the camera, based on the light available chooses ISO800, then that would affect the shutter speed. Having used Nikon dSLR's for just about 3 years I would bet that the ISO would have been increased because of the focal length used and the maximum aperture available, therefor giving a faster shutter speed.

The issue is that the shutter speed was to slow. Your already maxed out at the f/stop, so in order to get the same light with a faster shutter speed, the ISO has to be higher. So therefor, ISO has a lot to do with why the image is blurry. Is it everything? no. But it does have a big factor.

 

[GrillMouster]

We both agree that the reason the image is blurry is because the shutter speed is too slow. We both agree that the solution to the motion blur is to increase the shutter speed. We both agree that increasing the shutter speed causes a secondary problem, underexposure. We both agree that one of the possible solutions to underexposure is to increase the ISO.
You still want to argue semantics?

 

[handicap18]

Your right. I thought about the semantics thing too. I just didn't like that one statement. I didn't think it was fair to say.

 

[My2Girls66]

In this the type of situation where a lens like the 70-200mm f/2.8 would help?

 

[MICKEY88]

In this the type of situation where a lens like the 70-200mm f/2.8 would help?

most definitely, the wider aperture would allow you to use a faster shutter speed without raising your iso and adding noise..

 

[GrillMouster]

In this the type of situation where a lens like the 70-200mm f/2.8 would help?

Any fast lens, not just the 70-200mm, would provide you the option of using a wider aperture rather than increasing the ISO. However, the trade-off would be that your depth of field would be more shallow. That means that you may have to be more precise when you focus. If the subject takes one step in any direction, it could be out of focus. If the subject were moving too fast for me to keep it in focus, it might be a better to increase the ISO and just accept the fact that it will increase the image noise and decrease dynamic range. Some times it's better to have a noisy shot that no shot at all. Besides, image noise can be reduced in post-processing. If the subject were slower moving or stationary and I didn't require large depth-of-field, I'd use the wider aperture and keep the image noise-free (saves me time in post-production). Photography is full of compromises, but fast glass gives me options. I like options.