What settings would you recommend?

[geetey]

I need some help! I feel like I am missing something obvious but can't figure out the best settings to take photos of our very fast puppy. I know the lighting was getting a little low (these were taken around 6pm) but it didn't matter what I did, I couldn't get a good action shot of Dash and Scamp. I was using my Canon Rebel XT with the 17-85mm IS lens.

Is my panning that bad?

Is my focus that off (I used the center)?

Is my lens THAT slow? (that's okay - my dream lens is the 70-200mm f2.8)

Help!

Here are some samples....

 

[ukcatfan]

First off, panning is very difficult. I did notice that your shutter was slow on most. You should have at least gone up to ISO 200 and possibly 400 to get the shutter speed up.

Kevin

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I agree. I'm lousy at panning. It's also nearly impossible to take panning shots of something that isn't moving in a straight line. A car drives along a road and moves horizontally, so it's relatively easy to shoot. A dog moves horizontally, but it also bounces up and down like crazy. I don't think you could really keep the whole dog in focus except for those rare bits where he's truly moving in one direction.

All of your shots were at ISO 100. As was suggested, bumping that up would allow you to get a faster shutter speed. That means that you won't get any panning effects, but you'll lose the motion blur. When the dog is running towards you, try for a shutter speed of 1/250. When you are zoomed in and he is running from side-to-side, you might need to go higher still.

 

[seashoreCM]

At f/2.8 and larger focusing is more critical compare with F/8 and smaller. Near and far subject matter won't all be in focus at the same time. For the dog coming towards you, it's tricky taking the shot when the dog will be in focus.

I'd say you need at least 1/250'th shutter speed, maybe faster for side to side movement. The sample picture you showed suggests to me that you could tolerate a somewhat darker picture if that is all you can get by varying the other two parameters, aperture and ISO.

Digital camera hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/digicam.htm

 

[geetey]

Where's the hammer upside the head smilie??

I knew I was missing something! I kept messing with everything *except* the ISO! Duh!

Since they love to run, I will just keep practicing (and remember to bump up my ISO ). The area isn't that big and the two do lots of quick turns and tumbles. It's fun to watch and I would love to catch some of it on 'film'.

 

[Master Mason]

Another thing to think about is shutter speed in relation to focal lenght.

I just checked the EXIF on the 1st shot, but your shutter was 1/30 and your focal was 70. That means you have not exceeded the 1/focal lenght rule to eleminate camera shake, and then you add that to a moving target and you've got problems.

 

[tennisfan]

OT but your westies are so cute. The puppy reminds me of when mine was a little pup 14 years ago! One of our westies was called Scamp too