Newbie question... Best setting for action/fast moving shooting.

Sorry for the newbie post... I've been given my co-workers D7000 to use for the weekend. I plan to use it to shoot my dog racing/lure coursing tomorrow. What manual setting will give me the best pictures? I need to be able to catch my dog running full speed. I will be shooting outdoor on a field using a 18/200mm f/3.5 - 5.6 lens.

Well, for starters, use Shutter priority mode, and shoot at least at 1/500ths of a second.....faster if they're really moving! ISO at 100 to 200 if in broad daylight.

Thank you for the tips... Will focusing on that much shutter effect the detail of the overall shot?

DriftinG Z32 said:

Thank you for the tips... Will focusing on that much shutter effect the detail of the overall shot?

Click to expand...

Keeping your shutter speed at or above 1/500 will freeze all but the fastest of fast-action. It's certainly plenty of shutter-speed to eliminate all the motion blur of a running dog. And keeping the ISO at 100 or 200 ensures you won't have noise in your photo's so your shots should be good and "crisp" assuming strong, direct sunlight.

The only things you MAY want to consider is that using a fast shutter speed at low ISO is going to mean your depth of field is not exactly going to be waaay deep, so good focus technique for these shots will be important. Like a sniper: Aim for the head!

Second, and this purely an aesthetic thing... A little motion blur can really add a nice dynamic to a shot, communicating a sense of motion and excitement. I wouldn't be afraid to drop my shutter speed down to maybe 1/125 (and then chimp the shot) just to see how it looks; adjust as necessary. Freezing motion is good, but don't be afraid to experiment and mix things up a little to break up the sameness of the shots.

Thanks again for the tips. Capturing a running dog at full speed was more difficult than I initially thought. Here are a few pictures that I caught.

great shot..may i know the setting for the AF mode.... i tried using AF-A and 3D and change from 3D to Auto and my d7000 got confused with the all high speed focusing... this is my first time taking photos of a fast moving subject (a motor cross stunt..) .. got plenty of craps and worst i forgot to reduced the ISO...the day before i shoot at ISO 800 and the next day, i shoot at high speed with high ISO... duh!