Panning with dogs.

CaveDweller

CaveDweller

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Paul
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I just can't seem to get it right. I have two Border Collies and I love them, and just like any other dog owner with a camera I like to photograph them but my shots with panning don't do the dogs any justice:lol: I understand I won't be able to get a full sharp body shot of the dogs due to them running but I atleast want a sharp shot of the face and a nice sense of movement with the rest of the shot.

I tried panning yesterday and I was going from one extreme to the other, a shot that was completely blurred to one that even the background was sharp. I was using shutter priority,trying shutter speeds between 1/80 and 1/150, ISO100, IS on and continous AF. I was also panning with my body, not just turning the camera.

Can anyone give me any pointers on different techniques or settings for a nice sharp shot of the head of the dog and the rest to look like it's meant to...running? or is it just a case of doing what I'm doing, trying different shutter speeds and a lot of trial and error.

I can upload my attempts later today. Not at home at the minute.

Cheers
 
Problem is that all of the dog is moving up and down as well as forwards, unlike a car or bike. Your best be may be to shoot in low light, where a shot of, say, 1/30th gives you some movement blur, and then use second curtain flash to freeze things. Otherwise, take a few hundred shots and hope that you get a few where the heads are moving relatively smoothly. Or teach them to ride a tandem. :)
 
Yeah I noticed that with the movement once I started shooting. I was like "oh this this going to be hard" lol. I will have a play around using the flash as you said. Cheers
 
Paul, one of the major benefits of digital over film is the fast frame rate when shooting, which will let you machine gun in the hope that there will be a few keepers among the (possibly) hundreds of failures. Another of the benefits is that you don't have to print (or even store!) those failures. As Jon said, shoot loads - you're bound to get some keepers eventually!
 
Try turning your IS off. Then practice and practice again! You'll eventually find a technique that works for you, it just takes time.
 
I would increase shutter speed unless you really want blurred back ground the movement of the dogs running at all needs fast speed to freeze plus in my experience you often need longer focal length which needs speed any way

Good luck
 
I would aim for a shutter speed of at least 1/500 for moving dogs, continuous focus and possibly spot metering depending on the colour of the dog. Is there any type of shot in particular you are aiming for?
 
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