Dog agility phots

[viva2]

From 2009-12-27

ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/80 sec
Aperture: 6.3
Focal Length: 55mm
Flash Used: No

Please help with suggestions. I will be taking a lot of action photos since my dog is in agility.

[lissykeeper]

I think dog agility is one of the coolest things. We tried to teach our corgie agility, but she will only jump through the hoop if we throw a snack through it first. Ha Ha!

As with any sort of sport, your going to need a fast shutter speed if you want to stop the action. I would suggest starting out by using shutter priority (on your camera that is denoted by a TV on the dial) and choosing a shutter speed of 250 or 320. This way, your camera can adjust the other settings. After a few test shots, you should be able to get an idea if you can lower the shutter speed based on your dogs quickness and speed.

A quick search on flickr found this photo And by checking the more information tag you can see the camera settings. The Shutter speed is 1/320 and the iso is at 800 apeture was 5.6

As far as composition goes, I would suggest shooting either in front of your dog or from the side. The back end is not as exciting to me.

Good luck with both the agility and the shots! I would love to see more when you have a chance to experiment!

[Chip]

The only things I might add to Leona's advice are (1) shoot from down at your dog's level - kneeling if necessary; (2) if at all possible, avoid shooting into the sun, since this puts a shadow on the part of your dog facing the camera. If you can't avoid shooting into the sun, then spot metering on your dog should work pretty well; and (3) try to get the whole jump in your photo, too.

Good luck!