Dogs

[KartGirlsMom]

Has anyone photographed agility dog trials? I'm going to give it a try this weekend. Any helpful hints? I photographed Newfoundland water rescue trials last weekend and got very few keepers-black dog moving fast on water on a sunny day--yikes.

[RichardtheSane]

I've done a bit of agility shooting.

Trying to use AF to track agility dogs is possible, but takes practise.

If you want keepers quickly then with a bit of preparation you will do OK. Before even raising the camera spend at least half an hour watching. Look for where the 'action' happens. Usually jumps and (although much harder) weaves are good.

Then find a spot where you can pre focus at a point where the action will occur, for jumps you can start with the dog running towards you and pre-focus on the bar. Weaves you can focus on the last pole. Try to keep you shutter speed above 1/500th ideally at 1/1000th with a medium aperture to keep all the dogs face sharp. You will still need to practise and the first few shots you will be lucky to nail focus, but persevere!

The long jumps are fun to shoot from the side, because you can get some great 'flying dog' shots then. For those the dog will usually have a run up, so use AI servo and start tracking as the doc approaches. Fire the first shot as the dog bunches up to jump and the second right after. If you get chance a third onlanding would be good, but the time from start to finish on a jump is usually less than a second...

Metering wise I would meter off the grass or a grey card and set exposure manually, that will mostly eliminate the problems of black dog looking like black blob, but if you want shoot raw and still under expose a little, this will help you keep shutter speeds up and also avoid blowing highlights. When using manal metering keep an eye on the exposure meter in the viewfinder and if the weather changes (bit of cloud, etc) remember to change your exposure!

Finally, try to shoot from dogs eye level as much as possible. This will help turn a nice shot into a great shot.

Hope this helps some

[Moppie]

Don't forget the owners!

If they run them the same way they do here then the dog owners/handlers will most likely run along side with the dog, and may even go trough and over many of the obstacles.

[KartGirlsMom]

Thank you guys. Now my daughter tells me that she wants me to come take pictures at her diving meet this weekend. sigh, I was looking forward to the doggies. Oh well, I've never tried to take diving pictures either :lol: . Know anything about shooting divng? I've photographed some gymnastics so I suppose it's similar.

[Andy_T]

I've photographed some gymnastics so I suppose it's similar.

... but maybe under water?

Do they dive in a tank that has glass walls? Then maybe a polarizer might come handy.

Ask your daughter what kind of shots she expects.

Maybe there'll be more opportunities with the doggies...

Best regards,
Andy