Horrible racing photos-Please help me!

I just bought 30d since my Fuji s7000 and Panasonic FZ5 had big time limitations while taking photos of "flying" Jack Russell terriers. I go to a lot of trials and take photos of my friends dogs while they race. And they race fast. I took hundrieds of good photos before but wanted to do even better.

So, this time I went equipped with my new 30d and 20-700 f/4L lense. I also bought 50 mm f/1.4 lense when I was adviced that f/4 maybe too slow for racing.

I was so excited thinking that I will be finally able to catch Jacks in the air. Unfortunately, there were huge storms the day before and race track was under water. Races were moved inside dark barn in the fairgrounds.

Ligh conditions were terrible. Sun came out that day and was coming strongly through four big doors. 3/4 of the racing track was in big darkness and the last few feet very bright.

I tried to use all possible settings and absolutely nothing worked. Came back home with hundrieds absolutely horrible photos. Here are two examples(and they are the best ones I have). Pitiful.

Don't be too harsh on yourself with the shots. Our D-SLRs still aren't quite equipped with night vision, and you were really pushing the limitations of the camera.

perhaps what I might have done, is shoot RAW and manual mode, set wide open F1.4, or a bit less to allow more DOF, and ISO 1600, and set a shutter speed, say 1/100th and then just shoot away. May be underexposed still, but you may have a greater chance in recovering the shots,

But looking at the shot inside, perhaps staying in the lighter area, maybe a faster shutter speed, 1/250th or 1/320th may have worked.

Another way may have been to switch to manual focus, select a focus point, such as directly next to you, pan the shots, and click just once or twice as the dogs are in line.

Indoors is tricky but with the outside light coming in at funny angles and only lighting part of the inside that is not easy to deal with. The second photo is metered to the light in the background not the light on the track so the background is properly (or close to it) exposed while the action is under exposed. When shooting indoors I always shoot on manuel and take a reading with a light meter, you can do that with the meter in the camera as well, point to the spot you will want to shoot to get your reading and set it manually so the camera will not change it on you. As Wazza has said open what ever lens you use wide open, with these quick dogs I would not go slower than 1/320, 1/500 would be the better or higher if you can. Set the iso to 1600 or even 3200 which will be a litte more noisey but better than not getting the shots. The next thing is practice change settting and shoot somemore. You need to take some time to get to know the camera inside and out, Know how to set a custom white balance indoors and how to under or over expose the photos and work with them in RAW.
Practice makes things better and most important do not give up, looks like a fun time to photograph, keep trying and post more with some hopeful improvements.

Pete

ide have to agree with wazza, if the lighting is that bad, get the fastest lens, and use manual focus. just time the picture right and you should get more in focus. just test out your reaction time+shutter lag until you get a feel for how long it takes, then press the button just in time for the subject to cross the focal plane. works with a lot of things other than dog races, i use it a bit when taking track pictures of events i know where people are going to be, like the 3 jumps. you'll end up taking less pictures, but more will be useful. quality over quantity they always say

Marysia - all is hardly lost. I took a quick test on the middle image yielded that a good image is there, just a little hidden. Basically what was happening is you are using you camera in "evaluative" metering mode, and the light streaming in from outside was causing it to underexpose probably by 1 to 1 1/2 stops. I quickly went into Photoshop and in moved the midrange level to the left and up popped your image. The background begins to wash, but the dogs look just Jim dandie. Spend a little time with it, I am sure most of your images will be recoverable.

To avoid this issue in the future, aim your camera down at the running surface and look at what the meter reading. Then dial that same exposure in using manual. You should be just fine.

Your camera was just tricked... and not so much you can't pull these images back up.

Thank you very much for your input. I understand a lot better now what I did wrong. I think I have learned a very good lesson. Maybe it is even for the best. I needed it. I have learned while there. I tried many different settings. Changed metering modes, apartures, shutter speed, position where I was standing, etc. This by itslef was really good as learning process. I know for sure that I could do a lot better if it was outside since I did have lots of good photos taken with my slow other cameras in the past. I would not even attempt to try to use them inside this barn.

Wazza,

I did try to I tried f 1.4 and it was barely making it with the shutter speed I thought I needed. I tried going up to get a bit more DOF but then my shutter speed was way too slow.

psurrette,

I set ISO to 1600. Did not try 3200. Affraid of even more noise. Did try to play with white focus, and so many other settings. Try to get up with shutter of up to 1/500 but then 1.4 was blinking.

basroil,

I wish I had faster lense, but this one is already f1.4. I just bought 5,000 dol. worth of equipment (body, 70-200 f/4L, 17-40 f/4, 50 mm f/1.4, and 100 mm f/2.8 USM macrolense, plus good tripod, grip, flash, B+W filters, sling bag, big pelican case, etc) and just cannot justify buying anything more at this point. Maybe in the future.

croasdail,

I did not know about this trick with pointing at the surface and then dialing the same exposure why pointing at the dogs. Thanks. I will try it the next time. I have been working on the images and were able to recover few of them.

Since you have been so kind, let me ask you another question. I had major problem to even see the dogs coming from the complete darkness while looking through the viewfinder so I had big issue with using AI Servo.

1. Is it OK to use One Shot or should I be using AI Focus?

2. Is AI Servo works OK with burst mode?

3. what metering mode would you recommend for hurdles? I tried all.

4. What focusing points? I ended up mostly with center point.

Overall I am having so much fun with this new camera. So much to learn. So excited about learning more and doing better. I did take some good candids and some awesome portraits. Brought all lenses but mostly used 50 mm f/1.4 since in the darkness it worked the best.

Thanks a lot for taking time and responding to my post. I need any help I can get,

m

Marysia, For action Use AI focus, it works best in burst mode but you may find the first pic out of focus then it locks onto your subject and keeps it in focus. Try to spot meter where the hurdles are then set your camera to those setting in manual. Agian for action I use center point only, it takes some getting used to. Just keep at it.

Good luck,
Pete

When to they race outside again? Those guys are crazy fast! I wouldn't beat yourself up too much, that looks like a really tough location considering you couldn't use a flash. Wait until they can run outside and you're in business! Better light, better angles, more options.

All the suggestions above are pretty good. Being limited to available light is a real bummer...Even in NBA/NHL arenas which everyone thinks are plenty bright, there's a reason why photographers like to shoot with arena strobe systems.