agility dog shoot

[fidophotog]

Hi! I am experienced pro photographer. Shooting a Canon 7d with various zooms. I have photographed horse jumping trials, dog/cat portraits, etc. with successful results. I have over 40 years experience. Enough background....

I will be photographing for the first time a dog agility trial next weekend and was looking for some tips/techniques. The shoot will be under cover and no flash can be used. I think the awards presentation will allow flash so no problem there. I am assuming a fairly high ISO rating to allow high enough shutter speed/depth of field. I think 8x10 is probably the largest print size to be ordered.

Any thoughts or tips would be very much appreciated. Thanks
fidophotog

 

[tirediron]

Best bet is to get there early and watch them warming up (assuming that is allowed) to get an idea of how the different animals act at each station. I like to set up on the far side of one of the jumps and get the classic 'dog in mid-air' shots. I generally like a long lens and large aperture to isolate the dog, but if you can get the owner/handler in the background, that's an added bonus.

 

[gsgary]

This is right up my street, The last indoor agility event i shot i had to use iso3200, F3.2 @ 1/320, so i changed from my 1Dmk2 to my 5Dmk1 and 300F2.8L (200mm was too short ) What lenses do you have ?
The best way is to pre focus the jumps trying to track a dog at full speed indoors is almost impossible, the 300mm allowed me to have 2 jumps pre focused just a tweist of the barrel and it was focused on another jump, here's a few from the event, it was very had to get good shots

 

[MissCream]

Best bet is to get there early and watch them warming up (assuming that is allowed) to get an idea of how the different animals act at each station. I like to set up on the far side of one of the jumps and get the classic 'dog in mid-air' shots. I generally like a long lens and large aperture to isolate the dog, but if you can get the owner/handler in the background, that's an added bonus.

The dogs actually don't warm up at the location, they get a walk through with their owners but they are not allowed on the equipment.

When I shoot agility I usually have my ISO set at 400 and aperture between 1.4 - 2.8. Like Tirediron said I would get there early to see how the equipment is set up and to get a spot in the front before all the other people set up their kennels.

Edit: Manual focus!

 

[gsgary]

Another tip EAR PLUGS and a stool, after my first indoor dog agility event my ears were ringing, the dogs were lined up right behind me and they never stopped barking

 

[Stradawhovious]

Another tip EAR PLUGS and a stool,

For the noisy events, I purchased a pair of THESE. Nice for a few reasons.... nothing in the ear canal (10 hours of plugs makes for sore ears), it only cuts out the lout things, then apmlifies the rest so you can actually hear what's going on around you... and last, it doesn't take 2 minutes to get them on and off like trditional earplugs do. They may be expensive, but the are a Godsend when you need them.

Sorry to jack the thread.....

Carry on.

 

[gsgary]

Another tip EAR PLUGS and a stool,

For the noisy events, I purchased a pair of THESE. Nice for a few reasons.... nothing in the ear canal (10 hours of plugs makes for sore ears), it only cuts out the lout things, then apmlifies the rest so you can actually hear what's going on around you... and last, it doesn't take 2 minutes to get them on and off like trditional earplugs do. They may be expensive, but the are a Godsend when you need them.


Sorry to jack the thread.....

Carry on.

I use custom made earplugs molded to my ear which have filters fitted that i use for motorcycling

 

[ghache]

i use a headset at the track. dragster are quite noisy.