Horse racing photography at night with no flash- A starting point ?

[mgshouston]

Hello.. I am new to photography and I am trying to get some good shots of horse racing at night without a flash so the horses aren't spooked and the flash would matter as the horses are a little ways away.
My camera is a Nikon D100, Phoenix 28-300mm f/4.0-6.3AF zoom lens, No flash.
There are lights there, I just can't get the right combination of settings for enough light in and shutter speed fast enough that the horses aran't blurry.
Any info will help. I would like at least a good starting point suggestion for the gear I am working with.
Thanks

 

[bribrius]

Shooting in the dark without flash is easy. shooting action and movement in the dark without flash is something I still work on. I have given up on getting a "perfect photo" and have reduced myself to being "good enough" when it comes to no flash and movement in dim settings as finding I could never find a balance of shutter speed, iso and aperature that actually gave me a shot I really thought was good.

still shots though, that is easier. It isn't hard to use a tripod and make for a long shutter and you can keep the iso nice and low to keep the noise down.

movement, is something as I said I still work on and maybe everyone does as you are asking for the near impossible?
That is why people like shooting light trails instead of attempted frozen stills of night movement. so much easier....

im just a novice. But find the balance best you can. as you shorten the shutter open your aperature, then increase your iso. trial and error until you find something "acceptable" at least. Put your noise reduction on high though it may not do much good. As you increase the iso the pics, while becoming frozen from the shutter you pay for in being grainy and noise. Try increasing your exposure setting to max as well to "over expose" them it might let you run with at least a little lower iso.

 

[Designer]

Shoot the finish line at the same time as the official photographer's flash goes off. There will be plenty of light.

 

[gsgary]

With your camera and lens you don't stand much of a chance of getting good shots, only way would be using iso3200 and panning but your lens is just too slow

 

[Tailgunner]

Shoot the finish line at the same time as the official photographer's flash goes off. There will be plenty of light.

This is all I've got...that or put a light on each horse and make a light trail photo. I have tried shooting action/movement shots at night without flash and it's really difficult. My "good enough" shots aren't really all that good.

 

[bribrius]

View attachment 64277no worries. it isn't just you. this was my third attempt the other night. At negative ten degrees I gave up after this one I was freezing.
f4 1/15 1600 overexposed no flash high nr macro.. I could have tried again but I was too cold it wasn't worth it. I wanted to get the atmosphere, not the actual snowflakes but I wanted the snow flakes to still be distinct under the street lights. But I think we all work on it.
As you can tell, not only is it grainy but the falling snow makes it compounded. I should have probably lowered the shutter again, lowered the iso another notch and changed the white balance perhaps, put on active d lighting. But no matter I just had a feeling I wasn't going to get what I was looking for. Least not worth it while I was shivering...

 

[Derrel]

This is the kind of scenario where you need to think like a photographer, and not a defeated "snapper". If the light is poor, and your lens is slow, you will need to think outside the box, and strive for a creative and artistic **interpretive** rendering, and not yet anther boring-as-hell, stop-action shot of running horses.

Think ISO 3200 at 1/3 second at f/4 as the horses approach and pass you, panning while "aiming" or "sighting" over the pentaprism of the camera, so you can better match the speed of the horses.

Don't set yourself up for utter failure. Set yourself up for a creative success. Panning at slooooow speeds is the one thing your equipment CAN do. So--do that.


slow-speed horse panning photos - Google Search

 

[Tailgunner]

This is the kind of scenario where you need to think like a photographer, and not a defeated "snapper". If the light is poor, and your lens is slow, you will need to think outside the box, and strive for a creative and artistic **interpretive** rendering, and not yet anther boring-as-hell, stop-action shot of running horses.

Think ISO 3200 at 1/3 second at f/4 as the horses approach and pass you, panning while "aiming" or "sighting" over the pentaprism of the camera, so you can better match the speed of the horses.

Don't set yourself up for utter failure. Set yourself up for a creative success. Panning at slooooow speeds is the one thing your equipment CAN do. So--do that.


slow-speed horse panning photos - Google Search

Yes sir, but we're talking night time while those panning shots are day time. I agree with what you're saying, but I just don't see how it's going to work panning horses at night.

On the flip side, those day time panning shots are cool looking and I've been trying to come up with a reason to go to visit the local horse track

 

[KmH]

The D100 uses a CCD image sensor and has a max native ISO of 1600, so the 3200 ISO is only available as Hi-1.
Because Hi-1 is accomplished using in the camera software a significant amount of image sensor dynamic range is lost.
The camera and lens cannot do what the OP want them to do. some kind of supplemental lighting will be needed.

The camera and lens do not 'see' the way humans do, and the camera needs a lot more light than a person does.

At ISO 1600 the OP will need to nail the exposure so image noise is minimized

 

[Derrel]

This is the kind of scenario where you need to think like a photographer, and not a defeated "snapper". If the light is poor, and your lens is slow, you will need to think outside the box, and strive for a creative and artistic **interpretive** rendering, and not yet anther boring-as-hell, stop-action shot of running horses.

Think ISO 3200 at 1/3 second at f/4 as the horses approach and pass you, panning while "aiming" or "sighting" over the pentaprism of the camera, so you can better match the speed of the horses.

Don't set yourself up for utter failure. Set yourself up for a creative success. Panning at slooooow speeds is the one thing your equipment CAN do. So--do that.


slow-speed horse panning photos - Google Search

Yes sir, but we're talking night time while those panning shots are day time. I agree with what you're saying, but I just don't see how it's going to work panning horses at night.

On the flip side, those day time panning shots are cool looking and I've been trying to come up with a reason to go to visit the local horse track

Sorry, but the vehicle and one of the horses are both at night. What do you suppose is the "correct exposure" at the horse track at 1/3 second at ISO 1600 at f/4. Care to venture a guess? I grew up panning with Kodachrome ASA 64, so I will not listen to this nonsensical,defeatist attitude.

You need to figure out how to adapt to conditions, rather than whining that "those were all shot in daylight". Because, NO, not every shot was done in daylight.

Here. Here's some definite hand-holding for you. panning at night - Google Search

How fast do you suppose that jet was at takeoff? Or the green car?

 

[bribrius]

I agree you can pan them. I don't know why you couldn't unless there is something about this particular track that prevents it. The tracks I have been too, some are well lighted, others no where near as lighted as you will find on our average street panning cars. Depends on this particular track he is going to I suppose. And he wants stills not panning.

only suggestion, go to a track In the daytime!!!!!

 

[Tailgunner]

This is the kind of scenario where you need to think like a photographer, and not a defeated "snapper". If the light is poor, and your lens is slow, you will need to think outside the box, and strive for a creative and artistic **interpretive** rendering, and not yet anther boring-as-hell, stop-action shot of running horses.

Think ISO 3200 at 1/3 second at f/4 as the horses approach and pass you, panning while "aiming" or "sighting" over the pentaprism of the camera, so you can better match the speed of the horses.

Don't set yourself up for utter failure. Set yourself up for a creative success. Panning at slooooow speeds is the one thing your equipment CAN do. So--do that.


slow-speed horse panning photos - Google Search

Yes sir, but we're talking night time while those panning shots are day time. I agree with what you're saying, but I just don't see how it's going to work panning horses at night.

On the flip side, those day time panning shots are cool looking and I've been trying to come up with a reason to go to visit the local horse track

Sorry, but the vehicle and one of the horses are both at night. What do you suppose is the "correct exposure" at the horse track at 1/3 second at ISO 1600 at f/4. Care to venture a guess? I grew up panning with Kodachrome ASA 64, so I will not listen to this nonsensical,defeatist attitude.

You need to figure out how to adapt to conditions, rather than whining that "those were all shot in daylight". Because, NO, not every shot was done in daylight.

Here. Here's some definite hand-holding for you. panning at night - Google Search

How fast do you suppose that jet was at takeoff? Or the green car?

Derrel, I'm just trying to figure out how it's done. Horses don't have lights like jet planes or cars and they reflect very little light as well. I tried searching for night time horse panning and couldn't find anything.

 

[Tailgunner]

Found some night horse racing photos taken from a local race track and the lighting doesn't look all that bad...decent enough to get a sharp images at night, at least at our local track.

Night at lone star park

FYI: Check out the photography rules before heading out to the race track. Our track seems to frown on Professional gear...which is typical of most major sports.

 

[fokker]

I just don't see how it's going to work panning horses at night.

Pretty much exactly the same as during the day - what's not to get?

 

[Jetmugg]

Those "Night at lone star park" photos look pretty good. The photog on that thread says that they used a D300, shooting ISO 1000-3200, and with a 70-200 F2.8 lens.