My first photo on here

the_jersey_lilly_2000 · Jul 24, 2006

I take alot of different type photos, my camera goes everywhere with me. The most trouble I have tho is taking photos of fast moving (barrel racing mostly) at night. It works fine durin the daytime or early evening before the sun goes down, but I can't get my camera to take decent pictures at night. Even on night setting sports. Here's one of my daughter durin day light hours. It turned out ok.

breezeart · Jul 24, 2006

great shot!!!

Sw1tchFX · Jul 26, 2006

For low-light and indoor work, It helps to have an f/2.8 lens because it allows for a quicker shutter speed.

For outdoor sports where the sun has already set, all i can advise is to use higher ISO film or boost the ISO in your camera and pan as best you can.

mysteryscribe · Jul 26, 2006

A good powerful strobe is your best friend for indoor action shots. Not a real popular concept but it works best. With a 2.8 lens and high iso you should be able to get up to 60 or seventy feet of coverage easy.

Position yourself in a good spot inside that distance and shoot shoot shoot.

By the way judge Bean was asking about you last week.

the_jersey_lilly_2000 · Jul 26, 2006

I failed to mention I'm using a digital camera, sorry, it's a Fuji S-3100 4.0 mega pixels. It has the night setting, and then you can set it on sports as well. But it doesn't do good.Usually end up with a blur. I hate the idea of using a flash durin a barrel race, never know what the horse might do. And I don't want to cause someone/horse to get injured all for a photo. As of right now, I've pretty much stopped tryin night shots, and just go with day time shots. I do video sometimes with the same camera but it's not good either. Better than nothing, but not good quality. Are there any digital cameras out there that take better video?

LOL Judge Bean was my great great uncle.

Big Mike · Jul 26, 2006

Welcome to the forum.

There are limits to what you can do with a camera...and how much light you have...will determine where those limits are.

You need three things to determine your exposure.
Shutter speed (how long the image is being recorded),
Aperture (the size of the hole in the lens (usually adjustable))
and the sensitivity of the film or digital sensor (ISO setting).

In your case, you want to get sharp shots of a fast moving subject. Therefore you need a fast shutter speed. However, if the shutter is fast...you are letting in less light. To get more light, the lens aperture has to open up...but there is a limit to how much the lens can open...therefore there is a limit to how fast your shutter can go (while still getting enough light to make the exposure). You can turn up the ISO setting; that will create more digital noise in the image and may still not give you a fast enough shutter speed.

Basically, that is what the camera is doing when you put it into sports mode, or portrait mode etc. It's just deciding which shutter speed and aperture it thinks are best. The problem is that cameras can't think...it would be much better for the photographer to understand what's going on...and make those decisions themselves.

As mentioned, you can add light (flash for example)...but as you said, that is not what you want to do in this situation.

There is not much more you can do with the camera you have. The ideal thing would be a lens with a bigger maximum aperture...to let in more light, so that you could use a faster shutter speed...of course you would need a camera to go with such a lens...because your camera's lens is built in.

As for video...I have no idea. I'm a photography guy, not a video guy...but I'm thinking the same principle applies....when it's not bright and the subject is moving...you are in trouble.

the_jersey_lilly_2000 · Jul 26, 2006

Thanks Big Mike, I'm thinkin the same thing. My little camera just isn't enuff camera for what I want to do. May hafta break out the old Canon AE-1 and see what I can do with it. I'm just spoiled to digital and not having to have things developed LOL

Big Mike · Jul 26, 2006

A lot of us feel or felt the same way...that's why so many of us bought Digital SLR cameras.

craig · Jul 26, 2006

Personally; motion (in photos) has always been indicated by blur. Work with what you have. You may find that night lights and blur can be very dramatic.

Ps. I love barrel racing!!!! Dear friends of mine do Team Penning. One of these summers I am going to put some time into capturing them.

the_jersey_lilly_2000 · Jul 27, 2006

She barrel races nearly every weekend, and sometimes Fri Sat and Sun. So I don't have a lack of chances to try stuff. I just leave the flash off. Flash doesn't do anygood really anyway unless the object is less than 6 ft away. Most of the time the "blur" is so bad that you can't even tell who the rider is.
My next digital will be a SLR I'd already decided that, but that's gonna take some penny pinchin.

the_jersey_lilly_2000 · Jul 31, 2006

Ok here's a typical series of photo's (all one barrel run) all of em blurred, but to different degrees. Would a tripod help any at all in lessening the blur? I kinda like the third one, it's all clear except for the back feet of the horse.

craig · Aug 1, 2006

Let us know all the camera details and then we can give a better response.

Guessing; I would say that the first frame has the shutter slightly too slow. Of course these critters are fast. To freeze the motion I would keep the shutter above 1/1000th. The second frame looks like general camera shake. A tripod would have helped in this one. The exposure in the third frame is what I would be going for. Sharp subject, blurry background and the horse kicking up his heels!!!

Cheyenne · Aug 1, 2006

I love the subject

I am a horse fanatic

I love your first shot.

Can I ask what digital camera you are using?

Peanuts · Aug 1, 2006

1. The lighting is beautiful. I will have to agree that the shutter speed might have been a 'tad' bit slow, ending up in a tiny bit of blurring, but I am also wondering if your camera might have focused on the background. I also like the comp.

3. Personally, I don't mind the motion in this one too much. My only critique would be to crop similarly, but with the extra space on the right side as opposed to the left.

4. Panning, in my opinion, for barrel racing shots, and of horses in motion generally, I personally believe the only way to go is panning (unless you happen to have a spectacular position to shoot, with a nice, fast lens)

So yes, out of all of these, the last shot is by far my favourite. Fun subject to shoot!

Boston® · Aug 1, 2006

The OP said the camera was a Fuji S-3100 4.0 mega pixels. Because of this, it severely limits your photography skills as you only have such a lens to work with.