Action settings

divamum · March 28, 2012

Disclaimer: I can take a decent portrait, but I am flippin' USELESS at action shots.

Whenever I'm shooting action, I never seem to know how to set the camera - I try all sorts, and repeatedly fail to nail the focus.

I have a dog event coming up this weekend (we're taking the puppy herding!), and I'd love to get some decent shots. IN focus.

- obviously, shutter speeds need to be high. That much even I can manage.

- Drive on the 7d can go to high speed, no worries.

(now it gets murkier)

- focus settings? I have tried 'em all, and still don't quite grasp when to switch to AI or Servo (or the differences between them). I'm used to shooting 1-shot, so the others are a mystery to me...

- Focus points? I usually use single point focus, but I suspect that's not the best choice for action. Single point + helpers? Zone focus?

Please break this down as though I'm a completely clueless n00b (which, for this kind of shooting, I am!!!).

Thanks in advance!

MomaZunk · March 28, 2012

Divamum,

First for shutter speed. Between 1/400 to 1/1000 sec you will keep the torso still, but the appendages will still have some blur. You may like a little bit to portray some motion. You could also get by with 1/250 sec for flash sync speed as well.

I have a Nikon D7000
I use a single point focus because the multi-point acquisition does not always pick the point I want. I can use the selector to move the focus point around as I need to, but I usually keep it in the middle better points, and just recompose.
I keep the camera in AF-C which is equivalent to canon AI servo. So as long as I have the shutter release (or AF-on) button depressed, the focus will track what I started the focus on. I use all 39 focus points for tracking.

I do use the back button focus to separate the auto-focus from the exposure metering and shutter release. I find I can get something in focus and track it, and then decide when to actually trigger the shutter. Before I used back button focus, I would have many inadvertent shots while I was focusing. I cannot imagine shooting any other way now. The focusing and metering are deliberate and separate.
I shoot in continuous high mode. I can take a single shot or several shots with the shutter release. If I am not careful though I will take 2 shots instead of just one.
In continuous shooting mode which is mutliple shutter releases (not to be confused with AF-C, autofocus - continuous, which is focus tracking), the shutter will release even if the subject is not in focus (aka shutter release priority). On some cameras, in single shooting mode, the subject has to be in focus before the shutter will release (aka focus priority). This is definitely not what you want for action. Even if not yet in focus, you can start tracking and shooting, and acquire focus as the action is happening.

Hopefully this helps a bit.

Dan7312 · March 29, 2012

Once One Shot focuses on something the focus doesn't change even if the subject moves to or away from you.

Once AI Servo focuses on something it continously adjusts the focus on the subject it focused on as it moves to or away from you. AI Servo may take a bit longer to acquire focus than One Shot.

AI Focus is in between. It acts like One Shot until the subject starts moving, then switches to AI Servo. I think the idea is that you have the speed of focus acquisition of One Shot but automaticaly switch to AI Server if you aim at a moving subject.

BTW Servo refers to a kind of motor, a servo motor, used by the lens to continlously adjust the focus.

Neither AI Focus or AI Servo give give you a focus confirmation light.

I seen comments that AI Focus doesn't work all that well. I've only used
AI Servo but have trouble with it. I think my problem is not being all that good at keep the a fast moving subject in the frame very well.

divamum wrote: »

- focus settings? I have tried 'em all, and still don't quite grasp when to switch to AI or Servo (or the differences between them). I'm used to shooting 1-shot, so the others are a mystery to me...

- Focus points? I usually us

johng · March 29, 2012

OK, lets break it down into 2 categories: settings and technique

Settings:

Focus mode = AI-Servo
Shutter = high speed burst
Single focus point with focus point expansion turned on (you don't want the camera selecting a point in the background/foreground by mistake - but contrast can be an issue with just a single point, so use focus point expansion).
Exposure mode - this is tricky, but at least something you are more familiar with. The black haired dogs will be the most challenging. My preference is to shoot manual exposure but if you are more comfortable using aperture priority and exposure compensation then go that route. Just make sure you have enough DOF. You're not used to shooting action so avoid something like f2.8 where you may only get the head in focus. Stick to f5.6
assuming outdoors, keep shutter speeds above 1/640 if you can.

Technique:

get down low - sit, kneel or lay down so you aren't higher than the dog.
make sure your subject fills at least 1/2 the frame - if it doesn't you're either too far away or not using enough focal length. This will also help keep your focus point on your subject. Think of it like taking a full-length portrait. You wouldn't do that with your subject filling 1/4 of the frame so don't do it with action.
acquire your subject and track for a second before taking the photo. This gives the camera time to focus. Lots of mistakes are often made by trying to acquire/fire to rapidly
take 4-5 shot bursts. Eventually you learn to reduce that so you're taking 2-3 shot bursts. What this will accomplish is you will notice 2 or so of the 5 shots are sharper than the others. It also will give you some selection of various parts of the stride of the animal. Some parts of the stride are just more appealing than others
Pay attention to your panning - this is tough. You'll be at high shutter speeds but it can still make a difference. if the animal isn't coming strait at you, make sure the rate of your pan matches the rate of the animal. How? Keep your focus point on the same part
Keep your focus point on a good area of contrast on the animal - the more it's a uniform color the more issues the focus system will have. Sometimes there is no choice, but when there is - select that area of contrast
Check your exposure settings often. You're not in your element and you might forget to do this.
As much as possible, position yourself with the light in mind - try not to get into a position where subject is back-lit
Position yourself also with a mind towards the background. Let's face it, if you do everything else right and there's a nice big porta-pottie or car right behind your subject the photo still looks terrible.
Be a photographer or be a bystander - can't be both. What does that mean? It means that you need to think like a photographer - don't try to shoot everything. Follow the action with your lens and predict/react to good photo opportunities. Don't waste your time shooting action too far away or with bad backgrounds. Wait for the action to get into shooting range in the proper section to give you better background and take those shots. The more you try to shoot everything that happens the more you'll be frustrated by 100s of photos that don't work.

divamum · March 29, 2012

Thank you all, and Johng - what can I say? That is THE MOST AWESOME breakdown I've ever seen!

Fortunately, Bearded Collies have white markings

(FWIW, it's a "herding instinct" event - they put the dogs into a controlled environment with sheep to see whether they "switch on" - apparently it's quite something to watch when they do. Really looking forward to it!) Depending on who winds up handling him, I may have to pass the camera off to other family members (green square setting for them, I'm afraid

), but I gather the tester will handle your dog for you if you like. Since I have never worked sheep myself and am clueless what to do (especially with a young, inexperienced dog), I may well take that option!!

acquire your subject and track for a second before taking the photo. This gives the camera time to focus. Lots of mistakes are often made by trying to acquire/fire too rapidly

THIS ^^^^^^ You have just described my entire action "technique" in a single sentence

Thanks again, and if I get anything worth sharing, I'll post!

zoomer · March 29, 2012

Great stuff, equally important to allowing the "track" to lock in before shooting is to continue to pan "follow through" as you press and through the shutter release.
Natural inclination is to click and stop panning at the same time.

Moving Pictures · March 29, 2012

I was gonna say much the same as all of the points johng raised. I might suggest shutter priority, then adjust the ISO to a reasonable aperture, however.
And one thing he said was ruddy brilliant, and those who don't shoot sports won't realize it, and those who do will likely not realize it's something non-sports shooters don't know:

johng wrote: »

Be a photographer or be a bystander - can't be both. What does that mean? It means that you need to think like a photographer - don't try to shoot everything.

^^^ this.

I may also suggest that rather using the high-burst mode, the 7d's not-quite-so-high burst mode. It will force you to re-compose a little more often. Machine-gunning (holding down the trigger and hoping some deity will aid you) won't do much. I try to avoid shooting more than three frames at a time, and since I've bellyflopped into the world of strobes for basketball, I even shoot out of burst mode entirely.

BradfordBenn · March 29, 2012

Thanks for posting these tips, good things to know and think about

divamum · March 29, 2012

Great stuff, guys!

Am I correct in thinking that the camera finds it harder to track/focus on head-on moving objects, or have I mis-remembered that?

Also, on the 7d, should I adjust any of the tracking/AF settings in the custom menus? Never used 'em, so not even entirely sure what they do (even when I read the manual

)

Dan7312 · March 29, 2012

In One Shot mode the camera can't really focus on something moving towards or away from you. If it does lock on focus the subject will move out of focus, because in One Shot once the camera focuses it doesn't change the focus until you take you finger off the shutter button and try again.

AI Servo is different. Once it focuses on the subject it continously re-focuses, until you push the shutter button all the way down or take your finger off.

AI Servo works for things moving nearer or farther away, not just "sideways", i.e. moving in a circle with you at the center.

I don't think Canon says what the details of how AI Servo works are. The camera can't really refocus that quickly as the subject moves closer or nearer using the technique that One Shot uses. It has to have some idea before it tries to re-focus how far away the subject, to zero in on the subject quickly.

In AI Focus what the camera does is try to predict how fast the subject is moving to or away from the camera to give it a leg up on keeping the focus locked. The AI stands for artificial intelligence. You can tell if someone is moving towards you or away because your eye sees that the subject apparent size is changing.

The camera does a similar sort of thing, as it "re-focuses" in AI Servo, it makes a good guess at what the new distance of the subject is, rather than starting from scratch, like it does in One Shot.

You can control how quickly the AI Focus focuses (Fn II-2). You might think you would always want the AI Focus to be fast but that might not be the case. If AI Focus is set to fast then if something momentarily comes between you and the subject, AI Focus might switch its focus to that object instead of the subject. If AI Focus was slow it would maintain it's focus on the subject.

There are also some settings that change how AI Focus works in the first vs. the subsequent shots in multi-shot mode when you are not using a single focus point, i.e. it controls when AI Focus will change focus points when it has multiple points to choose from and you are in multi shot mode.

All these controls make sense in terms of how servo controls work, but internalizing them while you are trying to get those in-focus shots of the flying saucer while it is landing:s85 is really hard, at least for me it is.

But I've always had trouble getting good results with AI Focus, but johng mentioned one (I wish it was just one

) thing I think I was doing wrong. It works a lot better if the subject is a big part of the frame. It think that's one of the reasons I was have trouble getting things t work well.

divamum wrote: »

Great stuff, guys!

Am I correct in thinking that the camera finds it harder to track/focus on head-on moving objects, or have I mis-remembered that?

Also, on the 7d, should I adjust any of the tracking/AF settings in the custom menus? Never used 'em, so not even entirely sure what they do (even when I read the manual )

pathfinder · March 29, 2012

I find I really like using the thee AF dots array for birds in flight with my 7D. I find just a single AF point can be challenging on moving targets like birds that may not fill a large portion of the frame, and I do not want the AF wandering off looking for and aft for the bird. I agree with AI Servo, also.

For stationary targets I use single AF point in One Shot, but not always a single AF point for some moving targets, especially BIFs. For actions shots of athletes that fill the frame, single AF points might be better then.

Just what seems to work for me.

divamum · April 1, 2012

So....

Never mind being a "bystander" - trying to manage a young, completely overstimulated Bearded Collie at his first sheep event and take pictures at the same time was.... uh... Well, let's just say I did more dog-handling than shooting yesterday.

Most annoyingly, I must have bumped the dial or something because when it came time for our boy to go into the ring, I was paying ZERO attention to exposure, because I thought I was in Tv mode. Sadly, I was in manual - can we say "overexposed"!? Oh well, at least I spotted it before he was done and did get a couple (and our guy passed his Herding Instinct Test with flying colours, which was a nice bonus. It was way, way WAY cool to watch these dogs "switch on" during their first exposure to sheep - amazing stuff!)

I did get a few ok shots of other people's dogs - it was overcast, and the pen was smaller than I thought so I needed to use the 24-70 instead of hte 70-200 (the lens I prefer), but it was ok. Learning experience at many levels, and I think I'm getting a better feel for what I need to do for fast-moving shots (not least of which going with much, MUCH higher shutter speeds). The advice to get down low was great too - best shot I got is probably this one (somebody else's dog - not ours)

ETA: attached file is sharp in real life, even if attachment lo-rez makes it look fuzzy

DavidTO · April 1, 2012

divamum wrote: »

Johng - what can I say? That is THE MOST AWESOME breakdown I've ever seen!

Moving Pictures · April 1, 2012

divamum wrote: »

Most annoyingly, I must have bumped the dial or something because when it came time for our boy to go into the ring, I was paying ZERO attention to exposure, because I thought I was in Tv mode.

I *hate* that. Saturday, I shot three frames of an overturned car being winched out of a ditch before I realized. Chimping ain't bad all the time!

ETA: attached file is sharp in real life, even if attachment lo-rez makes it look fuzzy

Looks like you did OK from the one sample ... moreover, howdja feel you did? Action is just framing portraits at really high speed, that's all. (Which makes me wonder - why the heck I tend to suck with stuff that doesn't move).

You gonna post more samples?

Action settings

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