Night at Dog track-any tips?

dinneenp

Hi,
I'm going to the Dogs in Galway tomorrow night. Just wondering if anyone has any tips-best place to position etc.
I'd say use burst mode for best chance of getting good shot, high ISO, high shutter speed, flash off if possible, try a few different locations( corner, straight etc).

What metering would be best( I have Canon S90 and panasonic FZ28
cheers
pa

PCPhoto

dinneenp wrote: »

Hi,
I'm going to the Dogs in Galway tomorrow night. Just wondering if anyone has any tips-best place to position etc.
I'd say use burst mode for best chance of getting good shot, high ISO, high shutter speed, flash off if possible, try a few different locations( corner, straight etc).

What metering would be best( I have Canon S90 and panasonic FZ28
cheers
pa

this is not even an option ....NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED.

dogs will be at their slowest turning a bend ...most dog track photos are turning the last bend before the final straight (or even on the final straight)

depending on the available light and the amient light ..... shutter speeds of 160/sec and 200/sec should be enough.

good luck with it - I've done it before with a 300mm f2.8 and Canon 1D mk2...its not easy....8fps.

jpb1974

The greyhound track is a great place for photos... but as the previous person said "No Flash photography".

This can make life very difficult depending on how well the place it lit.. or not. Our local track is very dimly lit... my lenses struggled to autofocus and shutter speeds were slow even at high ISO.

The pic below was taken @ F2.8 - ISO1600 - 0.067sec handheld... it's a miracle it's not majorly soft



Most of the dog photos were poor... shutter speeds were too slow

pixbyjohn

Use manual focus

davmigil

Don't place a bet on a limping dog

Borderfox

something like an 85mm f1.8 on a dslr will give you a high enough shutter speed rather than the larger telephotos lenses

Fenster

AFAIK the Galway greyhound track does not allow any photography. I mean, there's a great big sign on your right on the way in. Have you cleared this with the owners/organizers?

nilhg

Fenster wrote: »

AFAIK the Galway greyhound track does not allow any photography. I mean, there's a great big sign on your right on the way in. Have you cleared this with the owners/organizers?

I've only been to Galway a couple of times but generally those signs are to put off the people with compact cameras with auto flash, I'd advise the OP to ring the racing office, tell them what you're planning and that you understand the no flash rule, then I doubt if there'll be any problem.

If you can get there early, a bit before the weigh in you might get some nice character shots.

Fenster

I'm glad to see I'm wrong.

dinneenp

I found it very hard to get a good shot, they're very quick feckers! I phoned and they confirmed photos are okay but no flash. Guy gave out to me for the 'red' light from the camera as well.
It was very quiet so didn't get as many crowd pics as I'd have liked
Here's some samples (one or two almost good but not in proper focus)
1.

2.


3.


4. I like this one

nilhg

Good idea to use the photo finish light as a "flash". It'll be much easier to get sharp shots when the evenings lengthen, mightn't have the same atmosphere though.