shooting frisbee dogs

I have been reading lots of tips on this forum and i am trying to shoot pics of my australian shepherd playing frisbee

and jumping in the air. i shoot with a d80 and i was using a 18-105 nikkor lens, i set my shutter speed to 1/500 AND

iso to 400, it was partly cloudy day , all of my shots came out really dark, i tried lots of different setting and all dark,

if i turn on the flash they get better, but then i dont seem to get the fast shooting i need,

i also have a 50 mm 1.8 nikkon lense (havent tried that with frisbee dogs yet, any help would be appreciated

The aperture on your 18-105 can't open up enough to make a decent exposure at ISO 400 and the 1/500th you've

selected. Hence, not enough light, and an under exposed shot.

<br><br>

Instead, use ISO 400 (or higher, if you can stand the noise, in exchange for freezing motion), and using aperture

priority mode, set the aperture on the lens as wide as it will go. Obviously you'll have better luck with the 50/1.8. The

camera will use the fastest shutter speed it can get away with.

<br><br>

With the right software, you should be able to contend with what noise you get when shooting at ISO800, if that

helps. But the main thing to know is that on your zoom, the aperture gets quickly smaller as you extend the focal

length. So, with that lens in place, the closer you are, the more light you'll get. If you shoot in aperture priority mode

instead, you'll get a proper exposure, but risk losing the fast shutter speed unless you keep the ISO up.

<br><br>

Another consideration: if you use the 50/1.8, and use it wide open, you'll get not very much depth of field. Only a few

inches will be in focus, front to back. If you're close, you might only get part of the dog's head in focus, for example.

Always trade-offs!

<br><br>

If some examples would help... <a href="http://www.photo.net/photo/7830418"><b>right here</b></a>

is one that was also shot with a variabl-aperture "kit" zoom lens. So-so cloudy light, much like you described. ISO

320, f/5.6, 1/400. To me, that's just barely acceptable, but it was the lens I was carrying at the moment, and I hadn't

planned on that sort of shooting. When I do plan on that sort of work, I use a faster lens - typically an f/2.8 zoom. But

I frequently stop it down a bit to gain some depth of field. <a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?

photo_id=7091921&size=lg"><b>Here's one in better light,</b></a> same f/5.6 aperture, but ISO 200, and 1/1250.

Notice on that one, that the dog is leaping somewhat in parallel to the camera - which helps with the focus on the

whole body.

<br><br>

Most of <a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=743317"><b>my action dog stuff</b></a> is shot in

aperture priority mode. I rarely shoot above ISO 400, and though I usually use f/2.8 lenses, most exposures are

made with the lens stopped down a bit. I keep my eye on the shutter resulting shutter speed, and generally know

what I can tolerate, based on the sort of action I'm looking at. Mostly, you have to make a point of getting light that

you know will do the job. The only other way to deal with it is through the use of a camera that can cleanly give you

higher ISO performance - say, a D90, D300, or more. Faster glass helps, but only if you're ready to deal with the DoF

issues. Strobes.... always tricky, and a separate conversation.

Thanks for the advice, I used my 50mm lense today and got some great shots, using shutter speed, i would post some but not quite sure how to post pics on this site yet<div></div>

ok i figured out how to add a link for a pic<div></div>

Looks like you could still use some more shutter speed. You may increase noise some if you go up to ISO 800, but if it allows you to get closer to something like 1/640 or 1/800, it will be worth it. That blurring you're getting is mostly from the dog moving too fast for 1/400 to freeze the details... but I think I'm also seeing some camera movement blur, just a bit. Anyway... faster shutter speed! Since you were already wide open to f/1.8, the only two ways to get it are brighter light on the scene, or a higher ISO setting.

today we played with a tennis ball and swam in the pond,

iso set at 800

shutter speed at 1/1000

these are a lot clearer.

really appreciate the advice<div></div>

here is one catching his ball<div></div>

Ah, what a difference 1/1000 makes, huh? Much better!