Blurry Horse Show Photos

[christa_cloutier]

Hi Everyone,

I'm hoping someone can help me figure out why the pictures I take at my daughter's horse show are always blurry. My boyfriend and I use

two Nikon cameras, a D40 and a D3100. It doesn't seem to matter which camera we use. The lenses we've tried are 10-55VR kit lens

and 18-200VR. We've tried different settings/shutter speeds including Auto. We are thinking of upgrading to a D5100. Any idea as to what

would cause the blurry photos?

Thanks

[michael_bradtke]

<p>Christa<br>

if you could show an example we might be able to help. Also what kind of horse show are you talking about?</p>

[wogears]

<p>Yup. Examples needed.</p>

 

[Spearhead]

<p>It will also help if shooting data (shutter speed, aperture and ISO) are posted along with the photos.</p>

[yanavas]

<p>Without seeing the samples of the pictures I would guess that the show is inside, so there is not enough lighting. Both of the lenses are not very fast ones so the shutter speed is not fast enough to freeze the motion. I would further guess that you are relying on VR option of the lenses to reduce the vibration. However, this doesn't help you because VR can't help the motion blur.<br>

Next time try following settings:<br>

VR- off<br>

Mode "M"<br>

Shutter speed - 1/200<br>

aperture - 4<br>

ISO - auto, max ISO 3200 or higher, min shutter speed 1/200.</p>

<p>Good luck. Just my 2c.</p>

<p> </p>

[JDMvW]

<p>I <em>think</em> it likely that the roots of the problem are in Yana's suggestions.</p>

<p>It's usually better to have some noise in a high-ISO image than to have a motion-blurred image (whether it's at the camera or the lens end). Unless, of course, you're trying for motion blurs for a sense of action. ;)</p>

<p>Before we can go any further, more data and some examples would be really useful.</p>

[mag_miksch]

<blockquote>

<p>We are thinking of upgrading to a D5100</p>

</blockquote>

<p>for sure this will not solve your problem, Yana solves</p>

[elliot1]

<p>You could probably use faster aperture lenses and possibly a book on shooting basic sports photography.</p>

[Two23]

<p>Usually it's the lens that determines what you can shoot, not a camera. I think this is the case here as well.</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

[eric_arnold]

<p>blurry photos are almost always the result of too slow a shutter speed. using Auto only compounds the problem. in this situation, the photographer needs to take control; i would recommend spending $20 or so on Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure, which can get you out of auto/scene modes and into semi- or fully-manual exposures. 1/200 might not be fast enough to completely freeze motion, however; also, a d40 or 3100 will be extremely grainy at ISO 3200. so... a d5100 would help in that you would have better hi-ISO performance, but you still have to use the right settings. you might also need a faster lens, i.e. one with a lower aperture number like the 35/1.8 or 50/1.8, to achieve the shutter speed you need.</p>

[christa_cloutier]

Thank you for all the responses. I tried to include a photo but this is my first time posting here and couldn't figure out how

to do it. I thought I included one as an attachment. They are outdoor horse shows. I'm going to go on my PC and find

some good examples. I'll include the settings I used for each photo. I appreciate this help! Thanks! Hopefully I'll have

some pictures up soon.

[christa_cloutier]

<p>Here is a link to a few photos. I'm pretty sure if you click the photo you will see the information. You'll notice my daughter's face tends to be the blurry part. To compensate, I always try to set the focus right on her face but it doesn't seem to help. Thank you for any advice you can offer!<br>

https://plus.google.com/photos/113298172275588108384/albums/6001570951026246417</p>

[michael_bradtke]

<p>Hmmm I dont have permission to view the photos..</p>

[christa_cloutier]

Michael,

Can you try again? I just went on and made the album public. Hopefully that'll work. I think if you are on a tablet you need the google+

app also. Thanks!

Christa

[Spearhead]

<blockquote>

<p>Without seeing the samples of the pictures I would guess that the show is inside, so there is not enough lighting.</p>

</blockquote>

<p> <br>

<br />There's a reason why it's always good to see the photos before commenting.<br>

<br>

It looks to me like your focus is in the wrong place. If it was a problem with continuous focus not being used or not being capable, focus would be in back of the subject. If you can find your focus mode settings, it would help to post them here. </p>

[michael_bradtke]

<p>Okay it works now. It looks to me like the camera is not tracking the horse and may be focusing on something in the background. I shoot a lot of horse shows but I use a D4 so the AF is much different then your camera. But when I used a D300 I set the camera for 9 AF points. The D300 did better tracking if I didn't bog it down trying to use all of the available AF points.</p>

<p>I would say that you should set the camera for the center AF point and work on keeping that on the horse. Try to shoot at f/5.6 and for jumpers I try to keep the shutter speed above 1/320 of a second. You sometimes will still get motion blur at that speed but there are times when that is all you are going to get.<br>

<br />Nice looking little horse.</p>

[christa_cloutier]

Jeff,

The focus mode is AF-A on all three of those pictures.

 

Michael,

I'm pretty sure at least once we tried to use just the center focus point. We'll try this again with some of the other

suggestions here. One thing we don't like about the D3100 is all the focal points. We find the D40 a little easier to focus.

That's one reason we were considering the D5100. The focus seems more user friendly.

[liljuddakalilknyttphotogra]

<p>Christa,<br>

as a photographer & horse rider since well over 30 years.....<br>

I think I read you're using the 18-200 mm lens. I would not recommend shooting it less than at a F8 - especially if you want your photos sharp.<br>

I shoot all my equestrian shots with a shutter speed of about 1/1200 - 1/1600 and I like an f/8 for sharpness. I would also recommend you do some practice runs during regular workouts so you get a feel for it.<br>

But I want to say that I feel your shots seem more than passable, though not super sharp. Lovely daughter & horse - I wish them well in their competitions.<br>

Here's an example of my boys playing - very different lens, but all shot 1/1600 sec<br>

<img src="http://lilknytt.zenfolio.com/img/s8/v80/p1411825396-3.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><img src="http://lilknytt.zenfolio.com/img/s8/v76/p1411850996-3.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><img src="http://lilknytt.zenfolio.com/img/s8/v81/p1411910090-3.jpg" alt="" /></p>

[rrroger]

<p>We shoot horses.<br>

The hardest venue is inside a barn (indoor arena).<br>

We use a 70-200 and 80-200 lens.<br>

I would get a new/used lens before changing camera bodies.<br>

Typical ISO is Auto 6400 but you could push that to 12,800 with a D5300.<br>

It has by far the best low light performance of any Nikon DX camera.<br>

Shutter speed needs to be above 1/500s unless you are extremely good at panning and very steady.<br>

However, if allowed, you could freeze the motion with a good speedlight and lower shutter speed.<br>

Another way would be to shoot the D5300 in highest quality Video mode 1080 P60 using shutter of 1/120s. I do this at 6400 ISO.<br>

The frame grabs (VLC player or other) can be used for good 8x10 prints or website uploads.</p>

 

[mervyn_wilmington]

<p>There has been much advice. Perhaps it is a matter of putting it to practice and experimenting?</p>

<p>However, I don't suppose horse shows come along every five minutes. I would go to a spot where road traffic was moving relatively slowly, and see what I could make of that. I'd start with the highest iso that would produce tolerable noise levels, and a shutter speed high enough to stop movement, unless, as has been mentioned already, you are good at panning. You will soon discover whether there is a usable aperture. You really need to be disciplined in what you are doing and in changing settings etc.</p>

<p>A few weeks ago, I was walking in the countryside near home. I had the old 70-210 f4 constant on my D700. It was set to spot focus and metering with the aperture at f5.6. It often is.</p>

<p>Quite unexpectedly, up the valley came a jet fighter. It was moving across my field of view, and a good distance away. Even when they go slowly, they are pretty quick. With panning I got an image that, whilst a long way from brilliant, was acceptable in the circumstances.</p>

[michael_bradtke]

<p>One other thing I failed to mention. You should be using AF-C not AF-S also check in the menu and see if there is a way to control the number of AF points you are using.</p>

[elliot1]

<p>Although my original suggestion for faster aperture lenses was directed more at a possible shutter speed issue (which does not seem to be the main problem), they will also give you improved IQ over the 'kit' lenses, and possibly enable your cameras to AF more accurately and better IQ as well. Knowing what you are doing with your images (internet use or prints, and if prints, what size) would be helpful.</p>

<p>When using the D40 or the D3100, use only the center AF point. which is the only cross type on either camera and will offer you the fastest, most accurate AF each camera is capable of.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, the D5100 also only has one cross type AF point and would not necessarily be a good upgrade path for you. Consider a D7100 (which has 11 cross type AF points and significantly more accurate and faster AF of moving subjects) although frankly, for what you are shooting and the conditions you are shooting under, you should be able to get very good results with what you have and even better results with better lenses (possibly), although improved technique and lenses would possibly give you the most improvement).</p>

<p> </p>

[eric_arnold]

<blockquote>

<p>Jeff, The focus mode is AF-A on all three of those pictures.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>AF-A is an automatic mode and will be slower to focus track than AF-C. it's a tweener mode that i dont recommend ever using.</p>

<p>Christina, You have received some excellent advice on setting focus, enabling focus tracking in AF-C. and i agree with others, after looking at your pics, they're not that bad at all, especially for the d40 and d3100, and certainly not 'blurry' as your post suggested. i actually think this is a matter of technique and also running up against the technical limitations of those cameras a bit.</p>

<p>in the jumping shot, you can see the focus is in the wrong place, however your settings of 1/1000 and f/5.6 aren't too far off; at that distance, setting aperture to f/8 would probably allow you to focus on the horse's chest and still get an in-focus shot of your daughter, due to the enlarged place of focus.you easily have enough latitude with light and ISO to do this.(in low light, it's trickier, as you can't pull off as deep of a depth of field.)</p>

<p>good technique might be setting the camera to AF-C, and starting your sequence during the approach, just before the jump. as i said before, use f/8. focusing on the horses' chest gives you a solid, contrasty target that's easy to hit during fast subject motion or while panning. it might actually get you more keepers using correct settings than attempting to focus on the face, which may move more erratically or offline, making subject tracking more difficult.</p>

<p>for instance, focusing on the face, you might get an in-focus first shot but the rest may be off. but if you focus on the chest and set a deep enough depth of field, the keeper rate might improve. for a posed or still shot with no motion, focusing on the face would probably be best. the idea is that you have to adjust and compensate how you shoot for the motion.</p>

<p>since you're in relatively decent light, you should be able to use f/8 and an even faster than 1/1000 shutter without jacking the ISO past 1600. for instance, in the jumping pic, you could double the shutter speed and stop down to f/8 without going over 1600. i would shoot in Manual mode with AF--C, using the center focus point.</p>

<p>however, a d40 can only shoot at 3fps, so getting an entire sequence with few gaps in movement is not going to be possible. but before upgrading to a d7100 or even used d300s (either of which would give you a more competent AF tracking system and more frames per second), i would perfect technique first. that way, you'll really be able to take advantage of a more responsive camera before diving in headfirst.</p>

<p>To sum up, mastering your technique will allow you to get the most out of your current bodies. at that point, an upgrade to a faster, more responsive camera makes more sense. </p>

<p> </p>