Suggested setting for photographing runners

[noonin]

Hi,

My wife coaches High School Cross Country track, and I volunteered to take a few pictures of their next meet. It will be taking place in Golden Gate Park (S.F.), so there probably won't be alot of extreme bright light. I want to be able to capture the kids in focus, probably from in front of them, slightly off to the side. Should I use P mode, Sunny WB and let the camera decide ISO, apperature and shutter speed, of go to Tv, ISO 100, and pick a shutter speed? If the latter, which speed? I have not yet tried Hyperfocal, is that a good option for a moving subject?
Thanks!!
--
My gallery G3 so far... http://www.pbase.com/noonin

 

[noonin]

Hi,
My wife coaches High School Cross Country track, and I volunteered
to take a few pictures of their next meet. It will be taking place
in Golden Gate Park (S.F.), so there probably won't be alot of
extreme bright light. I want to be able to capture the kids in
focus, probably from in front of them, slightly off to the side.
Should I use P mode, Sunny WB and let the camera decide ISO,
apperature and shutter speed, of go to Tv, ISO 100, and pick a
shutter speed? If the latter, which speed? I have not yet tried
Hyperfocal, is that a good option for a moving subject?
Thanks!!
--
My gallery G3 so far... http://www.pbase.com/noonin

--
My gallery G3 so far... http://www.pbase.com/noonin

 

[Phil-B G5]

I manage to photo a mini train coming towards me and the AF got it on single. But I reckon the best way is to manual focus before and then get them as they run past that particlur point. Have they got a few laps to do if so try both or focus bracket as well.
--
Phil
Lancashire, England
http://philb.fotopic.net/

 

[bac522]

Yup, MF is the best way to go. I did that at a recent ferrari event and while taking pictures of the ferrari racing, some over a 100 MPH, for the most part I caught the cars in foucs.

http://home.comcast.net/~bac522/ferrari/index.html

I manage to photo a mini train coming towards me and the AF got it
on single. But I reckon the best way is to manual focus before and
then get them as they run past that particlur point. Have they got
a few laps to do if so try both or focus bracket as well.
--
Phil
Lancashire, England
http://philb.fotopic.net/

 

[noonin]

Sounds good, I'll try having my wife stand at a marked point to get a focus and try snapping the shutter when the kids reach it. I assume a tripod will help (I just don't them to have high expectations if I look too serious with a tripod!). What about shutter speed? Is P mode ISO 100 good enough at selecting the right combination app. speed? (like I can do better ha, ha, ha!)

http://home.comcast.net/~bac522/ferrari/index.html

I manage to photo a mini train coming towards me and the AF got it
on single. But I reckon the best way is to manual focus before and
then get them as they run past that particlur point. Have they got
a few laps to do if so try both or focus bracket as well.
--
Phil
Lancashire, England
http://philb.fotopic.net/

--
My gallery G3 so far... http://www.pbase.com/noonin

 

[Man-Fai Wong]

Do you plan to use an external flash? That would help if light is low inside the park. If no external flash, consider using the internal flash if you think you'll be w/in 15ft of the kids.

If you'll have multiple opps w/ time to switch modes, you might want to try both P mode and Tv mode w/ faster shutter speed like 1/125sec to help prevent motion blur. You will very likely need flash w/ the faster shutter speed though. In either case, use preset manual focus at > =15ft assuming the kids will be > 10ft away from you during shooting.

If you don't zoom much for the shots, you'll probably get everyone in focus that way.

Man

http://home.comcast.net/~bac522/ferrari/index.html

I manage to photo a mini train coming towards me and the AF got it
on single. But I reckon the best way is to manual focus before and
then get them as they run past that particlur point. Have they got
a few laps to do if so try both or focus bracket as well.
--
Phil
Lancashire, England
http://philb.fotopic.net/

--
My gallery G3 so far... http://www.pbase.com/noonin

 

[Man-Fai Wong]

If there's enough light to avoid using any flash, I'd try the high speed continuous mode. If you're using internal flash, you can still use the normal continuous mode, but not w/ an external flash.

And as suggested elsewhere to reduce shutter lag, use a preset white balance instead of relying on the auto WB.

Man

Do you plan to use an external flash? That would help if light is
low inside the park. If no external flash, consider using the
internal flash if you think you'll be w/in 15ft of the kids.

If you'll have multiple opps w/ time to switch modes, you might
want to try both P mode and Tv mode w/ faster shutter speed like
1/125sec to help prevent motion blur. You will very likely need
flash w/ the faster shutter speed though. In either case, use
preset manual focus at > =15ft assuming the kids will be > 10ft away
from you during shooting.

If you don't zoom much for the shots, you'll probably get everyone
in focus that way.

Man

 

[Phil-B G5]

If there's enough light you could try sharp focus and blurred.

For one shot in Tv mode up the shutter to 1000. This will freeze the action. But good action shots are sometimes blurred so got for a slow shutter speed say 100 or less. You could also try panning to get the shot. Hand held of course. If theres too much light you could use the nd filter so you can slow down the shutter speed.

Gee aint experimenting fun all I need now are some runners
--
Phil
Lancashire, England
http://philb.fotopic.net/

 

[my wong]

If your goal is to take pictures with recognizable faces, then it might be better using Shutter-Priority mode (Tv) and choosing a shutter speed fast enough to stop action.

Fast is usually 1/125 sec, and above. Perhaps, take one picture and review immediately on the LCD to see if face is clear. If OK, use same speed, else use faster shutter speed. Of course, depending on the amount of light, the camera may boost the ISO up, but the resulting noise may be (painfully) dealt with later....

An almost straight on shot may be frozen with a slower shutter speed. Get close enough, finish line is usually very photogenic... If a kid is running at right angle past you, you probably need 1/500 sec. and up to stop the action...

Kind regards,
Yin

Hi,
My wife coaches High School Cross Country track, and I volunteered
to take a few pictures of their next meet. It will be taking place
in Golden Gate Park (S.F.), so there probably won't be alot of
extreme bright light. I want to be able to capture the kids in
focus, probably from in front of them, slightly off to the side.
Should I use P mode, Sunny WB and let the camera decide ISO,
apperature and shutter speed, of go to Tv, ISO 100, and pick a
shutter speed? If the latter, which speed? I have not yet tried
Hyperfocal, is that a good option for a moving subject?
Thanks!!
--
My gallery G3 so far... http://www.pbase.com/noonin

 

[noonin]

Thanks for all the suggestions! The light should be decent enough to make a flash unnecessary. I'll give the Tv a shot @1/125, a good place to start. I can always fall back on P.
N

Hi,
My wife coaches High School Cross Country track, and I volunteered
to take a few pictures of their next meet. It will be taking place
in Golden Gate Park (S.F.), so there probably won't be alot of
extreme bright light. I want to be able to capture the kids in
focus, probably from in front of them, slightly off to the side.
Should I use P mode, Sunny WB and let the camera decide ISO,
apperature and shutter speed, of go to Tv, ISO 100, and pick a
shutter speed? If the latter, which speed? I have not yet tried
Hyperfocal, is that a good option for a moving subject?
Thanks!!
--
My gallery G3 so far... http://www.pbase.com/noonin

--
My gallery G3 so far... http://www.pbase.com/noonin

 

[Kevin Veit]

I took 231 pictures last week at a cross country meet with my G5. You can see them at http://www.NorthCountyPhotos.com . I spent most of my time running to different parts of the course to get as many pictures as possible, so I didn't have much time to play with the setting. I think I had the camera on P mode and left everything else on auto. I had some blurry pictures, but most turned out okay.

I'll be taking pictures at another meet tomorrow. I'll have those pictures posted late on Saturday.

Good luck!

 

[noonin]

Thanks Kevin, Good luck to you and the kids too!

I took 231 pictures last week at a cross country meet with my G5.
You can see them at http://www.NorthCountyPhotos.com . I spent most
of my time running to different parts of the course to get as many
pictures as possible, so I didn't have much time to play with the
setting. I think I had the camera on P mode and left everything
else on auto. I had some blurry pictures, but most turned out okay.

I'll be taking pictures at another meet tomorrow. I'll have those
pictures posted late on Saturday.

Good luck!

--
My gallery G3 so far... http://www.pbase.com/noonin

 

[Phil-B G5]

--
Phil
Lancashire, England
http://philb.fotopic.net/

 

[noonin]

Thanks Phil,

We had a busy afternoon when we got back so I am going to try and get them up today. Got some good ones, some not-so-good ones. I'm still a total rookie, but it's fun! The other coach and the kid's parents really enjoyed the fact that I was getting photos of the race, so that was a big plus.
--
My gallery G3 so far... http://www.pbase.com/noonin

 

[noonin]

So far I have used Adobe PhotoDeluxe to mildly edit or resize my photos. Unfortunately, it strips the EXIF data, so if I upload to PBASE, there is no shooting data. How can I keep the EXIF data imbedded in a photo I want to edit?
Thanks

 

[noonin]

I was able to retain the EXIF data in this one, but couldn't reduce the file size or make any other modifications.
http://www.pbase.com/image/21541830/medium
--
My gallery G3 so far... http://www.pbase.com/noonin

 

[Civis]

You might want to think about grabbing a different image editor.

I believe that the latest build of Adobe Photoshop Elements (much cheaper that the full photoshop, ~$100, but much more powerful than Photo Deluxe) leaves the EXIF data intact, and may even allow the insertion of comments into the exif data.

Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8 (but not 7), priced about the same(~$100), also treats your EXIF data with care and allows some editing of the same.

Older versions of the vaunted Photoshop itself were not kind to EXIF data, but this has been remedied in later builds.

So far I have used Adobe PhotoDeluxe to mildly edit or resize my
photos. Unfortunately, it strips the EXIF data, so if I upload to
PBASE, there is no shooting data. How can I keep the EXIF data
imbedded in a photo I want to edit?
Thanks

 

[noonin]

Thanks,

I was hoping to be able to use something that had an instant fix processor like PhotoDeluxe's Extensis Intellifix Instant Fix. Although it isn't perfect and I end up using other tools, it's good at fixing some things with one click. Here is before "Fix"...



And after...



I realize the "Fixed" version still needs work, but I had a little trouble getting any kind of decent balanced results using the various standard tools. I almost deleted this and other shots until I realized they could be saved. I guess you could call the "Instafix" my training wheels until I can untangle the standard tools in my PhotoShop LE. BTW, does P.S. LE strip EXIF data?
My gallery G3 so far... http://www.pbase.com/noonin

 

[Paul Donovan]

Lots of photo editing programs lose exif data. I use EXIFER (search for it on google). Which is postcardware (send a postcard if you like it and use it!)

It allows you to 'grab' the EXIF data from photos, so I just put it as part of my workflow now for anything that I do processing on. Once i'm done, I grab the EXIF back from the original and it updates the processed shot with it. Works great.

I believe that the latest build of Adobe Photoshop Elements (much
cheaper that the full photoshop, ~$100, but much more powerful than
Photo Deluxe) leaves the EXIF data intact, and may even allow the
insertion of comments into the exif data.

Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8 (but not 7), priced about the same(~$100),
also treats your EXIF data with care and allows some editing of the
same.

Older versions of the vaunted Photoshop itself were not kind to
EXIF data, but this has been remedied in later builds.

So far I have used Adobe PhotoDeluxe to mildly edit or resize my
photos. Unfortunately, it strips the EXIF data, so if I upload to
PBASE, there is no shooting data. How can I keep the EXIF data
imbedded in a photo I want to edit?
Thanks

 

[noonin]

Hey, Thanks very much Paul! That sounds just perfect. PBASE should mention it is their statement about EXIF data being stripped by editing software.

It allows you to 'grab' the EXIF data from photos, so I just put it
as part of my workflow now for anything that I do processing on.
Once i'm done, I grab the EXIF back from the original and it
updates the processed shot with it. Works great.

I believe that the latest build of Adobe Photoshop Elements (much
cheaper that the full photoshop, ~$100, but much more powerful than
Photo Deluxe) leaves the EXIF data intact, and may even allow the
insertion of comments into the exif data.

Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8 (but not 7), priced about the same(~$100),
also treats your EXIF data with care and allows some editing of the
same.

Older versions of the vaunted Photoshop itself were not kind to
EXIF data, but this has been remedied in later builds.

So far I have used Adobe PhotoDeluxe to mildly edit or resize my
photos. Unfortunately, it strips the EXIF data, so if I upload to
PBASE, there is no shooting data. How can I keep the EXIF data
imbedded in a photo I want to edit?
Thanks

--
My gallery G3 so far... http://www.pbase.com/noonin