A few new agility shots, getting better [ I think ] :o)

These are a few from the latest session, the brighter sky helped a lot though I did unfortunately not place well for a couple of them in terms of light direction because of the exercise placement at the time but I`m getting more aware of ithat now for next time for the dark faced dogs at least

The first couple are on lead as it was their first ever session, I could have taken the leads out of the pics but as they are a record of training for the handlers I decided to leave them on, there will be plenty of off lead photo ops as they progress

Anyway here they are, only a few as they were working on simple samey type jumping exercises and my time was needed more for teaching than photo taking with them being first timers, plus it`s harder to judge where they will be at the jumps until they have started figuring out their stride and take off`s







This lad below, he`s a more experienced dog, I have been trying for what feels like ages to get half decent pics of him and finally I have two I quite like, shame I misjudged a little on the second as I didn`t quite get one of his ears in the frame but it`s still one of my favourites of him so far for his expression and his angle that I was lucky enough to get





As always comments and help welcome and thanks for looking

They are definitely much better. I actually quite like the last one. Look forward to seeing more in the future.

You are improving in leaps & bounds (pun intended).

There is not a duffer amongst these. Don't worry about a bit of the ear missing in the last one, it's still a good image.

As someone who's photography is probably 80% dogs I'll say that the odd clipped ear, tail, paw etc is just par for the course and some of my favs that I have taken are missing little bits.

Keep posting as I am enjoying seeing your photography improve so much, now you have the tools to enable you to express yourself.

Steve

They're a lot better Patch - well done, you certainly seem to be getting to grips with the new camera.

I think you'll find as we move into Spring and Summer, your passion for agility pictures will be helped a lot by the weather as you'll be able to use much faster shutter speeds to get the same exposure.

Nice clean shots Patch - well done!

Something to try when you get the hang of things a bit, is to practise with slower shutter speeds, to give your subjects a slight blur - that may help give the sense of speed

Or track (pan) the dog as it jumps so the dog remains sharp but the background is blurred

Well done! I think they are fantastic, well caught!

Some nice shots there Patch

I personally would try and experiment with the settings, at the moment you are shooting at 1600 ISO and at a speed of 1/4000. You don't need that much speed to freeze the movement. I never (ok once when I messed the settings up ) shoot at ISO 1600 outdoors, certainly not in bright sunlight. ISO 400 should be more than adequate (800 at a push), this will reduce the speed but as I said, these speeds aren't necessary to freeze the movement.

The one advantage this would have is reducing the noise and whilst that is not evident in your pictures (have you run them through the noise reduction software?) it might be something to consider for a later time

Alternatively the D40 could just be better at handling noise at high ISO than what I am used to

Thank you There will be lots more to come, everyone will be sick of them before long

Thank you I do look at your shots a lot, they are such a good benchmark for me to work towards, and Phils too, you both get lovely angles and perspectives so I am working toward trying to emulate them

It will make a big difference I think, there is something so nice about seeing a fast and concentrating dog flying over a jump with a clear blue sky behind them to show off their definition, looking forward to be able to try for some nice Summery shots

And there`s me all this time whinging about not being able to get the sharpness until now

I`m trying more often for that effect, have`nt cracked it yet but I`m enjoying trying for it


Thank you so much

I think I might have set it on auto for ISO, or I might have forgotten to change it from whatever I set it that high for, I can`t remember now
I tried some today with lower speed and ISO but have`nt processed them yet so fingers crossed

I had`nt equated the camera`s need for higher ISO because of using such fast shutter speed but you have explained it so well it makes sense to me now, thank you so much

Re noise reduction I had it set on the camera`s own noise reduction setting and other than that I have barely had to do anything to them afterward, just a tiny smidgeon of reduction for a little noise on three of these which was apparent just on the orange netting but literally only the lightest touch on the slider for that so the camera`s own setting seems to be handling it really well
Were they from my compact I would have had to do so much reduction they would have lost all definition and looked like a flat painting by numbers type finish if that makes sense, but I`m having to do so little tweaking of any kind [ when I get the camera settings somewhere near ok ], that it`s amazed me so far
One day I will get a shot which can go straight on here with not even the slightest crop and nothing else done either, I know I will get there thanks to all the wonderful patient help and encouragement you guys are giving me
I`m getting so much out of learning and experimenting, wish I`d started trying years ago instead of being scared stiff of anything needing more than being pointed, button pressed then hoping for the best !

I'm so impressed that you framed that second to last one so well (or is it cropped?)! I wish I could do that!

Is that something that comes with practice? Please say it is! Whenever I take them, I get something missed out!