Advice for shooting at horse racing

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Hi Folks,

I'm looking for a bit of advice for shooting pictures at horse racing. I'm a novice at this, but even allowing for that, I'm still fairly disappointed with the quality of shots I've been getting.

I'm using a modest enough piece of equipment (Panasonic Lumix FZ18, below) but the occasional great shot I've gotten assures me that it ain't the camera - it's the photographer!

I have been using the auto settings and the outdoor sports settings, but I would have no clue when, why or how to adjust them depending on the weather etc.

Also, would I be right in saying that this camera would be no use under floodlights at night for taking horse racing pictures? Is there a particular lens anyone would recommend to accompany it.

Thanks alot

Panasonic Lumix FZ18 Digital Camera

Ricky91t

Set the camera to "sport" and pan with the horses ie Keep the horses in the centre of your viewfinder and keep them there till the photo has been taken.

No the camera will not be oo good under floodlight and you cant but another lense for it the only thing to do is upgrade to a dslr and a low light lense...You could how ever try and set you "iso" up to its highest and see if you photos are ok then this will add a thing called noise but atleast if you get some good shot you wont be to bothered

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ricky91t wrote: »

Set the camera to "sport" and pan with the horses ie Keep the horses in the centre of your viewfinder and keep them there till the photo has been taken.

No the camera will not be oo good under floodlight and you cant but another lense for it the only thing to do is upgrade to a dslr and a low light lense...You could how ever try and set you "iso" up to its highest and see if you photos are ok then this will add a thing called noise but atleast if you get some good shot you wont be to bothered

Thanks - if the photos I got under floodlights were even half decent, would it be possible to smooth them out further with photoshop?

Ricky91t

Well you could download a trial called noise ninja(think thats the name) and that will reduce the noise.You'll be best off to keep the camera zoom as wide as possible so its getting the most amount of light and pan with the horse as you'll only be getting slow shutter speeds,like the most you can do is try your best and hope you get some keepers and you never know

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ricky91t wrote: »

Well you could download a trial called noise ninja(think thats the name) and that will reduce the noise.You'll be best off to keep the camera zoom as wide as possible so its getting the most amount of light and pan with the horse as you'll only be getting slow shutter speeds,like the most you can do is try your best and hope you get some keepers and you never know

Yup, that's pretty much how it's been going alright - just looking to narrow down the do's and don'ts a bit... Could you recommend any accessories that could accompany this camera to help me out? Cheers.

Tinytony

I've shot at a couple of point to points with a similar enough set up to yourself. I would definately agree with the advice about not zooming in too much, as I made that mistake the first time I tried shooting them.

I assume if your asking about shooting under floodlights that it will be Dundalk? You will find it difficult to get sharp pictures off the horses on the flat as they will be moving so fast and your shutter speed will be quiet low.

If you get an opportunity you should head to a few point to points as you will be able to get much closer to the action, although the new season won't be starting up again until around October.

I have a couple of shots up here from the first p2p I shot. They are not great but might give you a few ideas.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26015164@N02/sets/72157605143053289/