Action photography is something I’ve always been interested in. Capturing the moment, getting a sense of the action.

It looks hard, and well after trying it I have to say it is.

You need good light, preferably a long expensive FAST lens with VR/IS and you have to stand/sit in the sun (Unless you have those super canngih 30,000RM lenses then you can sit in the clubhouse and shoot with your beer by your side).

I recommend setting Spot Exposure Metering for the subject, boost up the EV compensation about +0.33 or 0.7 and use continuous or servo focusing (AF-C for Nikon, not sure what it’s called on Canon Servo-mode I think).

I used Shutter Priority (S for Nikon or Tv on Canon) at about 1/1000ms.

If you have a slow lens though normal focusing might work better.

As I don’t have a telephoto lens I literally had to stand in the middle of the action and had to crop some shots to bring them ‘closer’ (I was using an 18-70mm lens).

I didn’t manage to get any panning shots..or any nice bokeh (depth of focus) on the horses due to lens capability, it would have been nice to blur out the distracting backgrounds.

I could freeze the shots quite nicely and clearly though with the above settings.

Have to save up for that 70-200mm VR…poison poison (Costs about RM6000).

Anyway less talk more photos.