Difficulties capturing Motion

Hi everyone, 

I'm pretty new in photography just bought my first DSLR (200D/SL2) after having borrowed a lower end Sony mirrorless for a few weeks. This weekend I went out practicing to capture some motion, namely shooting my dogs running around. Those are pretty fast so, it's been quite a challenge for me.

I'm really struggeling with getting the most of the pictures sharp here and I'm not sure what the problem is. I've read a lot and learned quite a bit of theory already, but out in the field I tend to suck a lot!

I've attached two pictures that show my difficulty. I was running AI Servo AF with a single center AF point. At least the dog's body should have been in focus. Sure, there are always shots where the AF doesn't work that well, but out of 100 pictures I get like one or two that are acceptable.

How can I improve? I'm trying to blame myself in the first place rather than the gear here. 200D with Kit Lens isn't the greatest deal, but still It should be able to take better pictures.

• Am I doing the focussing wrong? I'm following my subject with the center AF point and I've improved a lot in "aiming" already. While following I shoot continuosly at some point, while still doing an okay job of keeping the subject on that point. What am I doing wrong?
• Have I got the proper settings? 1/800th should be quick enough, I'm running the kit lens at f5.6 at 55mm, ISO auto, in this case 640/320 

Can anyone help me figure out how I can Improve? I'd love to hear from you, thank you a lot!

You need dynamic AF to track your subject, practicing keeping a single focus point on  your subject, and appropriate exposure.

Practice your subject tracking.

As for shutter speed, why do you think 1/800s is adequate? I mean, by what logic did you arrive at that conclusion? (That's a sincere question, by the way...)

Conclusion: it's not, based on the images, and my experience with moving animals.

Try 1/2000s.

Thanks Gary! I'm doing that dynamic AF tracking with a single point and as mentioned, I've gotten better but there's still a lot room for improvement. I'll keep practicing for sure!

I've figured with the Sony I had earlier, that 1/800 and occasionally even longer shutter speeds have captured the same kind of pictures quite fine. But I'll give 1/2000 definitely a try. I am not experienced, I didn't do any math so there's no logic other than "sounds fast enough".

Maybe I felt like not going any higher because I didn't want to crank the ISO. 1/2000s would mean 3-4(?) more stops, and doing ISO 3200 or 6400 outdoor, around noon with the aperture wide open on my lens just doesn't sound good in my ears. Again, experience I guess. Lots to learn, Thank you for your feedback!

 Freezing fast motion requires a substantial amount of light. I would recommend by putting the sun to your back, or over your shoulder for smaller/shorter subjects.  The shadow indicates in one of those photos that it was coming from the side. Directional sunlight can be used, but I don’t recommend doing it as a novice. I’ve been working at this for a few months now and I still only get lucky with directional sunlight and fast motion.  It’s something that must be mastered. 

Second, are you using a tripod?  Panning can be much easier with something like a gimbal head mounted on a tripod.  It’s also necessary when wanting to use slower shutter speeds to create some blur to emphasize movement,  so it’s certainly a worthwhile device to have if you continue doing this type of photography. 

 One would expect motion to be frozen at 1/1000 of a second, but this is not a hard rule. There can be exceptions, like Hummingbird wings, so try faster speeds just to rule it out, even if the ISO goes up.  Sometimes it’s a matter of how important is a capture to you. You could get the capture with a high iso and decide later. Some captures only happen once in a  lifetime

Thank you very much! I was trying to avoid direct sunlight, cause shooting a white dog in that condition makes it soo easily overexposed /blown out.

I was shooting everything handheld there, I own a basic tripod but no gimbal head for that. Thats something on my wishlist, but good ones are rather expensive. I want to improve my skills first, before aquiring gear.

I will definitely work around with different shutter speeds. Completely agree, better take higher ISO than missing the shots.

Henneke wrote: Thank you very much! I was trying to avoid direct sunlight, cause shooting a white dog in that condition makes it soo easily overexposed /blown out.

I was shooting everything handheld there, I own a basic tripod but no gimbal head for that. Thats something on my wishlist, but good ones are rather expensive. I want to improve my skills first, before aquiring gear.

I will definitely work around with different shutter speeds. Completely agree, better take higher ISO than missing the shots.

White is certainly a challenge. For sure. Remember in these cases (the subject is almost entirely bright white) to dial in exposure for the white. Whenever in doubt, expose for your subject. This can be done with different exposure modes, or just turning the exposure compensation dial.  This way, at least your subject is in the correct exposure.

Are you shooting in RAW? Sometimes the camera's auto edits for jpeg isn't great, especially with dynamic range and highlights. You might see better whites through editing a RAW if you aren't already. 

For budget gimbal heads when you're ready, Benro makes a good one, as well as Movo. I have a Benor and Im happy with it. You will notice the less expensive ones will feel a bit "tight" compared to the high end ones, but these still perform very well for their respective costs. 

Henneke wrote: Thanks Gary! I'm doing that dynamic AF tracking with a single point and as mentioned, I've gotten better but there's still a lot room for improvement. I'll keep practicing for sure!

I've figured with the Sony I had earlier, that 1/800 and occasionally even longer shutter speeds have captured the same kind of pictures quite fine. But I'll give 1/2000 definitely a try. I am not experienced, I didn't do any math so there's no logic other than "sounds fast enough".

Maybe I felt like not going any higher because I didn't want to crank the ISO. 1/2000s would mean 3-4(?) more stops, and doing ISO 3200 or 6400 outdoor, around noon with the aperture wide open on my lens just doesn't sound good in my ears. Again, experience I guess. Lots to learn, Thank you for your feedback!

What he said, above.

As for 1/800 -> 1/2000: that's only a change of 1 1/3 stops. Open up your aperture, too. There's not that much difference between f/5.6 and f/4.

I have no trouble shooting jousting at midday with settings of  f/6.3 @ 1/1250s and ISO 180, using my Nikon D750. That's a fast moving sport, and I can freeze the action easily.

Keep trying, keep experimenting.