Taking photos at a rodeo...

Question

Manual, Aperature, Shutter or Program setting? The lighting at these rodeos are not the best and the action is FA-A-A-S-T!

Please give me some pointers as I most likely will be shooting Program or Aperature setting.

If Shutter or Manual will give me the best images can you advise to the settings?

Also, when I set my camera Nikon D200 on continuous it only works correctly without the flash.....(?)

p.s. will not be using a tripod...(shame,shame).

Answer 1

I'm not THAT knowledgeable of cameras, but I would think for fast action, and low lighting to use Program. It would help to know what programs you have.

Answer 2

i'm still shocked your going to a rodeo...never been to one i live in ohio...in the us....if you aren't from the us...anyways i wish i could go to a rodeo....i'm a city girl stuck in a country girls body...to bad i know nothing about the country or texas or anything like that....oh and sorry i can't answer your camera question...i'm horrible w/ cameras

Answer 3

I assume you're talking about an indoor rodeo.  You're right: the lighting sucks.  

Be sure to manually set your white balance.  They quite often use mercury-vapor lighting and all your pictures will turn out very orange without using a custom white balance.  Or shoot in RAW and work it out later.  (If doing that, have plenty of memory cards on hand.)

I'd recommend shutter priority mode (1/250 or faster) and a lot of experimentation with your ISO to make sure you can get a working aperture.  You may have to start at ISO 800 or maybe 1600.  If you can manage f/8, that'd be great.

Answer 4

This would be easier to answer IF I knew more about the lens you'll be using. Indoor photography involving action really requires a fast lens - f2, f2.8 - with a constant aperture. If your lens is something like f3.5/5.6 then you'll have no choice but to really boost the ISO.

I'm going to refer to my trusty FotoSharp (http://www.fotosharp.com) Day & Night Exposure Guide to show you some examples based on Scene 8, Indoor Sports, Circus - Floodlit*

ISO 1600

f2 @ 1/500 sec.

f2.8 @ 1/250 sec.

f4 @ 1/125 sec.

f5.6 @ 1/60 sec.

ISO 3200

f2 @ 1/1000 sec.

f2.8 @ 1/500 sec.

f4 @ 1/250 sec.

f5.6 @ 1/125 sec.

At such high ISOs you'll be getting a lot of noise so either use the in-camera noise reduction or a program like Noise Ninja.

Shoot in Shutter Priority Auto (S) and let the camera choose an f-stop. If your lens doesn't have a sufficiently large f-stop then you'll have to lower your shutter speed and try to shoot at the peak of the action. You can also try panning** with your subjects. Panning often produces some excellent results since the background is a streak which shows motion while your subject is sharply defined.

* These examples are only a guide. They are based on 1 stop increments in aperture and shutter speed. Since your camera has an electronically controlled shutter it is, in effect, "stepless" so don't be surprised if you don't see the exact settings shown. The same applies to the f-stops on your particular lens. It may use 1/3 stops so at f3.5 your shutter speed will be slightly higher than what's shown for f4.

** If you aren't familar with panning just email me and I'll explain the technique.