Camera Labs

Firstly I'll say hello to everyone, I've just joined the forum after buying my first dslr, a Nikon D60. Now I'd like a few pointers from the pros about how to capture a very fast action shot of someone casting a 14ft fishing rod. I'd like advice on shutter speeds, what mode I should be using and apature etc so I can get a good non blurred shot of the rod bending through an arc of the cast.

Thanks in advance.

Nikon D60/ 18-55mm vr & 55-200mm vr lens

Hi, can i apologise in advance for the briefness of this post as i am writing this on my phone browser .
I think the main things you need to do (please correct me if im wrong) are:
Shoot in manual? So you can have full control. Or aperture priority so the camera works out the shutter speed or even sports mode.
Open your aperture (f stop) as wide as it can go (i have no idea about nikon lenses but the f stop will be marked on).
Up the iso to 400 (good balance between noise and speed)
And set your cameras drive to continuous.
Im sure somebody on a pc will make a much more elaborate guide but typing this kept me from freezing on my paper round
Will

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Nikon D90

As seen below the D60 is what i'm using as well at the moment.

Id have to say the best thing you can do it trial and error. Get a few practice swings in.

For action shots like this i would suggest using the Shutter Priority mode. You tell it how fast you want it to shoot and it figures out the rest. Id guess at starting around 1/500th second shutter speed and then take a look at the review images, if it looked blurred try shoot at a faster speed like 750th or 1000th or even faster if needed.

Of course shooting faster will darken the image so if you find you are already maxing out the (f) aperture (f3.5 on your lenses i believe) then start upping the iso. up to 400 is a safe bet with the D60 and you can even get away with 800 for action shots if really needed. There's also programs like neat image that do an amazing job and cleaning up noise if you find thats a problem.

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Nikon D60 | AF-S 18-200mm VR f/3.5-5.6 | ML-L3 Wireless Release | Slik Sprint Pro Tripod | Lowepro Topload Zoom 2

A little follow up to the tips I received. I could not have the camera till xmas so thats why the post was a little late coming back, please c&c more than welcome(newbie).

I think I need to go for a faster shutter speed on the action as its very fast.

f/10

exp 1/200

iso 400

AWB

Hi again,
I'm writing this from my phone again and the pic isn't loading, ill have a look later on the pc. Anyhow, from the exif i can see that you used f10, try putting it in aperture priority mode then use the dial to drop the aperture down as far as it will go, this should decrease the shutter. You can also try increasing the iso to 800 which should be perfectly useable.

Will

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Nikon D90

Alternatively, you could still use a slow shutter speed and fire the flash at the end of the exposure (rear curtain). This will let you capture the blur of the motion while freezing your subject so you don't lose any of the detail in the subject while still capturing the motion. Use shutter priority.

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Graham
Flickr

Seems quite obvious to me to use shutter priority mode. Get the exact amount of blur you're looking for that way and the camera will set the rest for the perfect exposure...

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I'd say you were close...depends if you want everything "stopped" or not.
Sometimes a slight blur depicts motion.


F/10 too high ... lower that.
Not sure you need everything in focus...maybe?
Wait til subject is in the sun, looks as though it was a cloudy spell when shot taken.
Maybe a bit closer to subject making him,more of the pic?

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Pentax K-5
Pentax 18-55mm,Pentax 50-200mm,Sigma 17-70mm,Sigma 70-300mm, Sigma 50-500mm