Photographing indoors by available light can be a challenge. Add action, such as dog agility or flyball, and the challenge increases. But don’t despair. If you use your camera to its best advantage and take lots of shots, you’ll undoubtedly get some photos that you’ll be proud of.

Virgil took all the photos in this article by available light, using the techniques described here. The photos here represent some of the challenging lighting situations we encounter.

Camera settings

Here are some quick suggestions about functions to set on your camera. If you can’t find any of these as labels on camera buttons, check your camera’s user guide to see whether you have these functions and where they’re located on the camera.

- ISO. Turn up the camera’s ISO to the highest setting. This provides the maximum useful sensitivity of the camera’s light sensor.

- JPEG files. Always shoot in the JPEG file format, rather than RAW. Most modern digital cameras are designed to do the best job with JPEGs. The RAW format will deliver images that are just that—raw and unprocessed. JPEGs, on the other hand, often have the benefit of some in-camera processing.

- Exposure. Set the exposure manually. Manual exposure prevents light and dark objects in the viewfinder from causing incorrect exposure in auto mode. If you find too much variability in the results over the course of the run, then try auto exposure.

- Aperture. Shoot with the lens aperture wide open. With this setting, you will capture the maximum amount of light that the lens can gather.

- Colorspace. One additional consideration in setup is to set the colorspace to Adobe 1998 rather than sRGB. Colorspace is the range of colors that the camera will record in the file. The sensor senses everything, but what is captured in the file is set by the colorspace. Adobe colorspace is a larger space, so it captures a greater range of colors. sRGB is a smaller space that’s more economical for file size. But sRGB discards a lot of available data. That’s not good for indoor action, where you need all the data you can get in order to create good prints or good quality digital files for websites.

Indoor shooting tips

With the camera set up properly, there are still a few more things you can do to ensure that you’ll capture good-quality indoor action photos. Here they are:

- Autofocus. Use the camera’s autofocus feature. Virgil uses autofocus because he can’t manually focus and zoom as quickly and accurately as the camera can. Keep the focus selector point on the dog, and keep the focus active by holding the shutter button part way down. On many cameras, the focus is then continuously adjusted as the dog moves around the course.

- Prefocus. Some cameras have a handy button that lets you freeze the focus at a preset point. If that’s available, prefocus where you want to take a photo. If you want a picture of the dog rounding the top of the A-frame, coming out of a tunnel, or crossing a jump toward you, get ready for that moment by pointing the camera where you want to take the picture. Then activate and freeze the focus. Go back to the dog, follow it to that point, and make the exposure.

- Burst of exposures. If the camera will do it, shoot a burst of frames as the dog approaches and passes the obstacle or the prefocus point. This gives you better odds at capturing the dog at the precise point you want and where the focus will be the sharpest. Virgil sets his camera to six exposures per second.

- Shutter speed. Use the highest shutter speed you can without sacrificing good exposure. That goes along with shooting with the lens wide open.

Finally, be aware of the first rule for success by professional photographers: Take more pictures.

Don’t ever expect to get it in one shot. And don’t be discouraged if you don’t get it in 10. Virgil’s camera has a very high usable ISO of 12800, and that gives him the advantage of higher shutter speeds. His previous camera had a high ISO of only 6400, so his shutter speeds were twice as long. A few years ago, the high ISO on a professional camera was 1600. Even then, Virgil was able to capture good action through persistence. Patience is a very important element of photography.

Camera and lens selection

If you try the suggestions in these articles and find that your results are still less than you’d like, it might be time to consider an upgrade in lenses or the camera itself.

Cameras. Shop for a good brand that’s well reviewed in photo publications like Popular Photography. The top two brands in professional photography are Nikon and Canon. You can’t go wrong by choosing from the top end of the amateur lines from either of those brands. Some Nikon amateur cameras have exactly the same sensors as the professional Nikons, but cost thousands less. The difference is in features, durability, and image processing. Also when it comes to brand, buy as high in the model line as you can afford.

- Comfort. Find a camera that fits your hand. The control locations should be comfortable, the weight should be acceptable, and the grip should feel secure. When you’re using one control, your hand shouldn’t bit hitting another one. Higher quality cameras weigh more; faster lenses have lots of glass and therefore weigh more. Comfort is important.

- Used. Don’t limit yourself to a new camera or lens; used equipment is often a good option. Virgil recommends B&H Photo & Video in New York City. They often have good, clean equipment in like-new condition at a significant savings. B&H is a reputable company that’s easy to work with. In addition, we generally sell one of our older professional cameras and lenses each January.

Lenses. Make sure the camera uses interchangeable lenses. Look for a wide range of fast lenses. Fast lenses include, for example, an 80-200 mm zoom with a nonvariable aperture of f/2.8, or a fixed focal length lens in the 100-200 mm range that is faster (a lower number) than f/2.8.

Another possibility is a fixed focal length lens—a lens that doesn’t zoom. These lenses limit you to a single focal length but are often available with even wider apertures than f/2.8, such as f/1.8. The wider the aperture, the faster your shutter speed can be while still achieving good exposure.

To see some enlarged examples of action photos, go to our Agility, Obedience, and Other pages. From there, you can visit lots of galleries from recent events. If the gallery says that it contains sold images, they are finished (exposure-balanced, color-corrected, and edited). Otherwise, the images are straight from the camera, or nearly so. On the gallery pages, double-click on an image to enlarge it.

If you have any questions about cameras, software, or photography, or if you have suggestions for future articles, Virgil would be glad to hear from you. You can email him, you can call 513-779-8934, or you can stop by at an event and ask questions.