Behind the Scenes

Behind the Scenes photographing a dog agility event. Most dog agilities are indoors these days For obvious reasons, weather mostly.

But, the issue is, it needs to be a big arena and that might mean poor lighting. Even though this photo below looks like it is really bright in this particular arena. That is the editing after I get the shot. I will say if the sun happens to be out when I am shooting at this arena, it does brighten it a bit.

As you can see on my camera screen, I am shooting at a shutter speed of 2500, I do adjust that depending on how fast the dog is running.

This year we did have better weather, more sun and no rain for once. This building faces north and south. The best locations to photograph is at each end where the sun filters in a little more, that helps a lot.

One of the dog owners wrote that she used to buy photos all the time years ago during her dog agility events. Photographers were willing to go to these events. But over the years, the photographers have quit going. Why? Because of the lighting in these arenas.

There is extensive editing that has to be done to make a good shot for the customers. It is not worth the time and effort for most photographers. Meaning, it doesn’t pay that well. We are not paid to be there, we only get paid if the customer buy’s the photos.

I completely understand that, I do this because I have the time, I love the challenge and I love providing this service for the folks.

Lets take a look at the issues. Example, dark colored dogs. So hard to get a good shot. This is how dark it really is in this big arena. My camera on this shot focused on the judge in the background. We are talking about fast moving subjects in a dark space.

This photo? 🙂 I see the collar on the dog and the mans face and hair really show up nice. 🙂

Panning with a moving subject, sometimes the camera just focuses on the closest object which results in a blurry dog.

Finding the right place to stand in this arena is also a challenge. I have to be far enough away to not be a distraction for the dog. Folks like to buy shots of their dogs going through the weave polls.

Every judge places the obstacles wherever they like. This one has a horrible background with people standing around and the sunlight blowing out the back of the shot.

Sometimes, it is just not a fast enough shutter speed for these unexpected moments. Still a fun shot even tho the eyes are blurry.

More about this and what keeps me coming back to these shows on the next blogs.

Behind the Scenes