action/moving photo advice

[Iain]

Try taking pictures when they are sleeping or relaxing.

[ianb90]

Fukk knows about the pictures but the patio sliders will be there to get around planning laws. I assume where youre taking the picture from is an extension?

[pottersrebel]

if it has a manual focus mode try using that, my dslr struggles taking pictures underground with the auto focus switched on but it takes great pictures with it in manual mode

[ade]

As a professional photographer myself I'll tell you sraight off you wont get sharp shots indoors of dogs (or anything) without a decent camera and in some instances a good flash.
Most prosumer cameras cant focus in low light - the lenses and other systems arent geared up for it.
You need whats known as a fast lens and a decent camera with a good tracking/focusing system. Thes are nearly always expensive.

I do dog and horse photography (mainly horses) and use a Canon 1D mk4 DSLR with a 70-200 f2.8L lens amongst others to get really sharp fast images in very low light - the kits about £5,000 in total but needed if you want to avoid blurrrrrrrr.

If youve got a DSLR you need a "fast lens" - fast lenses are basically lenses with wide apertures which let LOADS of light in and these lenses stay wide open even when you zoom in (most basic zoom lenses close the aperture down) - thats why on lesnes youll see lettering aying f2.8 - f5.6. This means at the shortest length the lens will open up to f2.8 letting tons of light in but the minute you zoom in it automatically closes down to f5.6 which is over half as much light!). A fast lens doesnt do this but these are usually expensive (averags £1,000+)

Best thing you can do is go outside - use sports mode on the camera/phone and get down to their height - avoid head running at you shots (most prosumer cameras cant track fast moving objects coming towards you)

If you have a DSLR camera set it to its fastest shutter speed and use AI Servo/tracking mode. This will ensure the camera will track the object and uses algorithms to calculate baced on its trajectory where its likely to be and will set the focus ahead to take you pressing the button in to account.

Another thing you can do is called "Panning" - this is used many motorsport professional photographers and basically involves using a slow shutter speed and holding the camera very steady tracking the movement of the object to get a blurred background but sharp main object. Good panning will show a nice sharp car but the wheels and background show motion - thi gives the impression of movement and speed.

In Dogs you can sort of di this however their legs will be slightly blured and it only really works when theyre going across the horizontal plane and not darting about like maddies!

Have fun!