Photography 20 -Action (direction)

During the school day in which we were to take photos of cars or people, I decided to try and take some photos of cars. Unlike organic subjects or animals, it's very difficult to tell if a car is actually moving or not. The key seems to be to be able to blur the background which alludes to the fact that the subject is moving. However, I find it difficult to get the background to blur, even on Shutter priority mode. The cars were simply moving too fast and I couldn't really get the photos I wanted while doing this. 

So, I decided to take some photos of my dogs in my backyard. Unlike cars, one can tell when a dog is moving quite easily, without having to blur the background which I still cannot seem to grasp. Not all of my photos are of my dogs moving, such as the first few of Bonnie. Dogs are great to take photos of. Unlike people who are...well people and judge you and usually don't like it when you randomly take their picture, dogs could care less about having their picture taken. Plus they don't demand to see the photo to make sure they "look good" in it. >_<

Ginger being a goof

Ginger being funny...this photo doesn't have anything really to do with action, she's just does funny things sometimes. I think she was trying to eat a ball of ice or something. 

 These next few photos would have been good, if they weren't blurry. Actually the blurred background looks pretty good, I only wish that there was a way for me to make the subject (my dogs) clear, while the background was blurry. Of course, I guess this is possible on Shutter priority mode, but my dogs were simply moving too fast I guess. I put these bad photos to represent how I'm learning as a soaring photographer. I remember that my ISO was at 800 which I soon realized was too high for a bright afternoon day.

Bonnie seems slightly clearer in this photo, but she isn't moving much, unlike Ginger. The background in this photo is also clear, which coupled with Ginger being blurry, makes for a rather bad photo. Again, I only put this to show my learning process. 

Again, another bad one. After this I thankfully realized my faults and changed what I was doing. 

I changed the ISO at this point, plus Ginger slowed down so I decided to take some practice shots of her to make sure I was finally satisfied with all the settings and everything.  

Ginger and Bonnie were both standing beside each other, but I guess my shutter speed was waaayyy to slow, seeing as how by the time the photo took, Ginger had moved forward a bit. Unfortunate. 

So, with my shutter speed increased, my ISO down to 400 and Ginger finally deciding to run around, I was able to take the action shots I had been wanting to take.

This is actually my favourite photo of this action assignment. ^

This would have been great if I had had the camera a little to the right and more in focus. 

I simply included this one because of Ginger's funny face, as well I like the fact that I captured some of the snow in mid-air as Ginger leapt through it. 

This one might have been better if the trampoline rim...thing wasn't there. 

Another one of my favourites ^ 

Despite this one being mainly of a bush, I like it because Ginger is very clear, off to one side and seems to be the main focal point....at least to me. Her expression is also very cute.