Need tips on taking action shots

Hey all! I got a gig on Saturday morning, to photograph a wildfire training exercise that is going on in my town. There will be about 18 fire trucks, 15-20 agencies, and 100 firefighters participating. This is a HUGE deal for our little town. The local fire dept wants me to do the photos.

I haven't done a huge amount of action shots, so any tips would be appreciated!

I am using an Olympus C5000. I have a 55mm telefoto lens, a wide-angle lens, and a set of filters. I also have a tripod, but I'm thinking that it probably won't be very useful for action shots. I will have to be walking through woods, as well as be on dirt (perhaps muddy, depending on if it snows tonight) roads.

Any and all suggestions are appreciated!

...but my initial suggestion would be to contact F.Gordon and see if you can borrow his 20D. :evilgrin:

The C-5000, like most smaller "point-and-shoot" cameras, is relatively slow at focusing and writing data to the card, so you'll likely have to wait a couple of seconds between shots and hope that you weren't off by a bit every time you hit the shutter button, because you won't have a chance to take another photo right away.

Absent the loan of a DSLR, I would recommend setting your camera to "sports" mode and using the optical viewfinder -- I normally won't do this, since it introduces parallax error, but it's better than using the electronic viewfinder, whose display will be lagging behind what is going on in front of the camera. Lastly, I'd remind you to pre-focus the camera by keeping the shutter button half-pressed -- otherwise, you'll have a very long time between hitting the button and actually recording an image...but I suspect you already know that well enough.

Since FG lives 100 miles away from me, I don't think I'm going to get to borrow his camera, even if he offered it. I know mine isn't the best for taking action shots, but I have to work with what I got. I can't justify the expense of a new camera.

Thanks for all the other tips, although I already knew most of them. :) I hope it's nice out tomorrow, it's snowing right now, but it's supposed to stop this afternoon.

Get close and wide angle, trying to get the actor up close and personal while including the wider scene for context. Use telephoto if you can't get close to the action in order to isolate significant elements. Shoot as much as you can and edit later. Pros often shoot hundreds or thousands of frames to get a few great shots.

I have 3 XD cards, and will download to my laptop if I need to take more photos than those cards can hold.

Seriously. I've taken fire training shots before, the key is to get with the guy running the thing and stick by him.

He'll be able to get you in close, and show you where to stand. When I did it, I was shooting a house fire training, and the guy took me in and showed me where I could be like three feet from big, big flames and not get hot. It's remarkable how much of a science firefighting is -- these guys would hose down one section to create this invection layer thingy, cleared up the smoke from the ground to about three feet off, with utter blackness above.

Shoot a lot. Plan on shooting more than you ever have before. I took close to 500 on that two-hour training, and liked about four of them. And don't stop shooting when the fire's out, nothing's cooler than firefighters all dirty and relaxing.

Extra batteries! :D

On edit: Fire just about takes care of itself. Focus on framing and you'll be happiest!

:patriot:

I don't have any advice beyond what you already know (higher ISO and faster shutter speeds)

*If you know where things are going to happen, walk the course today and pick out some spots that may offer good lighting, perspective, points of reference, interesting backgrounds. Take some trial shots.

*Find the borderline between "in the way" and "back in the stands" (don't be shy)

*Remember to check your camera settings often.

*Check you lens for dust often. Carry lens cleaning equipment and keep it handy.
If you're shooting action from the mud, expect to be splashed.

*Recharge your batteries tonight, and carry spares in your pocket.

*If you have the opportunity, take some pictures of interesting spectators, not just the "main action".
Interesting spectators add flavor and perspective to an event.

*Use a wider angle than you would use for stills. You can sacrifice some resolution to crop down your action shot, but if you are too tight and a part of the action leaves the frame, you lose the whole shot.

*Take a lot of pics

I love my Oly750.
To take "Action Shots" with my Oly:
*I have to guess where the action is going to happen.

*Pre-focus (1/2 trigger) on that spot.

*Wait until the action comes into the frame to pull the trigger.
Due to the shutter lag time, I found it impossible to track the subject and take a decent picture.
It took some practice to get the timing down for that method. You might practice on some moving targets today.
I got many misses, but sometimes managed to catch the shot I wanted.

Hope you have good weather, and Have Fun!
:hi:

Which is good advice, I would also add that you should try to anticipate the action or the shot before it happens, even if its seconds before it happens.

In a training exercise, you will begin to see repeating patterns. So rather than following the action, you want to remain one step ahead of the action. Have the action come to you rather than you go to it, if that makes any sense.

Situate yourself in a place where you can make a nice composition, a place where you know somebody will eventually step into the picture; a place with a nice backdrop, lighting, etc.

Of course, you need to be able to do this in a matter of seconds. You need to be able to think fast and move fast. So get plenty of rest, drink caffeine if that is your thing, wear comfortable clothing and try not to weigh yourself down with extra lenses you're not going to use.

Also, don't just think at eye level. Be aware of stairs or anything else you can climb to get a shot from above, don't be afraid to plop yourself down on the ground to get the low-angle shot. And learn how to use your settings quickly, so you can get slow-shutter speed shots, freeze action shots, in a space of a few seconds.

I live for action shots, where there is pandemonium and chaos and unpredictability all around. I find it gets my adrenaline pumping fast, which makes my mind highly focused (normally my mind is about as focused as a man with perfect vision wearing bifocals).

Good luck and be sure to post your photos.

EDIT: I just realized that you are already at the training exercise.