Taking photos of a figure skater using my AF-S VR 70-300mm lens

valleygirl

I am trying to take nice pics with my new Nikon AF-S VR 70-300mm lens and my D3100. What would be the best settings to get good action shots of my son during his figure skating performance? It is in an interior arena.

Moose

Howdy @valleygirl - Here's what I would start with...

1. Enable Shutter priority (S on the mode dial)


2. Select a shutter speed between 1/250 and 1/500 (using the small command dial)


3. Make sure your ISO is set to Auto - Press the MENU button and navigate to the ISO sensitivity settings option


4. Set your metering mode to Spot - Press the "i" button and navigate to the right column on the info panel display and highlight Metering


5. Adjust your focus mode to Continuous-servo AF (AF-C) - Press the "i" button and navigate to the right column on the info panel display and highlight Focus mode


6. Double check that your AF-area mode is set to Auto-area AF - Press the "i" button and navigate to the right column on the info panel display and highlight AF-area mode


7. Adjust your release mode to Continuous (icon with three rectangles) - Switch on top of your camera next to the mode dial

With these settings in place, half-press the shutter button to continuously focus on your son as he moves about the frame. Once you're happy with the composition, fully press the shutter and hold it down. This will rattle off a series of shots in quick succession. I would do this every time you take a shot, to improve your odds of finding a keeper.

More than likely your shots are going to come out a little dark and noisy. You can remove some of the noise using dedicated noise removal software like Noise Ninja or Noiseware, but it might be best to consider going with Photoshop Lightroom
(see here) which has a noise reduction feature built-in. In addition to the noise reduction, it will allow you to make adjustments to your images (brighten, sharpen, etc...).

That should get you going in the right direction. Happy shooting! :)