Afghan Hound at Lure Coursing Event (Click to enlarge - click twice to enlarge again)

My best wish for all you aspiring photographers is that you get a chance to photograph an Afghan at a full run.  There is something about their coats that stops me dead in my tracks.  I was one of the spectators at a Lure Coursing event in southern Louisiana in November.  It is a joy to watch these running dogs because no one teaches them to do this…it’s just what they want to do.  All the humans have to do it sit back and watch them.  Either they do it or they don’t. This fella did.  Doesn’t his tail look like an integral part of the run?

The photographic technique is stop-action, not panning.  Though I moved the camera with the dog as he ran, my shutter speed was too fast to streak-blur the grass as would have happened if I shot at perhaps 1/60 or thereabouts.

I didn’t want much of a depth of field for this (f5.6) and I didn’t want a smidgen of blur on the dog, so I used a shutter speed of 1/1000.  We’ll talk more about panning soon.

If you’re interested in seeing more of these shots they can be viewed at Sisters Pet Pics Proof Section – Lure Coursing.