Taking a good action shot is quite a difficult thing master the art of. First of all you have to be as close to your subject as possible. This is often difficult with sport events as you are usually quite some distance from the action, but try and get as close as possible. You should also know the sport you are trying to capture, as you will know best where to position yourself ? not only for the subject itself, but also for the background, as this will have quite a big impact on your photograph, and you want the photo to focus on the subject, not the background.

Sports and action photos are all about being in the right place at the right time, and your reaction to the action! If you understand the timing of the core action that you are looking for ? for example jumps in the Grand National, then you will be prepared for the most dramatic actions and shots. By knowing these moments you can anticipate the action, and you can prepare. One thing alot of people complain about with modern digital photography is that the camera seems to take the photo after the event that they were trying to photograph ? it's like a delayed reaction, and it is said in photography circles 'if you see the action then you missed it'.

The reason for digital delay is that the minute you take the picture the camera has to autofocus and take an exposure measurement at the same. If you push down the shutter release button down part way it will do that ahead of time and you can then take the picture exactly when you want to. This will all come with practice. Of course, you could just set your shutter mode to 'continuous' and squirt a long burst of shots, which is fine, but just not as precise!

Generally, for a 35mm camera, each 100mm in lens focal length gets you about 9 meters in coverage. This coverage means that on a vertical format photo, a normal human will fill the frame fairly well. However, as players get closer, your lens may be too long. Another important factor is lens speed, and the faster the lens, the faster the shutter speed you can use. By speeding up the shutter speed, you can almost freeze the action and eliminate blur. Shutter lag can also be reduced by turning off any unnecessary automatic features such as red-eye reduction.

Becoming a good photographer, especially an action photographer is really all about experimentation and practice ? just get out there and take lots of photos! There really is no excuse these days, as you don't even have to send them off to be printed, you can just work with your own computer. If you are interested in horse racing and want to see some quality action shots or even want to upload some of your own horse racing photos, go to www.horseracingphoto.co.uk.