Cheetahs Running

In my previous photos of running cheetahs, I used a fast shutter to freeze the action and limit motion blur. Here's Bob in 2023, shot using a shutter speed of 1/2000s. The focus is good, there's no blurring, and we can even see his claws.

In the summer of 2024, I tried for a sense of movement and speed by using a slower shutter, panning with the cheetah, and zooming in further. On June 4, I started with a shutter speed of 1/125s for Dave and Adrienne. I suspected that would be too slow, but it was an experiment and I forged ahead. The shots of Dave were forgettable, with lots of blurry fur and too much distance thanks to only 92mm of zoom.

For Adrienne, I kept the shutter at 1/125 but zoomed to 220mm. Most shots were like this one, with too much blurry cat:

The next frame was a winner. The background and grass have streaks of speed, and her feet and tail are a little blurry with motion, but her head is pretty sharp. All four feet are off the ground and she's looking intently at the lure.

What would happen if I increased a shutter speed to 1/180s? Here's Adrienne again, a week later:

In July, I used a 1/350s shutter to capture this unknown cheetah:

Later in July, two more, also at 1/350s. I again failed to record the names so I could give them proper credit.