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Hi Everyone.
Sorry to bother you, but I am new to photography and I need a little advice.
My MD has bought a new Moto X bike and is riding in a competition an Sunday, I would like to take some action shots at the event, such a bkes in mid-air and fast moving pictures.
Has anyone got any advise on what settings are best for these type of photos.
I have a Samsung Pro 815, which has a lot of setting as well as auto.
Many thanks
Mike Collins
Hi Mike , welcome to EPZ ..you are in the right place. There are some superb sports photographers here and I am sure some will be able to give you great advice. Enjoy, sit tight and upload to the main gallery, comment join in and generally participate. The search facility is terrific here ..in the main gallery page ..if you type in moto x in the search (top right) it will pull up images like this :
http://www.ephotozine.com/gallery/tags/moto-x
worth looking at those images and reading through the comments left on those shots while waiting for the guru's to connect here. Im sure they will be here shortly.
have a look at my portfolio, there is a few MX and super cross shots, you will have a problem with a compact camera and that is shutter lag, you press the button and it has a delay before the shutter fires, most if not all compacts suffer from this it might be worth while hiring a DLSR or asking a friend to shoot who has one, or ask on here for somebody who lives near you to come and do the job right , no desrespect but the camera might not be up to the job if he wants some nice shots
Agree with Paul, You don't have a snowballs chance in hell with a compact, Forgetting things like speed, At such events your likely to be behind a crowd line as well, So your going to need some decent range with a zoom lens.
If you wind up doing the job, All I can advise is switch the camera to Sports mode ( if it has one ) Locate a point on the circuit where your target is likely to be airborne, Zoom into that location and get the camera to meter & focus well before your target arrives, So you and the camera are ready.
Then as your target is approching your chosen spot follow him with the camera ( Also called Panning ) Then hit the shutter button a split second before your target hits the spot, You set up earlier.
Can't warranty the results, BUT you may get lucky.......Oh and don't forget to do some nice static shots of your MD posing by his bike before the race, ( Chances are he will crash it anyhow ).
Mike I will be more generous than the others, and say you will have to work harder to get the shots you want. Just did a quick search for your camera and it has lots of options and a decent zoom range, but has slow focusing and a big shutter delay ;-( They are correct, an SLR, even a basic one would be a better piece of kit.
For freezing of action shots you will need a decent shutter speed, in the 1/1000 or faster sort of range I would guess. your camera does up to 1/4000 so good news. I would set it to aperture priority mode at its fastest aperture (smallest F number) and increase the ISO till you were getting shutter speeds of 1/1000 or so. Experiment with a bit faster or slower. If the camera has a tracking AF mode turn it on. Point the camera at the bike and make it track, with you turning as the bikes approach to keep the bike in the AF tracking point. If it cannot track the bike like that then you will need to pre-focus, set to manual focus and focus it where the bikes will be. Honest it can work.
To get them in a jump you are going to have to practise to get the feel of how long before they are in position you need to press the shutter. If the delay is constant you have a chance of learning. If not then there will be no substitute for firing away in the hope some come out.
Panning shots can look good, for this put the camera in shutter priority mode and try shutter speed like 1/60 and 1/30. Have a play. As the bike rides bye practice swinging your camera round at the same speed as them. then take a picture as they are passing and as you turn. If the bikes are on the flat this can look good with detail in the rider, but wheel blurred and the grass blurred. A good impression of pace 
and as the others say get pictures of the proud rider, both before and after the event, you know with mud and battle scars
I agree too with (most) of the advice, I would add that if there is a lot of 'shutter lag' then by going on to manual focus & exposure settings you may find the lag reduced (as the camera has less calculations/focussing etc. to do), practice plenty & try to work out how soon to press the shutter before the optimum point (obviously following the shot through) & you may be able to capture the shots you want.
Good luck, & try to enjoy the meeting anyway!
Joe B
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