I have taken a lot of photos of people shooting in the past, some turn out great... but I don't know what the hell I am doing. I just always leave the camera on no-flash and snap snap snap. I usually get the coloring, contrast, and brightness out of Photoshop.
What settings should I run for capturing action shooting shots?
Help me take pictures like UZIButton, WilliamGray, NorthPolar, and Quip!
Thanks

Are these shots where you are starting from or where you want to end up?
Some example shots straight out of the camera would be a good starting point.

Are you shooting raw or JPG?  If you are shooting raw files and using non-Nikon software to process them, then it does not matter what Picture Controls you pick because third-party software just ignores that data and applies their own defaults (or your preferences if you have any saved).

If you are shooting JPG files, play with the Picture Control settings to see which one you like best. This will cut down on the amount of post processing you need to do. However, if you are shooting JPG files, this will also cut down on the amount of editing you CAN do.

Take you camera out of "auto" exposure mode. At a minimum use "programmed". Even better to use aperture-priority or speed-priority.
What focus settings are you using?

These are pictures I have taken and where I am starting from.

I can change the photo settings on my camera? I haven't changed that so it's whatever the factory default setting is.


Thanks for the help btw

Save a copy of the D3200 manual in PDF form. Makes searching for things much easier:
http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/dslr/D3200_EN.pdf

You will need to be in one of the exposure modes of P, S, A, M to get control over the camera. The scene modes ignore all input from you.

If you want the camera to do some of the post processing for you, and you shoot JPG files, take a look at the Picture Controls (page 76+).
Examples and comparisons:
http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/microsite/picturecontrol/picture/

If you shoot raw/NEF files, only Nikon's software will honor the Picture Control settings; everyone else ignores them. However most 3rd party software will have presets that mimic them to a point.

What software are you using to edit your photos?

Definitely use one of the priority modes so you can control aspects of the shot; aperture for stills, or shutter if you want to capture moving objects like the ejected shell casings.  You'll have to experiment, but it will be fun.

You can search online and find some half decent guides to using the modes and adjusting ISO, F stops, etc, like this one: http://www.cameratips.com/d3200

You have a pretty good eye for this and your composition is pretty good.

Once you get comfortable with the technical of the camera, you can start looking at the post processing aspect.

I took your shots from above and ran them though Lightroom. Mostly tweaks to the brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpening. The EXIF data is intact if you want to see exactly what I did.

When you are out doors with all that light, you can set it to auto and Continuous and capture the casings flying all day.

Are there any settings that would make outdoor shooting better?

Aperture, ISO, Shutter that you Nikon shooters like?

Shoot at as high a shutter speed as possible.  Bump up your ISO if neccessary (don't get it grainy though).   I try to shoot at the max shutter speed, so 1/4000 for my D600.

Shoot with a wide aperture. I like to stay almost fully open, maybe 1/2 stop more closed or so.

Shoot with manual focus only.  Prefocus what you want to take a photo of before you start shooting

Shoot in burst mode.  Most modern cameras can burst around 5 frames per second.


That is what I do when shooting people shooting


Here's a couple of mine, taken of my nephew.

Pawnee-13-July-2013-4 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

Pawnee-13-July-2013-3 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

Pawnee-13-July-2013-1 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr


And one shot by my nephew of me (after I set the camera up for him)

Pawnee-13-July-2013-5 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

The easy answer is to try some shots with your camera in the "sports" mode (the little person running - right next to the "flower" setting).
This should prioritize a fast shutter speed to "freeze" the action of the casings flying through the air. (Is this what you're looking for?) Hold the shutter down and sort through the pictures later.

Aperture, ISO and shutter speed aren't Nikon specific settings -- they're common to all cameras. You might want to read up on freezing action in photos in general.
http://photo.net/learn/sports/overview?p=6
How to select the right aperture, ISO, and shutter speed is a decision you can make when you understand how changing one impacts the others and your photos.

"Better" is very subjective and requires a set of criteria to be judged against.

Aperture: Do you want a shallow or medium or deep depth of field? { f/2 or f/5.6 or f/11, respectively }
Shutter speed: Do you want a fast one to freeze the action or a slower one to blur it for showing motion?
ISO: lower is better than higher, but low is not king.

I am running in aperture-priority mode most of the time, even for action shots.
Set the aperture to get the desired depth of field.
Start with a low ISO setting and increase it to get the desired shutter speed range. If necessary, crank the ISO into the stratosphere. Noisy shots can be fixed in post processing, blurred shots cannot be fixed if the action supposed to be frozen.

Can't say I recommend manual focus as a general use. However, back-button-focus is great for controlling when and when-not the camera is focusing.