ORIGINAL: webdr
You really have to "pay to play" for lack of a better phrase.
Especially, when it comes to quality action shots in low lighting situations. For example, I took the following shot at night without a flash:
For the following shot, I had an SB800 speedlight flash mounted on my camera. Two work lights were also lying on the floor in the back area inside the warehouse.
ORIGINAL: rweatherford
I won't disagree with the SLR comment... lenses are key and I'm a novice.
Big time. That's why I gear toward F/2.8 lenses and faster (after starting out with the "slower" lenses). That's also a wild looking cat photo you took.
For this photo of one of my cats, I used the built-in on camera flash to trigger the SB800 off-camera and had some luck to capture the moment.
Another KEY problem that most point-and-shoot cameras have when it comes to "action" photos is shutter lag. And yes, I also own a P&S and believe that they have a place and time.
As a matter of fact one of my favorite cat photos was taken with my P&S (before I moved to dSLRs) and Life Magazine even had a two-page photo taken by a "simple little camera" that Patrick Lichfield carried "in his pocket". The photo was of Diana, the Queen, and Winston Churchill's great-granddaughter at Di's wedding. The photographer's "real" cameras were elsewhere--the quotes used are indeed quotes. For more information about the photo and to see the photo itself check out Pages 94-95 and the back cover of Life: Photography Exposed - The Story Behind the Image, copyright 2005, Time, Inc.