Hi Michael,
Welcome to the Q&A Board!
With action shots, you may wish to use different shutter speeds to obtain different effects such as freezing the action, capturing movement, or panning. We have information about the effects of different shutter speeds, as well a a chart suggesting speeds to use for various scenes. There is also information about the relation between shutter speed and use of a long telephoto lens to minimize camera shake.
http://www.digicamhelp.com/advanced-digital-camera-settings/shutter-speed-effects.htmIf I were to save a custom settings for action photography it would be something like this:
Shutter speed - 1/000th of a second
ISO - 100 (if it were really bright, I'd use ISO 50)
White Balance - auto
Color mode - Vivid to get rich color
Image Stabilization - Shoot Only mode (if you use the digital zoom, which I wouldn't recommend for most shots, switch to Continuous IS. Viewing the scene on the LCD and electronic viewfinder will be easier because it won't shake so much). Switch to Panning IS if you pan.
AutoFocus mode - single
Continuous mode - high speed (this mode really shines when using a high speed memory card) - use when the action is fast, pick the best images out a the series; don't forget to pre focus
Shortcut button - AutoFocus Lock (prefocusing is often necessary when taking action shots)
