Ama @ Vir

HarveyMushman · August 31, 2005

The AMA Superbike series paid a visit to Virginia International Raceway this past weekend.

Some of the catch . . .

I like the green bikes.

Question: What's the consensus re: blurry action pics? The above pics are pretty sharp and clear, but the vast majority of what I captured this weekend has some blur. I like to shoot at the slowest shutter speed I can get away with, to give a sense of movement. I end up discarding a lot of images, but the few that "work" are worth it, I think.

A case in point:

Many more (not all of them good) are here:
http://harveymushman.smugmug.com/gallery/769076/

Comments are welcome.

ian408 · September 1, 2005

There are some nice shots in this series. In my mind, motorsports are
best shown with some blur as it gives a real sense of speed. I like the
DOF in the pipe shot.

How are you shooting? Do you use a monopod or handheld?

Ian

HarveyMushman · September 1, 2005

ian408 wrote:

There are some nice shots in this series. In my mind, motorsports are
best shown with some blur as it gives a real sense of speed. I like the
DOF in the pipe shot.

How are you shooting? Do you use a monopod or handheld?

Ian

Thanks, Ian. All of the action shots were captured handheld, more often than not at max (210mm) zoom. I varied the shutter speed between 1/200 and 1/320, for the most part. I don't have the steadiest of hands, but I'm working on it.

gouldphoto · September 2, 2005

Nice shots. It is a shame that you were not on the other side of the track for the first shot in this series, now that would have been a shot!!!

As to the blurry shots, that's what going digital is all about. Keep shooting, delete the blurs but go for that 'sense of speed' shot. When you nail one it makes all the deletes worth while.

As far as color/contract goes, it looks like they could use some curves/levels adjustment and a bit of USM to get those riders to really stand out from the background.

I love shooting racing and viewing others racing shots, good work keep em coming.

Steve G

HarveyMushman wrote:

The AMA Superbike series paid a visit to Virginia International Raceway this past weekend.

Some of the catch . . .

Question: What's the consensus re: blurry action pics? The above pics are pretty sharp and clear, but the vast majority of what I captured this weekend has some blur. I like to shoot at the slowest shutter speed I can get away with, to give a sense of movement. I end up discarding a lot of images, but the few that "work" are worth it, I think.

A case in point:

Many more (not all of them good) are here:
http://harveymushman.smugmug.com/gallery/769076/

Comments are welcome.

gsgary · September 2, 2005

Great shots i think the same about blur but some on here say they don't sell i like the blurred wheels the ones that freeze the action don't do it for me

Gary

HarveyMushman wrote:

The AMA Superbike series paid a visit to Virginia International Raceway this past weekend.

Some of the catch . . .

I like the green bikes.

Question: What's the consensus re: blurry action pics? The above pics are pretty sharp and clear, but the vast majority of what I captured this weekend has some blur. I like to shoot at the slowest shutter speed I can get away with, to give a sense of movement. I end up discarding a lot of images, but the few that "work" are worth it, I think.

A case in point:

Many more (not all of them good) are here:
http://harveymushman.smugmug.com/gallery/769076/

Comments are welcome.

mercphoto · September 2, 2005

HarveyMushman wrote:

Question: What's the consensus re: blurry action pics? The above pics are pretty sharp and clear, but the vast majority of what I captured this weekend has some blur. I like to shoot at the slowest shutter speed I can get away with, to give a sense of movement. I end up discarding a lot of images, but the few that "work" are worth it, I think.

I like taking the panning shots myself, and I like looking at them as a photographer. And yes, you'll throw away a lot, but that percent will drop as you get more practice.

But what surprises me is, when I shoot a motocross, what the buying patterns are of the riders. If they have a choice of a shot at 1/640 a second, versus one at 1/125, 95% of the time they pick the faster shutter speed shot, even if the slow shutter shot is tack-sharp. And I have no earthly idea why.

HarveyMushman · September 2, 2005

gouldphoto wrote:

As far as color/contract goes, it looks like they could use some curves/levels adjustment and a bit of USM to get those riders to really stand out from the background.

Probably so. I hate spending a lot of time in PS though. I'll experiment with a few of 'em. Thanks for the comments.

HarveyMushman · September 2, 2005

mercphoto wrote:

But what surprises me is, when I shoot a motocross, what the buying patterns are of the riders. If they have a choice of a shot at 1/640 a second, versus one at 1/125, 95% of the time they pick the faster shutter speed shot, even if the slow shutter shot is tack-sharp. And I have no earthly idea why.

mercphoto · September 2, 2005

HarveyMushman wrote:

Probably so. I hate spending a lot of time in PS though. I'll experiment with a few of 'em. Thanks for the comments.

Me too, so I try to find automated things to do. Try auto-levels to help with the colors. That is something you can batch and not think about. Also, try a sharpening run with a high-pass filter (search the forums here). Again, automated and batchable, no intervention. I've found USM doesn't do much good on this type of photography.