Hillclimb

jomarlight

What are the best settings to get a blurred backroung of this photo? The distance of the car was about 30 metres from the camera.

Farmer Fred

Slow down your shutter speed and pan with the moving car.

torags

Easiest way to practice panning is when the vehicle is going from left to right or R to L.

It less possible to pan blur background when car is coming towards you

The you need to use depth of field, by opening your aperture to f1.8 - f2.8.

That step is thousands in equipment cost.

aj986s

I've done a fair amount of "enthusiast" track photography over the years. Panning is a skill that can be easily learned, but takes a lot of practice and patience to learn well. From my own experiences, the best results will always be when you are perpendicular to the car's path. Best results achieved as you pan across your field of view, say from left to right. And shutter speed will be dependent upon the speed of the cars; cars moving at faster speeds will need faster shutter speeds to keep car sharp. Shutter speeds will tend to range from about 1/250 (for really fast car speeds) down to 1/15 or so for slow speed sections of the track. Nice bokeh like backgrounds seem to work best at the slower shutter speed situations.

When I decide I want some blurred panning shots, I'll try a couple at various shutter speeds, and then zoom the previews to find the speed that works best, where the car is sharpest. Smaller aperature can also be helpful, to give you some depth of field advantage. Aperature will vary with ambient light. When taking the shot, try to pan across in a straight line, and start panning before you hit the shutter speed. Deciding where you can best achieve your shot is also good to plan. Start panning before that point, and determine what will be your "trigger" to hit the shutter button; either a visible landmark or your body's relative position. Practice will be your friend to learn to do this. And with digital....it's MUCH easier than the old film days. Shoot..shoot...shoot and discard the ones that didn't work.

But, note that panning works best (only) when your subject is moving perpendicular to you. Cars coming at you are not good candidates for panning blurs. You can try some PP trickery to get a desired result, but tuff to get it looking natural. Another blur option is a zoom blur. Requires quickly moving a zoom lens through its focal length range while centered on a subject. Personally, I've found this hard to do except with slow shutter speeds. But again PP can provide some help. With your permission, here's your pic so tweaked:
HillclimbCar2.jpg

aj986s

torags wrote: »

.....The you need to use depth of field, by opening your aperture to f1.8 - f2.8.....

Not sure this statement is so correct. A smaller aperature will help to keep the car in focus, with a deeper depth of field. Blurring is achieved through camera movement, rather than bokeh'ing background with a very large aperature and shallow depth of field.

r3t1awr3yd

What country are you in? I love watching rally races

torags

aj986s wrote: »

Not sure this statement is so correct. A smaller aperature will help to keep the car in focus, with a deeper depth of field. Blurring is achieved through camera movement, rather than bokeh'ing background with a very large aperature and shallow depth of field.

think again

When there is no lateral movement your choice for subject separation is to open your lens to try and get bokeh. If you're far away you're less successful.

aj986s

torags wrote: »

think again

When there is no lateral movement your choice for subject separation is to open your lens to try and get bokeh. If you're far away you're less successful.

Gotcha! I now see what you meant. In your earlier post, that sentence started with "The", which may have thrown off my interpretation. "Then" is probably what you meant. I see now how you can use shallow DOF for head-on shots. Something I hadn't thought about before. Thanks for contributing to my edumacation!

torags

aj986s wrote: »

Gotcha! I now see what you meant. In your earlier post, that sentence started with "The", which may have thrown off my interpretation. "Then" is probably what you meant. I see now how you can use shallow DOF for head-on shots. Something I hadn't thought about before. Thanks for contributing to my edumacation!

Yeah, while it's technically possible - most outdoor motor sports are in bright sun, so you can't use it without blowing out your images.

But if your in a stadium setting (with lights on) or sunrise/sunset you have to use it.

At least that's my experience