FWIW, the effect you're after can sometimes be achieved via PostProcessing, in a program such as Photoshop. This is a crude quick&dirty example done with Motion Blur in PS5.
Tony P. Canon 50D, 30D and Digital Rebel (plus some old friends - FTB and AE1) Long-time amateur.....wishing for more time to play Autocross and Track junkie tonyp.smugmug.com
FWIW, the effect you're after can sometimes be achieved via PostProcessing, in a program such as Photoshop. This is a crude quick&dirty example done with Motion Blur in PS5.
The only problem is the car looks like it's going in reverse.
Vic, I like the rosso F355 spider photo. The reflection of the light post is unfortunate, though.
Also, the gaillo LP640 is a good one.
For good motion blur, I recommend about 1/40th of a second. This may require image stabilization. I wish I'd taken this with an IS lens, but unfortunately I did not:
Nice shots....... but it all depends on the angles you shoot cars at also. Some cars have such nice lines and curves.........and depending on the angle of the car you take the photo you will get a nice shot.
Here is a recent photo I took of a car. I was really low on to the ground in front of the car, then I just blurred the background a bit. It was taken with my Rebel XTi and canon 10-20mm lens
FWIW, the effect you're after can sometimes be achieved via PostProcessing, in a program such as Photoshop. This is a crude quick&dirty example done with Motion Blur in PS5.
Ugh. Please don't do this. The reflections on the hood show tack-sharp trees, not motion blurred trees. The tires are motionless, and if you do try to rotationally blur tires in Photoshop they don't look realistic. And with the motion blur filter in Photoshop you always get ghosting of the car into the blurry background. Sorry, it just looks bad.
I am a pretty unexperienced photopgrapher, but I along with my new interest in photography, I have loved Ford Mustangs for a long time. I have looked at thousands of car pictures, so I may be able to help out a little.
The shots where the car is the only thing is in focus is good for part of the time, but definitely not all of the time. Pick up any car maagazine and you will see this technique is not used often. I have always enjoyed taking pictures of my car in front of building and I have found this is a used technique for magazine shooters as well. I make sure thethe background is either a very nice building or a very run down building - either will look great.
I don't know too much about all this, but I thought I would chime in.
Ugh. Please don't do this. The reflections on the hood show tack-sharp trees, not motion blurred trees. The tires are motionless, and if you do try to rotationally blur tires in Photoshop they don't look realistic. And with the motion blur filter in Photoshop you always get ghosting of the car into the blurry background. Sorry, it just looks bad.
Practice on panning with a slow shutter.
I don't disagree with you, but as the originator of the post mentioned, he's using a P&S without shutter control. I offered up the PS trickery as an option, though arguably not the best one, for reasons including what you mention.
Tony P. Canon 50D, 30D and Digital Rebel (plus some old friends - FTB and AE1) Long-time amateur.....wishing for more time to play Autocross and Track junkie tonyp.smugmug.com
Not me - I wouldn't give you a camera without manual control, or did I??
No you didn't, cause you probably would never have given me a Nikon either
I bought it when I was in Orlando cause it was on sale ( < $100), and I wanted something I could fit in my pocket, or for quick snap shots. I regret buying it though, I never use it. And now that I know what I'm doing, it would probably just frustrate me.
Hey Vic, thanks for all the pics. It certainly looks like you're enjoying the time capturing all those fine works of automotive art. But I have to agree with a previous poster - and no disrespect intended here either - but I think you may be limited by your equipment more so that your eye. So without going out and dumping a couple of thousand on the newest body and lens, one thing you can do is to focus on smaller sections of the cars. Like I said above, I see Ferraris, Lambos, etc., as works of art, and the designers, I'm sure, also had that detail-mindeded in mind. Something as mundane as the corner of a bumper, or the rear view mirror, or side air vents, or wheels/brakes...those are all quite artistic in themselves. I think maybe that your camera might better capture the stills more so than moving subjects. Or, one thing you could do is go and rent yourself a body and lens for the weekend, the next time you know you'll have access to some of these cars. Good luck!
The light pole shadow across your third Ferrari's hood is not an assett either. You have to watch carefully for all the reflections in car images as well. As in this self portrait
I don't have any suggestions for using a point and shoot to do photoshoots of high dollar cars like that, but do have a few suggestions for panning.
I still need a LOT of practice panning, but last week took over 1,500 shots at a road race track.
Cars were going by me around 100-130mph and I tried dozens of different settings, but found a good bit of practice by doing this... I locked in on shutter priority and took some shots at 1/320. They were pretty crisp, but IMO didn't show enough motion blur of the wheels.
I slowed to 1/250th, and noticed that it was harder to get the crispness and focus of the actual car that I was looking for. Basically, I had better shots, but more 'deletes'.
Then I kept slowing down the shutter, took some at 1/200, same thing, very awesome blur, but tons of deletes for each 'keeper'.
I actually got a few lucky ones at speeds slower than that, but obviously I need to keep practicing.
I'm not sure how this matches everyone else's keep/delete ratio but I took around 1,500 pics that day and kept/uploaded 347 or something.
Here are a few that I just picked out to show the examples - the EXIF data is available on the slideout in the SM gallery.
1/160th
1/250th
This car was at 1/200th, but I still wanted more blur (poor thing, it was slower than the others):
I got really lucky on this one, it was taken at 1/20th:
I have never used PS in any form or fashion. I don't have time (plus I'm trying to really learn the basics so that I can do things right the first time).
I moved over into a corner of the track and got some interesting perspectives, cars were going slower speed-wise, but I was closer to them and on the outer apex of the corner, so my actual panning was more exagerrated allowing me (I think) to use faster shutter speeds while inducing a similar amount of blur (does that make sense)?
1/800th
1/640th (IMO I should have used slower shutter speeds here but the track day ended before I could experiment further)
I do a lot of my panning at 1/60 - 1/30. But that was for the Little 500 bike race at IU. I haven't tried an actual race. Maybe next year I should try to get into the Indy and do some shots.
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Canon 50D, 30D and Digital Rebel (plus some old friends - FTB and AE1)
Long-time amateur.....wishing for more time to play
Autocross and Track junkie
tonyp.smugmug.com
2. If it's the panning you're going for, I feel the background is still too in "focus" to acheive the effect. Unless I'm wrong and it wasn't panning.
Also, the gaillo LP640 is a good one.
For good motion blur, I recommend about 1/40th of a second. This may require image stabilization. I wish I'd taken this with an IS lens, but unfortunately I did not:
http://www.hypercontrast.com/components/com_expose/expose/img/alb_16/img_1205291232_142_lg.jpg
And the wheels need blur compatible with the background.
Here is a recent photo I took of a car. I was really low on to the ground in front of the car, then I just blurred the background a bit. It was taken with my Rebel XTi and canon 10-20mm lens
Canon 60D
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Practice on panning with a slow shutter.
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The shots where the car is the only thing is in focus is good for part of the time, but definitely not all of the time. Pick up any car maagazine and you will see this technique is not used often. I have always enjoyed taking pictures of my car in front of building and I have found this is a used technique for magazine shooters as well. I make sure thethe background is either a very nice building or a very run down building - either will look great.
I don't know too much about all this, but I thought I would chime in.
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I don't disagree with you, but as the originator of the post mentioned, he's using a P&S without shutter control. I offered up the PS trickery as an option, though arguably not the best one, for reasons including what you mention.
I, too, prefer to use shutterspeed to control blurs in panning shots, as mentioned in my earlier post in the thread (http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=765678&postcount=17).
Canon 50D, 30D and Digital Rebel (plus some old friends - FTB and AE1)
Long-time amateur.....wishing for more time to play
Autocross and Track junkie
tonyp.smugmug.com
And here
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
And I don't do words, I do visuals
Not me - I wouldn't give you a camera without manual control, or did I??
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
I bought it when I was in Orlando cause it was on sale ( < $100), and I wanted something I could fit in my pocket, or for quick snap shots. I regret buying it though, I never use it. And now that I know what I'm doing, it would probably just frustrate me.
http://www.happyvalleyphotography.com
I still need a LOT of practice panning, but last week took over 1,500 shots at a road race track.
Cars were going by me around 100-130mph and I tried dozens of different settings, but found a good bit of practice by doing this... I locked in on shutter priority and took some shots at 1/320. They were pretty crisp, but IMO didn't show enough motion blur of the wheels.
I slowed to 1/250th, and noticed that it was harder to get the crispness and focus of the actual car that I was looking for. Basically, I had better shots, but more 'deletes'.
Then I kept slowing down the shutter, took some at 1/200, same thing, very awesome blur, but tons of deletes for each 'keeper'.
I actually got a few lucky ones at speeds slower than that, but obviously I need to keep practicing.
I'm not sure how this matches everyone else's keep/delete ratio but I took around 1,500 pics that day and kept/uploaded 347 or something.
The complete folder is here: http://jhelms.smugmug.com/gallery/5019742_fivtc#301293009_MFX8L
Here are a few that I just picked out to show the examples - the EXIF data is available on the slideout in the SM gallery.
1/160th
1/250th
This car was at 1/200th, but I still wanted more blur (poor thing, it was slower than the others):
I got really lucky on this one, it was taken at 1/20th:
I have never used PS in any form or fashion. I don't have time (plus I'm trying to really learn the basics so that I can do things right the first time).
I moved over into a corner of the track and got some interesting perspectives, cars were going slower speed-wise, but I was closer to them and on the outer apex of the corner, so my actual panning was more exagerrated allowing me (I think) to use faster shutter speeds while inducing a similar amount of blur (does that make sense)?
1/800th
1/640th (IMO I should have used slower shutter speeds here but the track day ended before I could experiment further)
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