ProAutoSports club racing

anwmn1 · November 29, 2006

While working on one of Nikolai's technique assignments- panning- I headed down to the race track and caught some club racing.

These are from Friday

I went back on Sunday and signed up for a "road kill" vest so I could get a little closer.

Thanks for looking.

Aaron

zed · November 29, 2006

That's a really good start on the panning Aaron. What ISO were you set on? They all look a bit noisy.

Jeff

IAmJohn · November 30, 2006

pans
Hi Aaron,

I like your pans. I know they take a lot of practice. My only suggestion on these would be to watch your backgrounds. Ugly backgrounds can take away from an otherwise good shot.

On your second set, I'd try a slower shotter speed. Notice the blurred wheels in your pans? They give a feel for the speed. The second set seem static because the high shutter froze the cars (karts).

John

anwmn1 · November 30, 2006

zed wrote:

That's a really good start on the panning Aaron. What ISO were you set on? They all look a bit noisy.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff

The panning shots were ISO 640 shooting at 1/40

The Second series were ISO 1000 shooting at 1/1600

Any suggestions for next time? Lighting here is usually quite bright.

anwmn1 · November 30, 2006

IAmJohn wrote:

Hi Aaron,

I like your pans. I know they take a lot of practice. My only suggestion on these would be to watch your backgrounds. Ugly backgrounds can take away from an otherwise good shot.

On your second set, I'd try a slower shotter speed. Notice the blurred wheels in your pans? They give a feel for the speed. The second set seem static because the high shutter froze the cars (karts).

John

John- thanks for the comments. I agree with the comments about the backgrounds. These courses are not scenic at all so it will always be a challenge here as far as backgrounds- no trees, no grass, and very harsh lighting.

How can I compensate for the speed and very harsh light without shooting too high a shutter and too high an ISO?

Once again I appreciate the feedback and have a few things to keep in mind for next time.

Aaron

mercphoto · November 30, 2006

anwmn1 wrote:

The Second series were ISO 1000 shooting at 1/1600

Any suggestions for next time? Lighting here is usually quite bright.

Yes. 1/1600 is too fast, try 1/800 for those shots instead. You will get a hint of wheel blur. Nowhere near as much as the panning shots, of course, but you will get a hint and that will show some motion. But at 1/1600 you get zero wheel blur whatsoever. The cars look parked.

When lighting is bright do what you would do if you were taking portraits, or landscapes, or architecture. Watch which direction you shoot (don't shoot the shadow side of the car). Shoot early morning or later afternoon when sun angles are lower. Etc.

zed · November 30, 2006

anwmn1 wrote:

Thanks Jeff

The panning shots were ISO 640 shooting at 1/40

The Second series were ISO 1000 shooting at 1/1600

Any suggestions for next time? Lighting here is usually quite bright.

Sure Aaron.
If you are shooting in bright sun light, you should have not problem shooting ISO 100-200. If you are shooting in the day time but it is very cloudy or overcast, then you may need to be around ISO200-400. I am not sure what mode you are shooting in, but I would be in Tv (shutter priority). On your true pan shots in this series (shots 1-4) I would start with a shutter speed of around 1/250 or 1/125. Once you get into a groove, you can lower the shutter speed to get more motion effect. I hope that you are in "AI servo" for focusing? Use one focus point. Pick up the subject as early as you can and put that focus point on one point of the car (headlight, drivers head for example) and try to keep the point on that part of the subject as you pan. Pull the trigger when the subject is at the location that you want to shoot and then keep panning after you have pressed the shutter (follow through).

1/40 is a very low shutter speed for motorsports, you certainly will get some in focus shots but not as many as if you were to up the shutter to 1/125. Slower cars, like the Mini, can warrant a slower shutter than a MUCH faster car, like the two open wheel cars you have here. Also, if the part of the track you are shooting is fast, then a higher shutter speed will still give you some motion, just because the subject is moving faster than on a slower part of the track.

Once you get comfortable with the mechanics of it and you are getting some good keepers, then you can worry about your backgrounds and other more artistic stuff.

On your second set, I would not consider those panning shots, they are more head on or going away type shots. On these, I would say that your shutter is too high. Again, depending on the speed of you subject, you can usually shoot around 1/250 to 1/400 for these types of shots. You are not making a swinging motion with you lens so you will not get the background blurr of the others, but you do still want to get some motion in the wheels if you can.

Some people will shoot much higher shutter speeds on head on or going away shots IF you cannot see the wheel (only the tire). You can't see motion no matter what you do, so the higher shutter speed will give you a shorter DOF....isolating the subject from the background more.

I hope this helps. And post up some more when you get them.
Sometimes pictures help more than words>>>>

1/60 pan

1/160 pan. Same part of the track, faster shutter, not a huge difference in the motion. But you can see this has a little less motion in it.

1/320 head on. You can just see the rear wheel. It looks like it is frozen. To me, this is not an issue at all because you it is just a sliver of the wheel showing. My point with this one is that it is a very, very slow part of the track (maybe 25-35 mph). Had more of the wheels been visible, it would have looked like the car was parked and I would have dropped the shutter down.

Another one at 1/320. This time a little faster part of the track and more of the wheels are showing, so I wanted some motion in them.

p.s. On head on shots like these where the cars have head lights on, I shoot manual, because the lights will mess with the camera metering and knock your exposures all outta wack.

ProAutoSports club racing

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