Need Some Advice

[Brent]

Hey, well i'm in need of some quick advice before tomorrow. I need to know some reasonable settings for taking pictures of some drifting at Oran Park tomorrow.

I've been taking photos for a while, and am not shit at it, just don't use custom settings for aperture and exposure etc.

I have a tripod and will be using it.

So, my basic question is how can I setup my camera (Nikon D50) to take some pretty reasonable action pictures of motorsport.

For Example: (Hope you don't mind Mike )

Thanks a heap, Brent :sorcerer:

Edited April 8, 2007 by Brent

[pixel8r]

I'm no expert...and I realise this is a bit late but I thought I'd reply just as an FYI...

For these photos you would need to pan the camera to keep the car in the frame, ie. kind of follow the car with the camera for a bit. The camera would need to be set either on a manual focus or some cameras allow you to have it continually focussing even when the shutter button isn't pressed - or you may be able to have it continually focussing while the shutter button is half-pressed, as you wait for the right moment.

The continual focus or manual focus will reduce your "shutter lag" time and allow you to capture the moment without having to wait (sometimes up to a second) for the camera to focus. Then just click the button when you want the shot and its important to note that you should continue with the follow through. When you press the shutter button, try not to bump the camera up/down as you do it, and keep the panning motion of the camera very fluid/smooth. A tripod is probably essential to do this properly...and a very fast shutter speed.

Many cameras have a sport mode that should help out here but I've not used that mode much on mine so I cant really comment - I just know that that's what its for.

For any other action/motion shots, I think the most important thing is a camera with a very fast auto-focus (I love Ricoh digicams for this reason - but they only do "prosumer" cameras, no digital slr's unfortunately). Having subjects in focus will be the goal of your shots, and if you're good you could even frame your subject well (ie. not always centered) while you are following them with the camera

Hope that helps

[dan.1337]

don't bother with the tripod. use ur arms and set ur camera focus onto something like "AI SERVO" (Canon's name for it). for canon users, it means that your cam will continually refocus with the trigger half depressed.

i don't think manual focus would be a good idea for action shots. leave it to the camera to do the focus as it'll always be faster and more accurate than a human in times like that.

main thing is to pan and get ur af points right.

[pixel8r]

don't bother with the tripod. use ur arms and set ur camera focus onto something like "AI SERVO" (Canon's name for it). for canon users, it means that your cam will continually refocus with the trigger half depressed.

i don't think manual focus would be a good idea for action shots. leave it to the camera to do the focus as it'll always be faster and more accurate than a human in times like that.

main thing is to pan and get ur af points right.

Manual focus could work if the moving subjects are always a similar distance from the camera and the lighting isn't changing much - thats the only reason I suggested that.

For anyone looking at a camera with pretty much instantaneous Auto Focus, try Ricoh's R4, R5, (and now the new R6) cameras. less than 0.1 seconds to take a photo INCLUDING auto focus. The claimed times are like 0.05 seconds or something, so needless to say the AF is extremely fast. And the photos I find are pretty good for a camera in this class.

[Silver-Arrowz]

Put your camera on shutter mode and keep the shutter speed low. Set the camera to continual auto focus. Also handy to keep the camera on multiple burst shot mode. Use a monopod if you've got one, if not just practice freehand and get use to the idea of panning and tracking the subject.

Not every photo will be a keeper, you'll have plenty of blurred out shots so make sure you've got plenty of momory and try to shoot in jpeg mode so you can get more shots in as RAW files will msx out the camera buffer memory quick.

The shutter speed has to be low to get that blurred out background effect. A fast shutter speed will make the car look like it's standing still. Last Friday I was shooting my mates car at Wakefield and I was using speeds between 1/60 to 1/100 and the blurred out background turned out pretty well compared to my older pics (I used 1/200-300). I'll post up some pics tomorrow as an example.

[Silver-Arrowz]

Pic taken at 1/60 and f14 @ISO200

[Sl!m]

here is one of my action shots

Camera Make: Canon

Camera Model: Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL

Image Date: 2007:04:08 17:39:51

Flash Used: No

Focal Length: 170.0mm

CCD Width: 5.87mm

Exposure Time: 0.0010 s (1/1000)

Aperture: f/5.0

ISO equiv: 100

White Balance: Auto

Metering Mode: Matrix

Exposure: Portrait Mode

[Levi_]

Keep your position varied, try not get stuck in one spot too long.

Try some panning shots; you'll need to drop your shutter speed to atleast 1/200th of a second and then work your way towards 1/60th - depending on the focal length.

Pick a single spot on the car to track and follow, I usually pick a headlight or a door handle; this will help you get sharp shots.

Frame carefully; a good shot will be ruined if half the car is langing out of the frame.

Experiment, practise, experiment and practise some more.

[Echo63]

Keep your position varied, try not get stuck in one spot too long.

Try some panning shots; you'll need to drop your shutter speed to atleast 1/200th of a second and then work your way towards 1/60th - depending on the focal length.

Pick a single spot on the car to track and follow, I usually pick a headlight or a door handle; this will help you get sharp shots.

Frame carefully; a good shot will be ruined if half the car is langing out of the frame.

Experiment, practise, experiment and practise some more.

was this taken on the 24th or 25th ? - i know its near flag point 4 at barbagallo, nice shot

just guessing but, 80mm, 1/80th sec ? (there isnt any exif attached)

oh and taking shots of drifting, try 'S" mode on your nikon, continuous AF and a shutter speed of around 1/160th of a second, keep your ISO as low as you can (100 for full sun, 400 for really overcast) and you shouldnt have any problems

if you have a monopod, use it and try and fill the frame with the car, i normally use a 70-200mm lens for shooting drift

as others have said, pick a single spot on the car and try to keep an AF point marker on it (it get easier with practice)

oh, and the more you shoot the better you will get, i have progressed from really crap to fairly good by attending every race meet i can and practicing