Love all those shots. So crisp yet they convey motion so well.
So... with myself getting along to the GP in a little over a month... what sort of settings do you guys recommend for taking nice shots of cars on the move? (350D here).
"If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate!"
Shutter speed is the only real factor. Lower gives a better sense of speed but you'll get a lower percentage of shots. Those were mostly at 1/400th which is too fast to get really good motion blur, but I didn't want to have to take a lot of pictures just to get a few good ones. Most of them were still crap at 400
Around 1/200 seems to give good results if you can nail the pan (see norbs F3 shot in the other thread). Of course, it all changes with car speed etc, so you need to experiment a bit and see what works for you. I'd probably do the bulk at 1/400 or so, but try a few on the straights every now and then at low shutter speed to try and get some good "speed" shots.
I'd also duggest using full manual and custom/fixed white balance as the metering often goes wrong when panning on different coloured cars. Use manual focus and set the camera up for the point on the track where you want to take the shot. Then pan on the car with the shutter 1/2 way down to minimise the shake, click at your chosen point and follow through to help keep the action smooth. Have the camera in multi-shot and keep a finger on the AF/MF switch though so that you can take shots if a car loses it. Lowest ISO for best image quality of course.
I agree with most of what Darren has said. 1/200 is a good compromise. 1/125 is great if you can manage to jag it, but your keeper ratio will drop severely. I actually nailed one the other night at the cycling at 1/80, but there was a bloody spectator right in the middle of the shot. I would start off at 1/400th Mick, and then if you find you can nail the pans quickly, drop it down a step at a time. Chimp your shots and use the zoom function to look at the photo as close as you can in the LCD to see how you are going.
As for focussing, Darren and I differ a little here, but alot will depend on the lense you are using. I use auto focus and have the AF set to Servo mode. That way it is always focussing whilst ever you have the button half pressed. Having said that, my 70-200mm lense is pretty quick and hardly ever hunts, so I can put up with it.
Something else I learnt on Sunday, and is probably known to all photographers but me, is to use one of your focus points in the view finder to track a spot on the car. My ratio of good shots double by doing this. (Thats an estimate, but I reckon a conservative one). Oh, and what Darren says about following through is another excellent panning tip.
Good luck, and I look forward to seeing your pics.
Thanks guys. Will be sure to get in lots of praccy over the GP weekend. Unfortunately they put up those bloody massive 3 metre tall fences so the shots will never look fantastic but I'll give it a go.
"If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate!"
Exar Kun wrote:Thanks guys. Will be sure to get in lots of praccy over the GP weekend. Unfortunately they put up those bloody massive 3 metre tall fences so the shots will never look fantastic but I'll give it a go.
Mick, there is a way of getting rid of the fences (not completely) in photography. Its not going to suit the panning pictures, but any static ones you want to get. Get as close as you can to the fence, and set your aperture to as wide as it will go. Focus on the car or what ever and the depth of field will almost make the fence dissapear. But you have to be close.
The other thing you can do (which is especially good if you have a lense that hunts for seconds before finding a target) is set your AF to a custom button (both the Canon and Nikon will do this). This allows you to prefocus on a point and click away with out it adjusting focus every time you touch the shutter release. Its a good thing to do in any case really as once you have focused on the object there is nothing worse than the AF kicking in an moving off the spot you wanted.
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