This is very difficult. I'm used to taking pictures of things that don't move! Anyone on here do it as a hobby or for work? Any tips?

I was getting better towards the end of the day (vintage car racing at cadwell yesterday)

Here's a couple of snaps I took yesterday:

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/8166/vrooomuv1.jpg
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/6438/vrooom2qo4.jpg

Is it best to have a wide aperture and a high shutter speed? That's what I was doing in the end. Is it just a case of practicing tracking the cars with the camera as they whizz past?

Btw, cadwell was AMAZING! The car in the first pic is one of the coolest cars I've ever seen



[Edited on 1/9/08 by Benzine]

You want the fastest shutter speed possible which will usually require quite a wide apperture yes.

Other than that its just a case of getting used to panning at the same speed as the object.

Back in my photographing days I used to mainly concentrate on model aeroplanes (ducted fans and jets mostly) and birds of prey!!!

Practice, practice, practice....

quote:

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Originally posted by BenB
Other than that its just a case of getting used to panning at the same speed as the object.

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Depends on the effect you are after. If you want the car still/in focus and the background moving, then wide aperture, fast shutter speed and tracking through the shot should do what you want (like your attached pics). I usually pre-focus (button half down on my camera, then hold it there) on a patch of tarmac where I want the car to be, then track it as it approaches that point. Shortly before, press and hold the button while continuing through the pre-focused point. On my camera I have got an anti-wobble setting which you can set for panning, i.e. it lets you pan sideways without trying to "correct" you.

If you want the car to be moving and the background still, then obviously hold the camera still and experiment with shutter speeds till you get an amount of car movement that suits what you are after. If it's night driving you can get a good effect using a tripod and a longish exposure so you can see light trails.

Also get a fast a lens as possible. F2 ish .
Try not to zoom in too much and maybe get an image stabilising lens.
As usual its all money money money.

i saw all these cars yesterday (well mabye not the same cars but very simliar) going through grantham at about half 7ish. Dont know if there were the same cars, but that first picture looked very familiar. There was about 6 or 7 of them some being driven some on trailers and that one ytou mention is the one that caught my attention out of the lot!

Racing finished at about 20 past 5, many would have been on the A1 going south afterwards so should be the same lot

Thanks for all the tips btw!

i end up picking myself a sponsor sticker on the side of the car and try and keep that in the middle of the shot, i find it easier that tracking the whole car

I would have thought closing the apature a little to increase the depth of field would be advantageous.

I would be using a slightly higher iso than 100 ( poss 400 or 800 ).

How do you rate the D80 BTW ?

regards

Agriv8

quote:

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Originally posted by Agriv8
I would be using a slightly higher iso than 100 ( poss 400 or 800 ).

How do you rate the D80 BTW ?

regards

Agriv8

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Several things, if you can increase the iso setting this is like having a "faster" film, so you will get faster shutter speeds with the same aperture setting, the downside is it will make the picture slightly
"grainier" - if you're using a fairly high pixel setting this almost certainly won't be noticeable.
Closing the aperture down will give you greater depth of field ie stuff closer & further away from subject will be more in focus - this can be good or bad depending on the type of shot you are trying to acheive.
If you go for very fast shutter speeds then the background will be sharp even if you're panning quite fast, I always feel the pic conveys speed far better with the blurred background.
I'm amazed no one else has mentioned the multi shot facility which i'd be amazed if your camera doesn't have - my Fuji has & that's not even an SLR. This can be very handy when you're getting used to panning as you have several opportunities for the shot to be good on pure luck.
Finally, practice,practice,practice, - one of the best things about digital is that you can take 100's of pics & even if 99.9% are rubbish it doesn't cost you a penny - not like the days of film when you were very careful what you took! Most of all enjoy it - both the taking of the shots & the finished article

Have a look Here for ISO explanation

ISO 400 will be fine (depending on lens and weather) and you will be able to get a quick enough shutter speed to stop the wheels, i try to make the wheels look blurry tho but cant remember the shutter speed I have used 1/125 or some thing last time I played.

Stock D80 should have no worries, and you should be able to get 3 photos per second. you should also have the option for continual focusing on a moving object, according to This you have A new 11-area auto-focus system detects focus with superb precision and can even track a moving subject across the frame, shifting focus instantly and automatically to any of the 11 auto-focus points.

[Edited on 1/9/08 by ibakes]

I'd say take all the advice and ideas in, then forget it all, and just play with the camera, settings, position in relation to the light, panning and not.

Just enjoy messing around with it as said above, you'll get the hang of it soon enough.

All sport is worth trying to photograph though, they all have different problems but when you get that one good shot it's all worth it.


tim

Thanks for all the info! I've finally got round to processing/fannying about with most of the pics. Here's one of my faves:

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/1715/ferhk2.jpg

i am no longer talking to you!

(ie i love that shot!)