While I was heading home from a trap shoot competition today I saw some cars doing timed runs, so I thought I would give them a shot. I've never shot cars before, and in retrospect I should have changed my focus mode on D300 (using Sigma 100-300 f/4). I was using single-point with tracking and it seemed to jump around the cars too much and not maintain sharp focus (also, hand-held may have been culprit, I was getting tired).
I'm also trying a new PP technique, C&C welcome. Number 1 is my fav of the entire shoot, I just like how it turned out. The older lady in the passenger seat asked if I had gotten a picture of her - I'm hoping I can find her email address and surprise her (btw - the driver and that car were fast)
I shot autocross events several years ago and you really need to slow your shutter speed down for this. Especially with cars that corner very flat it's hard to tell if they are even moving at all. So, try to get a little motion blur in the tires/wheels which will require you to do a little panning while shooting. Not too difficult to learn, just takes a little time. Try shooting cars as they pass your house to get a feel for your technique and camera setup.
+1 nice and crisp shots, but to fast of shutter speed for sure. 3 you've got a little bit of body roll, but other than that there's really nothing that says any of these cars are even moving at all.
If it's particularly bright out you may even want to shoot with an ND filter to bring your shutter speeds down, just work your way slower until you can see the movement in the wheels.
Thank you so much for the tips I would have never thought to try for *slower* shutter speeds But yes, I believe the sense of motion would be much better.
So I'm guessing pretty much anything that shows motion, like the body roll you mention (or perhaps tire smoke, etc) would be good?
There were some spinouts, but unfortunately too far away and going away from me. Oh well, thanks for tips!
if you can find a nice balance the car and action will still be crisp, you'll still be able to capture body roll and all those things, it's just that it will also look like the car is moving in shots where it's not doing anything special.
I try to keep to 1/500 and slower depending on the speed of where you're shooting. my panning shots I go down as slow as 1/40 but then my keep rate is right out the window :P
go4long is right, especially when shooting races... but motocross is soooo slow that anything faster than 1/250 is probably too fast... the slower speed of vehicle and the farther away the subject is = slower shutter speeds.
That first car is a Catterham and they are blazingly quick! Nice job for just popping over to the autocross event. A few more clicks and some slower shutter speeds and you are well on your way!
(btw - the driver and that car were fast)