Photography questions

[mitchy]

i've had my 450D for a few weeks now and have literally just taken 100's of photos of the same shit with different settings to learn what does what..

next weekend i've got some tickets for the V8 supertaxis and would love to try get some decent photo's...

does anyone have any tips for me?

i've got a 450D, 18-55mm IS lense, 55-250mm IS lense, and just grabbed a UV filter for each lense yesterday.

i havent really tried much day time photography yet, but the few i have tried seem to come out on the dark side, quick muck around with the UV filter this morning seemed to help a little bit.

[TJ]

iso 100
about 1/150-300 for panning depending on how you with the panning

F will depend on the lighting on the day.

[cplagz]

Don't bother taking panning shots with the 55-200 of V8's without using a monopod/tripod.

[R3N]

UV filter shouldn't mess with the darkness/brightness of your photos, unless its a circular polarizer

[SEXUAL TYRANNOSAURUS]

Don't bother taking panning shots with the 55-200 of V8's without using a monopod/tripod.

Why not?

[R3N]

the more the zoom, the more obvious unstableness becomes ie. blurry shots

unless you have VR or IS

[cplagz]

Why not?

Because the 55-200 is a shit lens and at anything over 80mm you will struggle to get a decent picture. I used to own one.

[OLSKOOL1800]

I have no idea about that lens mate but my advice is this:

Set your camera to SHUTTER SPEED mode and play with the shutter speed.
For differing effects move from 30-60-90-etc etc right up to 800.
It all depends on how you want the image to look.
IMO frozen cars without moving wheels is pointless and boring so don't get carried away with a super fasr shutter speed.
Practice your panning technique over and over again.
Also, look at mainting a decent aperture setting so you have plenty of focus F5.6 to F11 is perfect.
If you can't maintain this with an ISO of 100 bump the ISO until you can reach this.
Keep checking your histogram to make sure nothing is blowing out or that the image is underexposed.
For awesome results just look at FFOUR (Jan's) motorcylce pics in the showcase.
Lastly practice practice practice!!!
Good luck bro and have fun with it ;)

Cheers,
Jordan.

Just thought I would show some other examples for you but please look at Jan's his are awesome.

Varied shutter speeds.

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/6742/pc1.jpg (http://img383.imageshack.us/i/pc1.jpg/)


http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/1668/pc3.jpg (http://img243.imageshack.us/i/pc3.jpg/)


http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/3614/pc2tl.jpg (http://img200.imageshack.us/i/pc2tl.jpg/)


http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/1399/pc11y.jpg (http://img379.imageshack.us/i/pc11y.jpg/)


http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/674/pc10.jpg (http://img379.imageshack.us/i/pc10.jpg/)


http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/7270/pc14.jpg (http://img383.imageshack.us/i/pc14.jpg/)


http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/5616/pc9.jpg (http://img382.imageshack.us/i/pc9.jpg/)[/QUOTE]

[mitchy]

cheers jordan!

that's exactly the kind of info i was after...
action/panning shots is what i'm after, especially after seeing those shots of Jan's, just amazing.

[SEXUAL TYRANNOSAURUS]

Because the 55-200 is a shit lens and at anything over 80mm you will struggle to get a decent picture. I used to own one.

Fair enough, i don't get mine out often, but the Quality looked fine to me. I agree that its not fast, its something you should be accomadating for though. You'll find there's plenty of sport's togs using this particular lense.

Its not the Equipment its the User.

[Brodsta]

the last thing you want to do is try use a monopod or tripod for taking panning shots. These are hand held shots, and your 55-250mm lens will be perfect to practice with.

[cplagz]

Apologies - I misread. I thought it said 55-200 (that came with the 350D Kit B) ... that's a shit lens. I have not used the 55-250mm.

I find using my tripod is good for panning as its easier to keep it on "plane". But my tripod has a ball head, not a 3-way like most.

[Brodsta]

Absolutely nothing wrong with the 55-200 lens as a starter. I took some real whoppers on that little flimsy peice of crap back in the day and I've still got the glass in in the bag in case my others fail.

I just found any kind of pod to be a pain in the ass and nothing can beat the free motion of your steady hands. A pro lens with a second mode of image stabilisation specifically for panning is a good help.

[wadragracing]

Definitely no tripod for the pan, just follow your subject as smoothly as you can. Practice makes perfect and you will find you get better at it through the day. As Jordan said above, experiment with different shutter speeds to see the different results you get.
Given it may be hard to find an ideal photo spot at the V8s experiment a bit as well. Maybe if you have a tripod set up on a corner with as low a shutter speed as you can get and blur all the cars going through with a good crowd in the background. Or see if you can frame a car between some spectators to add a bit of atmosphere to the shot.
If you can get zoomed in close enough I love the shots from Barbs with the cars going over the hill too, either running away from you or coming towards you, depending on what side of the track you are on.

[cplagz]

The washer/string/bolt stabilizer is pretty good too.

Basically get a bolt the same thread as bottom of camera. Some tough string (Dacron or similar) and a large washer (10cm dia or bigger). Tie string to washer, chuck washer under your foot, measure string to chin, tie to bolt, bolt into camera and voila.... you keep tension on the string by pulling up while panning, will assist in stoping up/down shake and can focus on side-side pan instead.

[SEXUAL TYRANNOSAURUS]

Im suprised no one's mentioned using AI Servo.

Once you learn how to use it effectively, it can be great.

Make sure you set your AF point to the center. Follow the Car, with your finger half on the shutter, your camera will track the car and stay in focus. then click away.

[Brodsta]

AI is certainly very useful for any kind of sports or moving subject photography.

Some cheaper lenses get a real beating with it but should do ok.

Usually its definately better to select one of focus points manually but not necessarily the centre one.

[Sully]

just out of interest, why do you say to set the iso to 100? i've taken thousands of panning shots, i just had a quick look at some of mine and the best ones have been at 100 but there's plenty at other settings as well.

i've also found that lens's with 2 way IS are actually better at panning with it turned off otherwise it's fighting the movement the whole time. i believe the 4 way IS lenses are much better as thats what they're designed for, never tried one to be able to comment on that though

[mitchy]

i'm not entirely sure when i am actually.. have tickets from/with fujitsu...

is AI servo something a beginner could use?
i've got a 16GB card so i'm likely going to fuck around with settings and hopefully fluke a fantastic shot out of a few hundred :Lol:

[Brodsta]

just out of interest, why do you say to set the iso to 100? i've taken thousands of panning shots, i just had a quick look at some of mine and the best ones have been at 100 but there's plenty at other settings as well.

i've also found that lens's with 2 way IS are actually better at panning with it turned off otherwise it's fighting the movement the whole time. i believe the 4 way IS lenses are much better as thats what they're designed for, never tried one to be able to comment on that though


your ISO should always be set at 100 by default and should be the absolue last resort setting you adjust if you cant get enough light in through that diaphram (the lens).

Sounds like your using your IS settings the wrong way. On the Canon lenses for example that have 2 types of IS, have one specifically for panning. It only provides IS support to any vertical movement not horizontal. So you can pan with ease.

The best way to do it is learn without any IS.



Of course a beginnger can use AI servo, as long as the camera has that functionality. Pick it up and play with it.

[wadragracing]

Always AI servo for moving things...makes it a whole bunch easier, especially if you want to be able to change your shot around frequently or capture an incident in a different spot to where you are focused.

[mitchy]

well.. here is my favourite shot out of the ones i got today...
still got ALOT to learn, plenty came out half in focus, blurred, etc.. but i had a ball.

http://s287.photobucket.com/albums/ll145/mitchyvr4/V8%20Supercars/IMG_11091.jpg