Motion Blur Shots

[Overdrive]

Tripods, monopods actually get in the way of doing panning shots. best is to practice your skills. Canon L series lenses have special stabilization for panning movements. Having IS anyways is plus and having this panning stabilization is a huge plus. But nothing beats experience imho.

On the races...saw some lights being hooked up in certain places along the track. No idea how it will look after dark though. And if you're located in fast stretches, available light might not be enough.

Totally agree ripper. You should also try and get really close to the cars in a tight bend , ideally your location being slightly elevated with an ultra wide angle lens to get some really cool artistic panning shots, most likely not getting the whole car in focus but turn up much nicer than the standard cliche shots. As Long as the front of the car is in focus they would look great! But for this you're panning action must be ultrafast..

[Gyiman]

This is nice

Edited December 13, 2011 by Gyiman

[MkX]

my photo

some thing wrong that i cant add flicker photo

Edited December 13, 2011 by MkX

[Ripper]

I used to use a Nikon 55-250mmVR and the VR on that wasnt that good... when at the races I used to turn it off. And if we're talking of photographing at a proximity of 10-12 meters away like at the colombo road race you're better of turning off the auto-focus too. pre-focus and capture at that right point. Some lenses just arent fast enough in auto focusing.

not to start a brand war but i have heard from many folks that canon L series AF works far superior to nikon AF. This was echoed by pro snappers that i work with who have used high end stuff from both camps.

Personally, i have always shot with AF AI servo tracking. The L series lens with USM motor with restricted focusing range tends to focus pretty darn fast.

Unfortunately my 70-200 is the non-IS version

So i've been practising my skills to shoot without IS at low shutter speeds.

[Watchman]

Well, I was using the lower end $300 lens not the $3000 pro lens so yeah, you're probably right on the AF

[Pericles]

If found this interesting tidbit. Someone might find it useful. If my two cents is worth anything, I can endorse what this chap says, specially on the composition part.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=13624730&postcount=4350

I find I pan better without a monopod. I tuck my elbows in very tight to my body, and then you rotate your entire body. Rotating your body is smoother than trying to just move your arms to follow. Follow through, even after you've taken the picture. You will be smoother that way. Some people like to take bursts, I prefer one photo at a time. I feel like I lose my tracking smoothness when I use burst.

Start with a higher shutter speed, in the 100s or 200s, and work your way down. Once you are taking sharp photos at that shutter speed, move down to the next slower speed. Takes a ton of practice to work down to really slow shutter speeds, but you'll get there.

As for composition - make sure there's room in front of the car, and panning shots aren't the best from rear 3/4. I prefer from the side or slightly from the front 3/4.

BTW, there are some amazing shots on that thread. Some mediocre stuff too, but most of these chaps really know their stuff.

[Pericles]

Interesting read this. It IS about shooting F1, technically.

http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/education/technical/frits_van_eldik_eos_1dx.do

Frits van Eldik on shooting an F1 weekend with the EOS-1D X

[Pericles]

Since I found this again....

http://fundamentallypre.blogspot.com/2011/12/colombo-night-races.html