Motorcycle Racing

Hi all. Been doing a hugh amont of motorcycle racing pics this year and they are pretty stunning even if i say so myself. Helps being an ex biker, i know what to look for. Anyway i have a single problem.


I use a Canon 7D and a combination of lens's. Canon 500f4 IS L, Canon 300 f2.8 IS L (MY FAV) Canon 70-200f2.8 IS L. When i go for the easy shots, i.e very fast shutter speeds big apetures the pics are great, no problems pin sharp. If i go front or 3 quarter , back or side, all pin sharp. But, some pictures need a slow shutter speed dependant on bike size/speed and effect. Now, if i use a slower speed like 160th sec side on all is ok. Front on is the same but, if i try a 3/4 shot thats front of the bike, rider and tail end the middle and back may be ok, the front not sharp or visa versa. Its rarly a fully sharp shot. This only happens on a 3/4 shot, never front or back on or side on and never at high shutter speeds only slow ones. Apeture size makes no differance. Seems like a depth of field problem thats effected by shutter speed.





Mick.








id post some pics but i dont know how.

It'd be good to see the pictures, but you're right that it sounds like DoF, which would indeed show up most at a 3/4 view. However, that would go away if you tried smaller apertures like f/16 or f/22, which I assume you did since you said aperture makes no difference. Are you only trying f/8? because that might not be enough. The only thing I can think of would be that one end of the bike is vibrating (under braking, perhaps?) more than the other and the slow(er) shutter speeds are the only ones capable of picking it up. I don't know much about motorcycle racing, but that seems like that amount of vibration would cause a crash, and not be normal, but maybe you know.


Here's a post from another thread by Neuroanatomist about posting pictures on the new forum:


"Yep - in Rich Formatting, click the Insert Image button (just to the right of the indent buttons). Select source - upload (there's a limit of 4 MB per image, 20 MB for your account, which Bryan recently raised to that level from 5 MB per account), From Site (images you've already uploaded), or From URL, where you paste in a link (I link from my Flickr account, for example). In the entry tab, there's a field for Max Width, and it's pre-filled with 550 pixels. If you delete that, your image will be displayed in the thread at the max width, which is slightly more than 800 pixels wide (if it's natively larger, it will be resized, whereas it used to be cropped). Best to use a source that's not much larger than 800 pixels, though, to save bandwidth and reduce image loading time."


It's best if you have them hosted elsewhere like on Flickr, but you can also upload them directly to this site as Neuro explains above. Post some examples and EXIF info up so we can take a look.

Hey Mick,


I've never shot Motorcycle Racing before, but I can't wait to see the pictures.


I have a couple of questions:


Are these shots on the Ground or in the Air? The reason I asked was to see if it was a vertical panning setting on the IS Lens for an aerial shot, which could involve Camera shake on shutter speeds of less than 160thsec. on lenses over 200mm.


Does it happen on more than one lens?


I would think that it doesn't happen on the side shot with slower shutter speeds, because you are probably panning laterally and you don't realize it, so the closing distance is really not changing too much.


I think what''s happening is that the front, rear, and side shot is locking focus consistently within the same focal plane and the 3/4 shot may be locking focus on the plate, the rider or the rear of the bike. It's also possible that your AF micro adjustment is off.


Can you look in the metadata of the photo and light up the Auto Focus Red Sensors and see what part of the bike they were locked on to, and determine if that was the part in focus?


I don't know if it's any of these things, but at least it will give us a starting point as others chime in.


Rich

[View:http://www.flickr.com/photos/barclay32/5012553135/in/set-72157624849857901/:550:0]

Thanks for the advice guys. All makes perfect sense. Ill try and upload some pics ive taken as ive decided to stop hiding my pics and not being to shy and showing them only on my Flickr page which few people see. Ill try a few different things this weekend.





Mick

[img]/resized-image.ashx/__size/800x600/__key/CommunityServer-Discussions-Components-Files/12/1565.KIYO2.jpg[/img]

[img]/resized-image.ashx/__size/800x600/__key/CommunityServer-Discussions-Components-Files/12/1780.2.jpg[/img]

Hey Mick,


These look Awesome! I love the panning, and the low angle perspective, it makes me feel like I

Hi mick,very cool picts where did u take them and where r u from. im also x rider n racer but i rode mx back in the 80s and early 90s...... rod

heres some of my picts mick..http://community.the-digital-picture...46-19/bc16.jpghttp://community.the-digital-picture...46-19/bc29.jpghttp://community.the-digital-picture...46-19/bc72.jpghttp://community.the-digital-picture...46-19/bc86.jpg

Mick, those shots ARE great!! I wouldn't bother about being shy if I shot like that. I get motion blur shooting a rock for crying out loud!


@stapledphoto thanks for hitting the highlights and not directing him to the actual thread.Helped minimize my stupidity:)