I shot an SCCA Autocross event that my brother was in this weekend and the shots came out marginal at best. Looking for tips on what you think I could try next time to make em look a little better. I'm thinking the addition of a zoom with IS might help things a bit but don't really know.
Everything was shot with a Rebel T1i & EF70-200 (non-IS), both samples have no post done save for a little cropping, both pictures can be clicked for the full version.
1/160 f/16
1/125 f/16
Well, f/16 is one problem - especially in the first shot, the background is too prominent, and a wider aperture will help blur that out (f/4 or f/5.6). That may result in shutter speeds so fast that the wheels aren't blurred (bad for a moving car), so you may need an ND filter. Alternatively, better technique can to that - even with a narrow aperture, a longer shutter speed with a smooth panning motion (1/30 s or so) with the car going across your field of view (not towards you) will blur the background even with a narrow aperture. Since you're already at f/16 (which results in loss of sharpness due to diffraction with a dense sensor like the T1i's), again an ND filter might help. A lens with mode 2 IS (panning mode) would also help.
Framing is something else to work on - the idea is to give the subject somewhere to go (more room in front than behind).
mmm I didn't I didn't even think about the fact that such a high aperture would cause that issue, even though I should have since I've read in on this site a million times. How much would an ND filter help with that. I'm shooting in Florida in the middle of the day and the sun is bright to say the least. I would agree that I need to work on the framing of the shots, I was having a hard time find a good shooting location as its a kinda akward space (the track is on a runway).
Thanks for the advice.
Originally Posted by mkilgour
Depends on the strength of the ND filter. A 3-stop (0.9/8x) ND filter would take you from f/16 to f/5.6 with the same shutter speed. I'm going to assume you've already got your ISO at the lowest setting (ISO 100). Note that if you're using Highlight Tone Priority your lowest ISO is 200, so I'd turn that off to drop one more extra stop.
Sounds good, I'm off to research filters. Appreciate the help.
This is maybe a better composition of your second shot. See what you think. Like John said, now the car seemingly has a place to go within the frame as it travels from left to right. This amount of cropping also implies you could have used a longer lens too, since the crop is tighter. I didn't see the metadata so I don't know what your settings (focal length) were.
The wheels have nice motion blur, not too much and not to little. There is still distinction between spokes, but they are clearly rotating. You also seem to be tracking the car pretty well. The crop I did quickly does show that the car is more a focus of the image than just some landscape with a car passing through it.
I do like that crop does make quite a difference. That picture was taken at 122mm, I was shooting them a little loose as they come rapid fire I didn't really have time between cars to review them to see if I actually getting them in the frame.
Yup, I can't give you more advice than what's already been given. [Y]
I can say that if you're willing to buy a ND filter, you might as well check out a polarizer. Polarizer gives you much better contrast/colors when sun is at highest and it has the benefit to work as a ND filter as well, so you could use it for multiple purposes [] It could also help you to get rid of some reflections on the windscreen etc.
IS mode 2 could help you out a bit as well, but definitely not a major factor in this equation.
Good luck next time! Looks like a lot of fun!
I actually have a polarizer for my other shorter lens, I didn't even think to get it out of the car (again, I blame the heat). I think I will probably get an ND for the 70-200 and and see which one works out better.
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