Some of my first motorsport and static car pics ....

[Lofty]

OK then here goes ..... please bear in mind that this was my first year doing the job of club photographer for my local car club so they may not be the best you've seen but have a look and see what you think .... costructive criticism welcomed :thinking: :D

A couple of static shots to kick off with ......

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g270/Loftyboy589/MagentsSaffire.jpg

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g270/Loftyboy589/Jodie-1.jpg

Now some drag racing ...........

I tried to frame the shot by looking through the caravan windows on these 2 :shrug:

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g270/Loftyboy589/SkullBiker.jpg

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g270/Loftyboy589/CaravanBurnout.jpg

More bike/car action ..........

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g270/Loftyboy589/BikeBurnout.jpg

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g270/Loftyboy589/Puggoesoff.jpg

And finally a very poorly looking Landrover .......

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g270/Loftyboy589/AbusedLandy.jpg

[Lofty]

And some more from the RSOC national day earlier this year :D

BTW i always blank out the reg numbers as i had afew complaints on the RSOC forum a while back ....... though it has to be said that most members thought the complaints to be plain daft :p :shake:

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j170/Loftyboy588/RS2002.jpg

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j170/Loftyboy588/4Abreast.jpg

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j170/Loftyboy588/SeriousBoostSaff.jpg

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j170/Loftyboy588/BlackRaceCoss.jpg

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j170/Loftyboy588/BlackRaceCoss3.jpg

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j170/Loftyboy588/BlackRaceCoss2.jpg

[photostar_1]

really like 6 & 7.

[HIMUPNORTH]

The number plate thing is for insurance / resale. People like to say their car was never tracked when trying to sell it or are not insured for trackdays.

They should tape them up if troubled.

Some nice shots and some not so nice.....I don't think the caravan thing worked. The last three tell the story very well though...good to have diagonals they add some dynamicism (word check?!).

[King_Boru]

The last three are over-exsposed. Although the car is well exsposed, which I am assuming the camera metered. The rest of the image is very bright and destracting.

What happens is the camera will read the black of the car as 'dark' thus leading to a slower/faster (small number) aperture. This then results in an uneven exsposure.

Thats pretty much how I interpret the metering system, works in my head anyway,...

Although nice first attempts.

King.

[RobertP]

Generally pretty good so don't be put off by the comments :)

first one - can't see anything interesting in the engine so if there was the option bonnet down might have been better and the trees look good behind but the car/van don't

Caravan frame? err no. it looks accidental rather than interesting

Cars cornering actually look a bit static due to the fast shutter speed (1/500th). needs a touch of motion blur to show the action.

Like the land rover :)

Track shots again all a bit static with that 1/500th

As said already last few are over exposed - but all the shots here look like they need the levels tweaked on my monitor.

This looks better to me - don't if it will to everyone....

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/723/medium/BlackRaceCoss2.jpg

[Jimmy_Lemon]

I had a little play too - just adding a little motion blur in photoshop, just to see if it gave it a better feeling of speed. I am not sure (not even sure if they are moving in the original now I look again!)
http://img462.imageshack.us/img462/7280/motionblurwv0.jpg
P.S That was a very quick try :p hence the random specly green around the front left :(

Oh yeah - good shots by the way :) plenty of motorsports people on here to nick ideas off too :) Do you have photoshop or similar? it really does seem very helpfull in terms of motorsport photography! (for me at least)

[Lofty]

Well i can DEFINATELY see the difference.

This is the first time i've ever owned a good camera (yes i know its not an EOS but its what fitted my budget best), previous camera was a 2 million pixel point and shoot jobbie by Olympus (C160) so as you can imagine the E500 has been a bit daunting to get used to and i still have a VERY long way to go with mastering professional looking photos .......... however i am sure that having read some good books on the subject (any suggestions welcome) and having gained some knowledge from the various members on here i will be well on my way to a dramatically improved photographs :woot: .

Thanks to all so far who have taken the time to help me out, i just hope you dont all tire of my questions etc too quickly :lol:

[RobertP]

The camera make has nothing to do with it! I've seen plenty of fantastic shots from the Oly DSLRs. Practice and experience will help a lot :)

Now if that was all that was needed my shots would be much better than they are :(

;)

[Joe T]

Hi Lofy. I dont really have much to add to RobertP's comments, except that I think the first caravan one works reasonably well imo.

[Lofty]

Thanks guys :D

Exposures ISO etc is still very new to me at the moment :eek: i have just been using the factory presets and letting the camera do the work (which is obviously only ok for mediocre shots LOL) :thinking: .

I dont have a huge budget (4 ankle bitters to support and an RS Turbo in pieces) :eek: :shrug: but i intend to improve and get some books on photography and take it one step at a time :thumbs:

I'm going out tomorrow with the camera as there is some VERY stormy weather down here at the moment (forcast force 10!!) :eek: so i'm going storm chasing :nuts: :suspect: :D

Will post some pics morrow night

[King_Boru]

Right, if your going landscape shooting then use aperture priority to control the depth of field. Using smaller apertures (higher numbers) will allow you to capture the majority of the image in focus. Using the presets will limit your learning curve. If you force yourself to manual and semi auto modes the learning curve will be increased but will teach you more.

Something like this might help out? http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=0792262093

[Lofty]

Ideal :D

Thanks for the link ........ think i'll take a look at that one ;) .

Also i will try to improve my spelling in the near future :lol:

[Gary]

i like the first caravan shot, but not so keen on the other one.. but it shows you have some imagination and are willing to experiment.. those are two things that some photographers lack

with regards to the RS200 shot, its a little boring and needs a slower shutter speed. it also needs the second car cropped out.
but please please dont edit it in photo shop like Jimmy has.. that looks awful. it looks like the wheels are doing 90mph and the car has stopped. When learning how to shoot motorsport i would suggest avoiding photoshop at all costs. (IMHO of course :) )

[Gary]

also, ignore factory presets when shooting motorsport. shooting in sports mode freezes the action, which is exactly what you dont want

a reasonable guide for shooting motorsport as a beginner is to use AV mode with wide aperture when you cant see the wheels, and TV mode with slow shutter speed when you can see the wheels.
of course, there is no right or wrong way, IMHO if you take a picture for yourself and you like it, but no one else likes it then its right. You've completed your task to take a photo that gives you pleasure!

[digitalfailure]

I'd also agree that the first shot through the moving shed works quite well because it looks kind of covert, but the rider has rumbled you :thumbs:

Don't be afraid to try quirky shots, some people will like them, some won't, but as long as you like them go for it.

The 500 looks pretty well sorted :D, just needs a levels tweak.

[Gary]

looking at the rs200 shot again i now realise he's only just left the grid (from pole i guess) and is therefore not going that fast anyway, so would have been difficult to give it much motion blur with anything other than a very very slow shutter speed. i like the way he is looking over to the car beside him. rather than cut him off (as i'd suggested before) it would have been good to have both cars in the shot to tell the story (although you werent to know he was going to look over unless you have special mind reading powers :) )

[Lofty]

Well thanks for all the above input guys ......... its given some things to mull over thats for sure :thinking: :lol:

Had a quick scan through the hard drive earlier and this turned up :D ..... yes its a little out of focus and i only just got it into the frame but i think it works reasonably well for a total newbie :woot:

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j170/Loftyboy588/SilverSaffSide.jpg

Again any critism welcomed as well as any help :lol: