Critique BTCC Oulton Park

healdy

healdy

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5
Name
Ian Heald
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Hi!
This is my first post in TP and Oulton Park was my first try at Motorsport togging.

I had some problems with AF during the day and I've been trying to suss out what was wrong.

The 4th image shows, when seen at full res and at 100%, where the image is blurry. I'm sure when taking this shot I used the centre focus point but changed to tracking during the day which unfortunately had similar results. It seems weird that on the blue Ginetta that the number 6 is blurry as well as the front and rear of the car.

Can someone let me know the best AF system/mode to use when panning please?

I use Canon 5D MKIII and 7D MKI. Critique is also very welcome on the other 3, cheers.

18621237028_667b13aa9a_z.jpg
Matt Neal[/url] by Ian Heald, on Flickr[/IMG]Rob Collard by Ian Heald, on Flickr
Matt Neal by Ian Heald, on Flickr
Junior Ginetta by Ian Heald, on Flickr
Focus by Ian Heald, on Flickr
 
Third shot for me Ian is very nice, all good shots though. Can't offer advice on AF modes, don't shoot Canon or motorsports.:eek:
 
Not that I've been doing this long enough to help with actually answering but I did click on no.4 as was interested to see what the problem was. Perhaps it's my screen but the image is a bit small to see any detail, wonder if you might get more responses if you uploaded a higher res versions and included the exif?

As the car is shot at an angle, i.e not 90degrees on to the side. and judging by the background blur a reasonably low shutter speed(?) I wouldn't expect all points highlighted to be sharp as they'll be moving at different speeds relative to the lens. As above not been doing this long so apologies if I'm missing the point.

Wish I had a 5DmKIII or 7D to be able to give you advise on the AF, nice kit. Just noticed you don't say which you were using on the day or was it both?

Oh and I like no.3 :)
 
Photo number 3 is a great capture, perfect for a wall mounted print!

With regard to number 4, relative to your panning motion, was the car moving in a straight line or along a slight curve?
 
Thanks for your comments Mark and Wasim.
I've uploaded a higher res image so that hopefully can see where I'm coming from. As you say, it wasn't taken at 90 degrees so I take it that this has a major difference?
This particular image was taken with the 5DMkIII and a 100-400 (1/160th ISO250 @170mm) but I was also using the 7D with a 24-70 attached. Same sort of thing happened with both set-ups. I either got a sharp front and blurry rear end or vice-versa.
As I said above, I was using the centre focus point most of the time but changed to tracking but this didn't improve things.

It would be great to here peoples opinions on the best focus point set up to use when panning to get all of the car in focus. Or am I totally missing the point here and it's not the focus points that are the issue?

Any help would be gratefully received.

Cheers again.

 
HI Healdy, you have some great shots there for a first try at motorsport photography.

There is no problem with your shot of the blue car other than you were uing too slow a shutter speed if you wanted the whole car sharp.

You have panned perfectly on the center of the car but as the car passes by the relative motion of the front and rear of the car cause this blurring at low shutter speeds, this effect becomes more noticeable the the less the angle between you and the car. Try panning on the front or rear of the car and you will see the effect change.

You will find lots of shots showing this effect if you look through the motorsport forum on here and elsewhere.

There are a few here https://flic.kr/ps/zR7GP this is NOT me, but someone I follow on Flickr (with some degree of awe/jealousy I might add)

You will also see that shots that have the car sharp front to back are generally shot at higher shutter speeds and have almost frozen wheels.


HTH

David
 
Willid1 said:
HI Healdy, you have some great shots there for a first try at motorsport photography.

There is no problem with your shot of the blue car other than you were uing too slow a shutter speed if you wanted the whole car sharp.

You have panned perfectly on the center of the car but as the car passes by the relative motion of the front and rear of the car cause this blurring at low shutter speeds, this effect becomes more noticeable the the less the angle between you and the car. Try panning on the front or rear of the car and you will see the effect change.

You will find lots of shots showing this effect if you look through the motorsport forum on here and elsewhere.

There are a few here https://flic.kr/ps/zR7GP this is NOT me, but someone I follow on Flickr (with some degree of awe/jealousy I might add)

You will also see that shots that have the car sharp front to back are generally shot at higher shutter speeds and have almost frozen wheels.


HTH

David
Click to expand...

Wow massive thanks for the props David :D I'm not worthy!

Yep as folks have said if the cars not perfectly parallel to you and you use a slow speed you will get blur on bits of the car that move at different speeds in relation to your camera sensor. If you want more focus use a higher speed, or embrace the blur :D your AF is working fine... Nice shots, can't add anymore to what's already been said :)

(Some of mine have been shopped with extra blur so you can't always trust the image you see against the exif)
 
Here's an example of one of mine from Oulton which shows the effect more obviously than your posted shot, ( although I'm not sure any of the car is particularly sharp :rolleyes: )

Stewart Lines Toyota Avensis, BTCC Oulton Park 2015 by Mark Dolphin, on Flickr

Funnily enough this was most probably shot whilst 'trying' to imitate the effect of one of Jonathon's bike shots. I think may be he is worthy, lol. :)
 
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