Shooting moving bikes at night, help please.

Trev Rich

Trev Rich

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Trev
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I attempted to shoot this bike as it crossed a bridge the other night, it was a friend of mine so made several passes.
I just couldn't get the shutter slow enough without blurring the bike/rider.
So they just came out insanely dark.
I shot them using a monopod but still suffered greatly.
Has anyone got any advice or lives in the Poole Bournemouth area that fancies going out to have a go at some panning shots one night?

img_9959.jpg


img_9933.jpg
 
Higher ISO needed, and panning needs to be practiced more. Should be able to do 1/80th fairly consistently, although it's easier the faster the subject is moving.
 
Practice will also help. When I did some panning shots, I must have taken over 100 in one go and only one came out that I was happy with which just happened to be of a police car. :police:
 
This is from a tutorial of mine (on another site) - The whole thread can be seen here.

http://digital-photography-school.com/forum/tutorials/121859-panning-motor-sport.html

It mostly relates to motor sport howver the same principals apply.
In the thread there are some others post (not all mine) with some more suggestions.

Depending on the lens you are using, your shutter speed, and the distance to the subject you may find a monopd may help. In daylight I don't normally use one.

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This is my first tutorial for DPS.
I shoot a fair amount of motor sort, including panning. Similar principals apply to panning other subjects.

Try to position yourself so you have a "clean" background, or at the very least you can crop any "mess" out. It also helps if you can be relatively parallel to the track either horizontally or vertically.

It takes practice and if your shooting position changes or the subject speed changes then it is almost like starting again.

I normally set the camera up so:
Centre focus point only active.
Focus tracking is on.
Shutter priority and Shutter set to:
For racing cars I normall start at 1/125 second.
For racing motor cycles it will be 1/250 second.
For slow shuttter speed speed panning it will be 1/30 second.
I let the aperture, up to a point, take care of itself as the background will be nicely blurred anyway.

I always shoot hand held when panning, and if I am using an image stabilised lens it will set to panning mode.
As a car passes I will partially depress the shutter, to allow the focus to lock on, and I will take a series (sometimes a burst) of photographs whilst smoothly tracking the vehicle and following through. I will usually have one good pic out of the series.

Depending on the results I may go up or down with the shutter speed.

It takes practice and if your shooting position changes or the subject speed changes then it is almost like starting again.

Some examples:
(1) Slow shutter speed panning (1/30 second)

Z Car by dicktay2000, on Flickr

Camera: Canon EOS 5D
Exposure: 0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture: f/20.0
Focal Length: 67 mm
ISO Speed: 50
Exposure Bias: -2/3 EV

(2) A bit faster (1/200 second). Looking down helps keep the background clean.

IMG_7824 by dicktay2000, on Flickr
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/13
Focal Length: 210 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

(3) You don't always have to fill the frame with the car.

#7 Doug Macarthur 1977 Ralt RT1 by dicktay2000, on Flickr

Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/14.0
Focal Length: 100 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: -1/3 EV

(4) Very ocassionally you will be lucky enough to get two cars/bikes together.

IMG_7364 by dicktay2000, on Flickr

Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/10.0
Focal Length: 115 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: -2/3 EV

Please feel free to ask questions or leave comments.
Thanks for looking.
Richard

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you could boost the iso up to brighten the image but the problem is you have a dark rider with no ambient light falling on him - you are better off somewhere with better lighting all round. the people above have given good advice on panning technique.

this is a simple street panning snap of a bike i did:

156527_10151274680716882_1506445677_n.jpg
 
Personally, I would try a burst of flash. Not too long a shutter speed, just enough to streak the background lights.
 
Not quite true. Any longish exposure should introduce a little spoke blur but a burst of flash at any point during the exposure will freeze the spokes. The trick is to balance the two! A continuous light of some sort should allow a long enough exposure to get spoke blur and good panning technique should keep the bike and rider sharp enough.
 
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