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07/19/2004 03:32:04 PM · #26 |
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07/19/2004 03:35:34 PM · #27 |
I think you've made a good first effort.
You seem to have got a lot of the shooting right, but you really haven't finished the shots. I guess you have limited telephoto, so you're a little way away from the action (nothing wrong with that). The first thing I'd say is to crop the shots. If you're looking to magazine style shots (I'm not a motor sport photographer, btw) you want a pretty tight crops.
Second thing I'd say is try to get a good position to shoot from. Ideally you want a nice angle on the cars; probably not straight sideways. Something like Number 18 I personally like best.
I'd highly recommend looking at shots in a racing/car magazine to see what they use. This will probably give you some good ideas on where you want to shoot from and the kind of composition that works well. |
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07/19/2004 04:22:15 PM · #28 |
Parts of the car are out of focus while other parts are can be from several reasons. Suspension travel while the shutter while open, car hitting a bump, etc... Can also be that your camera was tracking the front of the car around a corner correctly but the rear of the corner was drifting. Since the rear is making more motion that the front, it will be out of focus. You can get some real interesting effects this way but it's extremely hard to do it over and over again and get results that you invisioned in your head.
1/15th of a second image. Low shutter speed to bring out the extreme effect of what I described.
Personally, I use a monopod almost all the time. The only time that I do not use it is when I have the wide-angle mounted on the camera. Benefits to me, the camera is already at eye level. If something happens on the track all you have to do is swing the camea around and snap the shutter. I have gotten a lot of "money shots" this way while the guy next to me was still bringing his camera up from his waist. It also helps releive the strain on your wrist from holding the camera all the time.
Practice... there is no real quick fix. You just have to practice and be alert. Cars/motorcycles have their own personalities. Watch each car and look for things that make a good picture, or an image that the driver will want to buy. Look for tires lifting off of the ground through corners (get low for these shots). Drivers also like to see their car in front of a lot of other cars. They may not be leading the race but they are leading that pack of cars. :)
I have a few images on my profile page or check out my site : www.turn1images.com.
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07/19/2004 05:05:41 PM · #29 |
Wow, great photos and insight. I think i'm going to invest in a mono pod shortly here.
The track is located in St. Cloud Minnesota. They train the state's Highway Patrol and Police officers here. AARRF offers Road Racing, Auto Crossing and Drifting for whom ever is interested. These are not really races but more... a way for ordinary people to feel like racecar drivers. Some people do time themselves.
One thing thats not that great about this track is there are no elevation changes, no stands, nothing for me to get up above the cars. I tried a few shots (second group of photos) of crouching in a ditch and looking up at the cars and those were OK... and theres 1 banked turn taht produced some nice images.
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07/19/2004 08:31:22 PM · #30 |
Originally posted by CptCorN:
I did try a couple tilted shots to change it up a bit but I was more worried about getting the settings down first. |
Heh, good point. I'd been shooting over a year before I started to tilt the camera!
To clarify the monopod issue - *do* get one. While I've found I can't use one for side on panning - I'm a helluva lot closer to the cars than Jason was for his shot and can't pan fast enough on a 'pod - I do use one for all my other shots.
What software do you use to process? Or are these straight out of camera? With a little work you could make these shot's 'pop' and sort out the darkness problems too.
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07/19/2004 08:50:00 PM · #31 |
For tilting, for some reason every one likes their cars tilted going up. I guess it seems more like they are lifting off and going faster. /shrug.
I dont know how your track is laid out, but if you have a truck (or access to one) they make great mobile shooting stands. :) |
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07/19/2004 11:10:56 PM · #32 |
Wow, getting a lot of great insight.
These images are straight from the camera, so they have seen no post-processing.
When I took these photos I was a mere 20-30 feet from the track. Also, a lot of the dark images are from me messing around with the exposure compensation.
The track is laid out without any elevation changes other than a banked turn. There are a few structures to stand on but they're a mere 2-3 feet off the ground. There is a nice big dirt hill on the outside of a turn which i think would be great since its a good 20-25 feet in the air...10-15 feet from the track. There is also a small tower in the middle of the track but no where near the action other than the drift pad.
When I pan i must look like a fool since i get all crouched down and twist my body up opposite of the the cars traveling. Then as they come i un twist.
They so far have all loved their photos. So I think they're going to be letting me go where ever, which will make it even more fun. |
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07/19/2004 11:57:11 PM · #33 |
I've noticed a number of photographers at these race series that focus mainly on getting shots to sell to drivers... Just curious what kind of investment is involved, work, etc? I'm guessing it amounts to a full-time job. The last race weekend I was at, the guy had a trailer set up. Big time, I guess.
The 10D's autofocus is woefully inadequate for these types of situations. The last couple of weekends I've done, I might shoot 300-500 photos and get fewer than 150 that I'm really happy with. Of course, my technique can always use improvement, but its AF is relatively slow and unreliable compared to a 1D/1DII...
That said, it's worked okay for me :)
//www.noestudios.com/photo/LexusDrift/241_4116.jpg
//www.noestudios.com/photo/071004Hyperfest/DriftElimination/240_4034.jpg
//www.noestudios.com/photo/071004Hyperfest/SmallBore/237_3709.jpg
this guy's work from the same event puts mine to shame (apparently he does a lot of autosports photography and is in the 2nd photo there):
//www.bway.net/~bracelis/usdrift/
Message edited by author 2004-07-20 00:01:52. |
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07/20/2004 12:13:14 AM · #34 |
| Wow those are some great shots he has. I like yours too. I think a really large part of it is, finding that good spot to be at. It's nice too see some examples of drift photos. I'm not too sure how to approach this topic but that link you supplied gave me a few ideas. Unfortunately it's simply a pad that the drifters are on and not an actual circuit. |
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07/20/2004 04:28:31 AM · #35 |
Watch your backgrounds. The first picture is good for background, the other two are a bit distracting. I don't see where the other guy's pictures are any better than yours but I only looked at three or so before I get fed up with the slow response and slow load times of his server. Both are good pictures.
As far as investment, depends on you. If you are going to setup any kind of booth at the event. Most likely you will need someone to man it while you are out taking pictures. Then you need a PC/printer etc... I sell everything off of word of mouth and the website and just pass out business cards. Also setting up a booth gets tricky, some tracks want a 'vendor fee' for doing so or track may have some non-compete agreement so that if they have a track photographer already, you can't sell (booth or passing out business cards). You just have to try it and see what happens, but be nice and respectful at all times. Your reputation comes first over everything else. If you have a good reputation, people will find you out and buy from you anyways a bad reputation will do exactly the opposite.
This is getting more into business mgmt and operations though... :( I just want to take pictures. |
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07/20/2004 05:53:43 AM · #36 |
A few links ...
A tutorial I haven't got round to reading yet, but it looks good:
//iphotoforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5322
The sports corner over at Fred Miranda is a very good place to share shots & get tips. One of these days I'll start posting there!
//www.fredmiranda.com/
The Art & Photography forum at Ten Tenths is quieter, but another good place to share shots:
//www.ten-tenths.com/
Anybody know of any more?
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07/20/2004 07:35:15 AM · #37 |
//www.sportsshooter.com would seem to be a good bet too.
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07/20/2004 10:33:59 AM · #38 |
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