F1 Saturday morning at IMS

[DC Fan]

More F1 pictures from IMS from the Saturday practice:

http://www.fansview.com/racing/imsf12007b0355.jpg

http://www.fansview.com/racing/imsf12007b0379.jpg

http://www.fansview.com/racing/imsf12007b0330.jpg

http://www.fansview.com/racing/imsf12007b0383.jpg

[Tee Why]

Personally, I think slower shutterspeeds would add more sense of movement as the spokes on the wheels are almost frozen still.

[kbreit]

Nice sharp photos. Where were you sitting?

I agree. On the pictured that aren't direct profiles, get a slower shutter speed.

[DC Fan]

Nice sharp photos. Where were you sitting?

I agree. On the pictured that aren't direct profiles, get a slower shutter speed.

Those who were actually at the track would have found that difficult at best.

The light was among the brightest you'll see, a clear, sunny sky with no clouds. Those side shots were aperture priority 1/800 at f/8 and ISO 400. There's no practical reason to use a smaller aperture, and even a lower ISO wouldn't have led to a "low" shutter speed.

One key measurement of image quality is detail, not blur. Seeing small letters on decals, dzus fasteners, seams and carbon fiber weave is as important as some sort of illusion of motion.

And these settings and techniques for these images were used to overcome another major problem: shooting through a fence. Nearly every view of the track comes through a fence, and the camera and lens had to be used in a way to let you see cars, not fence fabric.

[Wazza]

From your limitations as you've mentioned, seems you've done a good job :)

Just watched the qualifying now on TV. Good job Hamilton

[kbreit]

Those who were actually at the track would have found that difficult at best.

I was at the track.

[Gadgetholic]

I think they are great shots.

[Terry66]

One key measurement of image quality is detail, not blur. Seeing small letters on decals, dzus fasteners, seams and carbon fiber weave is as important as some sort of illusion of motion..

I respectfully disagree. In motorsports, no level of "detail" is worth having a car appear to be sitting still on the track. I mean if the car is going to look parked, why not save the trouble and shoot the car parked on the road? The key is to get both the detail and a bit of motion. You did manage to get some motion in the side pans at 1/800, but 1/2000 on the other two is just entirely too fast for racing. Why would you use ISO400 on such a bright day?!? I would have shot at 1/400 @ ISO100. You could easily get fantastic image detail and gotten more wheel/background blur. Here is a sample with a 100% untouched crop.

http://www.watsonfx.com/sharp3.jpg

I do know what you mean about Indy being tough to shoot. I would have been there this year except I shot an IRL test this week and had some other stuff come up. I shot there in the past and you are luck to get a clean view. Here are a couple shooting through the fence at 1/400th. The day I was there was overcast, but bright which caused a good amount of glare issues. Note the last shot, the car is coming 3/4 head on and the 1/400 range is still plenty fast enough to provide good sharp detail and provide a bit of wheel/background blur.

http://www.watsonfx.com/fernando1.jpg

http://www.watsonfx.com/usgp16.jpg

[GSH]

Why would you use ISO400 on such a bright day?!?

EXIF says...

"Exposure Programme - Auto Exposure". ISO 400, Auto Exposure...that'll be Sports Mode then.

Shutter speeds are way too high and no amount of claiming it's because they were shot through a fence or that you want to see the Calvin Klein labels on a drivers underpants will convince anyone on here otherwise.

To the OP. Have a look at the other shots posted here and learn from them as many of us have here when starting out shooting Motorsports. It'll help you enjoy it a lot more in future :)

[Cooper911]

If I don't get motion blur or background blur through panning...I CAN'T SELL IT! Simple as that.

[Terry66]

Sports mode? I bet the OP is using the 300D then. The only way to activate the servo mode on the 300D is to shoot in Sports Mode. That means the camera will automatically select the shutter speed, aperture and ISO400. At ISO400, there is little doubt the camera will select a slow enough shutter speed to show much motion.

Sports Mode works for most sports including racing where you might want a faster shutter like boats or even motoX as it will stop the water/mud flying in the air. Unfortunately it bites when it comes to other forms of motorsports. :confused:

I have a friend that will set the shutter speed in Tv mode on his 300D, then pre-focus on a point of the track and then turn off the autofocus, then pan and fire when the car hits the focal point. Sucks, but certainly does work with a little practice.