Comments please (British Touring Cars at Knockhill)

[coatsie]

Hi guys, Laura took this and would like comments - taken with Sigma 170-500 - Seat went onto win 1st and 2nd place. Not been tweaked yet in PS.

http://malaura.fotopic.net/c267275.html

[PhotosGuy]

Only one shot? Good, close racing!

[coatsie]

Hi thanx for the comment - we took a ton of photos but thought we would just put that one up for any comments at the moment.

8)

[Molydood]

feels a bit squashed, would like to see a bit more of the surrounding track perhaps, particularly the part in front of them.
good shot though

[Sailor Don]

Good action shot. Perhaps cropped a bit too tight on the action.

[coatsie]

Thanx for your comments - off to Donnington Park this weekend so will try - think I was too close to the corner and too much zoom on!

Laura

[gmen]

I like the idea of trying to crop nice and tight - it's just a little too tight in this case and it would be good to see the cars towards the bottom of the frame rather than 'crammed' into the top half.

I've got very limited experience of motorsport - but if you're interested, some of my recent shots are here: http://www.tgsphoto.co.uk/ae150804 and http://www.tgsphoto.co.uk/ae080804/

Have you tried panning yet? I've been having some fun with that recently - emphasises the speed of the vehicles.

Good luck with your next shoot!

[coatsie]

Thanx Gmen - will try harder at Donnington - as I said before think I had too much zoom on and so they are so close - I must admit look almost stationery. Haven't tried panning yet but was hoping to - was going to ask Mal (hubby) to drive up and down the road so I could practice :D do you have any tips on that?

Laura

[sGu]

it's good that you captured the close chase, but framing could be improved, say place both cars in the centre would give you stronger impact, or compose them to be at the bottom of the frame, so you can leave the top space for words if it ever gets picked up for publication.

other than that, good work!

[gmen]

Well Laura, my pointers for panning are (and bear in mind I'm still learning too!):

Start at a shutter speed of around 1/200s and work your way down - the background blur will improve with slower speeds, but 1/200s will give you a reasonable hit rate of 'keepers'. I found that after a bit of practice, I was getting down to 1/80s or even 1/30s with some pleasing results.

Make sure the vehicle you're photographing fills the frame fairly well... this will make it easier to pick a point on the car (e.g. wing mirror) and follow it through the pan. If you can hold that point centrally in the viewfinder all the way through the pan then that will increase your chance of keeping the car sharp.

Keep the pan smooth - jerky panning won't yield a good result.

Pick up the car in the viewfinder before you start to shoot, follow it for a few moments, take your picture(s), and remember to keep panning all the time - the 'follow through' is vital to ensure that the car is sharp.

If you are shooting cars that are passing you in a predictable fashion, it might be an idea to pre-focus the camera at the relevant point on the track rather than relying on the camera's autofocus system to stay locked throughout the pan.

Take lots of pictures - practice really does make perfect.

And good luck!

[coatsie]

Thanx for the tips - Mal and I will have a good try this weekend at Donnington. Will print off your instructions as well. If the results are any good will put them for comments. Think we might have a tester before we go! :)