More constructive critique and advice please

[IncompletePete]

Any constructive criticism please :D

PS. I don't like to make many changes with PS, just a personal thing :D

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/petelorence/Pics/Armstrongblur.jpg
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/petelorence/Pics/Armstrong.jpg
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/petelorence/Pics/Brioche.jpg
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/petelorence/Pics/CSC.jpg
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/petelorence/Pics/Domina.jpg
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/petelorence/Pics/Peloton.jpg
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/petelorence/Pics/Virenque.jpg

[Belmondo]

I'm watching.

[tommykjensen]

I seem to have seen these photos several times in several threads requesting critique. I don't think they are really sharp.

[IncompletePete]

Yea, I know, but I'm yet to have much advice for some reason....... :?

PS. Belmondo, I'm always good, I'm just curious as to what other people think :D

[Belmondo]

Okay. For starters, how did you digitize these images? Are they scanned? If so, how and what resolution? Maybe there's another explanation for the softness of the images.

[IncompletePete]

They were put on CD straight off the negatives by Kodak at 256DPI, didn't go for the hi-res version.

[Andy_T]

Without knowing which aperture and shutter speeds you selected, it's pretty much of guesswork. The thing which I am sure of is that I have to agree with Tommy ... they're not sharp enough.

One possible reason might be that the shutter speed you selected for the panning has been too long.

Also, the focus might not be spot on or the aperture might just have been too large.

I think that the 4th and 5th photo are best, but I'm not too enthusiastic about them either.

Best regards,
Andy

[IncompletePete]

Will see what comes from the Tour of Britain this week, better location and kit. See what results I get this time!

Quality-wise I feel this is a good shot:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/petelorence/FCU.jpg

It just lacks to the action feel and the centering, but considering I was trying to subtley use a 400mm lens, I got away with this quite well lol

[Camo]

I don't know if you can blame the scan completly for the softness but regardless they look like terrible scans

[IncompletePete]

I can't complain about the scans too much as they are very very cheap, I may just use the super CD scans which are a much higher resolution.

[Camo]

I've found that when it comes to scaning you have two choices, pay through the teeth or do it yourself (which is also expensive if you don't have access to a neg scaner)

[IncompletePete]

Fortunately my girlfriend works in Jessops (UK camera shop) and thus processing etc. is cheaper!

[cmM]

well...they're not exactly sharp.
Your first pan is blurred out.... (that's "art" ;))
Also, pictures of athletes' backs are usually not very attractive.

[Illegally_Alive]

I like composition of the images unfortunately the part that's not working for me is how blurry they are. During a pan shot it's perfectly acceptable for the background to be blurry, but there does need to be some part of the image that is crisp.
The seventh image is very close to this, but the riders face is a little blurry.

Over all, I can't tell if the problem is focus or shutter speed....
If it is a focus problem then you can try to increase the Depth of Field, which will allow you to have a deeper area of focus, BUT will cause you to have a slower shutter speed. OR perhaps try manual focus instead of auto, or visa versa (depending on which one you used).

If the problem is a shutter speed issue, then you need to increase your shutter speed. Doing this will help freeze the action, and reduce the chances of the image being blurry.

I can understand if you want to create the feeling of motion by having a lower shutter speed, and if this is the case, then you can perhaps get a tripod, or just practice practice practice.

Here's an example-
lower shutter speed - http://www.illegallyalive.com/skate/1/images/skate011.jpg
higher shutter speed- http://www.illegallyalive.com/skate/1/images/skate013.jpg

Good luck!

p.s. I know the lack sharpness is not coming from the scans. I've been scanning for a while, and have made, er... seen MUCH worse. :D

[IncompletePete]

The blur problems will be eleminated now due to using a 1.8 and a 2.8 lens today at the Tour of Britain! Pictures to follow!