pratice pratice pratice, Oulton park 29th.

[Optic]

Thats what they, pratice pratice pratice so after some not so hot pictures from sunday, i went back to oulton park for a bike track day,

Now bikes seem alot harder than cars, I've all ways seem to get decent big pans and be able to work down the speed, but it's the small pans that i can't seem to get right, i.e when a car or bike just dips into the apex and only having to move alittle to track the car/bike, anyway trying around 1/320 and then worked up !! 95% are scrap but the couple that did come out are here C&C please

http://images38.fotki.com/v1274/photos/1/1242644/6642788/IMG_6482-vi.jpg
most of my pics come out like the bike on the left !

http://images39.fotki.com/v1287/photos/1/1242644/6642788/IMG_6549-vi.jpg
or like this one, just not wow sharp


http://images38.fotki.com/v1277/photos/1/1242644/6642788/IMG_6916-vi.jpg


http://images38.fotki.com/v1279/photos/1/1242644/6642788/IMG_6993-vi.jpg

http://images41.fotki.com/v1305/photos/1/1242644/6642788/IMG_7152-vi.jpg


http://images39.fotki.com/v1283/photos/1/1242644/6642788/IMG_7207-vi.jpg
the marshals did not notice the crash but wondered where the bloke wondering across the came from.

http://images38.fotki.com/v1270/photos/1/1242644/6642788/IMG_6689-vi.jpg

Think the enigne blow coming onto hill top left alot of oil on the track, must be a rent a bike as the rider did not want to pic the chain up because he would get oily hands,.


http://images38.fotki.com/v1280/photos/1/1242644/6642788/IMG_7098-vi.jpg
These are the shot that never seem to be sharp, these are jpg's most taken are raw pics not processed yet,

[JBaz]

motorbikes are much harder to capture mainly because they have smaller profiles and depending on your angle/vantage point, their profiles can change dramatically. I think these pics are pretty good. Practice your panning technique if you are only getting 5% savable. Some have a mixed bag on how to handle a camera with a long lens, but try to figure out what's comfortable to shoot and to get the best results (doesn't have to be ultra sharp all the time depending on what kind of shot you are trying to accomplish).

I usually shoot the 70-200 without the monopod because it doesn't feel big enough to warrant one and the 300 is a mixed bag with me. It's big enough, but the monopod sometimes feels like a hindrance for me when tracking wider than 100 degrees at a time (requires foot position change). That may change when I get my new pan/tilt head so I can have some level of control of tilt, but I still feel comfortable shooting the 300 without the monopod around 1/250 as long as I follow through.

My technique is usually have my left hand stretched out as far as possible supporting the lens either on the bottom of the hood (without monopod) or on top (with monopod) to increase stability when panning. It gets physically tiring after a while, but I'm physically fit and have a decent amount of arm muscle (I do work out). I've shoot the 300 full day's without the monopod with no problems.

The IS really does help out for the slower shutter speeds, but once you get your technique down, your savable goes dramatically up. Specially when you know a certain speed you can get away with at different angles.

[chrispons]

There's some good stuff here optic,the broken chain is great.
Keep at it,n'owt wrong with these.
Pons

[Optic]

( these are the good ones i should have put up the no so good !!)

Cheers for the advice, looking with fresh eyes today, they are not as bad as i thought, alot more would be keepers if the composion was better, but thats pratice also, i do have a monopod but left it in the wifes car but i can't do big pans with it, i did do my wrists in taking 2500 pictures in a day hand holding which was not clever after a while of hand holding you can feel it.

theres a car track day next week think i'll go to that one they are slower and a bigger target !!

Charles.

[cryton]

I' no expert but don't worry about the failure rate ,it does improve with practice and knowing the correct shutter speed to set for different vehicles and speeds.I still scrap loads.I might only be as good as 30% keepers.Must do a shoot and work out my exact sucess rate quantitifly to see if it improves.

You do have some good shots there and Photoshop unsharp mask can do wonders too!Keep practice ,practice,practice

[Optic]

I've had a look at some of the pics the "pro" did last year on the same event and he stuck to 1/400 or 1/800 that was on a 500/f4, though so think i'm trying too slow,

there were some better ones in the raw lot and some good big pans, so i'll up the speed for the small pans, on the keepers thing i don't mind loosing run of the mill pictures but when that bike blow up i had a good shot of the next bike getting it very wrong on the oil which not a keeper, o well cheers for the input and i'll carry on, i think planes are alot eaiser !!!

http://images37.fotki.com/v1256/photos/1/1242644/6642788/IMG_53521-vi.jpg

http://images41.fotki.com/v1307/photos/1/1242644/6642788/IMG_53491-vi.jpg


http://images38.fotki.com/v1273/photos/1/1242644/6642788/IMG_6189-vi.jpg

[JBaz]

you panning in those shots are good, but the composition needs some work. Nothing but the ole crop tool won't fix. If I'm shooting an assignment, I'll shoot first at 1/500 mainly because I'm 99% confident all of my pictures will turn out flawless. I won't get the extra motion blur that's much more pleasing, but shot what you know first, then go off in the more creative zones. What are the shutter speeds of those? 1/125?

For me, I'm still perfecting my panning skills at much slower speeds. I end up buying some new gadget or gismo to try out to see if it will help and release the technique all over again.