First Motorcycle Race Shots and first with 300 2.8

I visited VIR for more club racing. ASRA's Championship Cup Series.
I was also trying out a new Sigma 300 f/2.8. I just could not justify the Canon L.

Almost 300 shots, culled down to 20.

C&C appreciated.

1. Corner action at Turn 4

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they look a little OOF to my eyes

were u in all servo mode on these they look oof to me

1 & 3 are def out of focus #2 is sharp enough but way too static / too fast a shutter speed, looks like the guy has stopped the bike and lent it over onto his knee for a posed shot (sorry)

.DAVID.

Yes,
ISO 100
f2.8
shutter speed = way too fast in general.
It was a bright, bright, sun shiny day.

Recommendations for shooting in these conditions & settings - not AI Servo? I thought that was the choice for moving, but it may just be me missing the proper focal point and shallow DOF.

Try AI servo,
Shutter priority @ 250th/200th for pans,...maybe 500th wouild be enough to stop em but keep some wheel movement.
Try shootin with the sun over your shoulder..

What is the average bike speed?

When I shoot autox I use (ai servo, iso 100 if I can, shutter priority 1/100 to 1/150 depending on the speed of the vehicles)

Because you used f/2.8 your focus plane is tiny....next time bump the iso if needed and use a higher apperture.

This might be helpful as well
http://www.garyluhm.ne​t/bio/tips_0310.html

Ando27 wrote in post #14608597
Try AI servo,
Shutter priority @ 250th/200th for pans,...maybe 500th wouild be enough to stop em but keep some wheel movement.
Try shootin with the sun over your shoulder..

1/500th is way to fast in my opinion. and why on earth were you shooting at f2.8 in bright sunlight?

I was at VIR too and this was at 1/100th and f13:

#17 from your link is my favorite.

NeherPhoto wrote in post #14610506
1/500th is way to fast in my opinion. and why on earth were you shooting at f2.8 in bright sunlight?

I was at VIR too and this was at 1/100th and f13:

I was not in a ideal position for panning shots, so I was trying higher shutter speed and shallow DOF. I'll look for better shot position and resort to primarily panning.

I am still feeling my way around both VIR and racing.

I think shutter speed is more relative to the type of motorcycle shot you are taking than to the approach to this type of capture per se. I'm not expert but have done a bit of MC photography.

Generally, these bikes have slick tyres so if you are shooting head on shots [LIke your number 1] I would go for the highest possible shutter speed to get the clearest shots - if you get them at the apex of the corner or wait for them to enter the shot then you should have no problem using servo and high speed capture on your 7D. Using the f2.8 [or f3.2] setting will be a bonus here as you will be able to blur out the background/crowd etc. The only thing I would say is fill the frame with bike.

As pointed out above, if you are shooting from a position from where the wheels will be visible then you need to get a shot that includes Motion Blur on the wheels to stop it looking like its a posed shot [even if the bike is leaning over it still looks odd if the spokes are in full view and can be clearly made out]. This is where you need to get into the panning technique and track the bike from a point where you aren't going to press the shutter and then capture the shots [take several per bike] as you approach that point, panning smoothly. Once you can do this effectively [via practice] then its a case of lowering your shutter speed to get those nice fuzzy backgrounds using whatever aperture the conditions allow. Then you get into the "how low can you go" discussion - some people have shown pretty good shots on here at 1/20!

Best tip is to browse the motorsports forum and learn from looking at the images captured by others [LIke the one above].

Cheers,
Garry

V4her wrote in post #14618300
I am still feeling my way around both VIR and racing.

the shot I posted was taken from the spectator area at top of hog pen. its pretty much the closest you can get at VIR without credentials. good place to shoot bikes.