Another Arizona POTN get together (3)?

Hi everyone,
I've been visiting these forums on/off the last few months and moved back to AZ from Chicago about a week ago (and its bloody HOT)- but I am completely new to photography! I have SO MUCH to learn and wrap my mind around, and would greatly appreciate it if you guys wouldnt mind teaching me some basics, tricks, tips, or plain anything- I am very excited to get going! Anyhow I hope you guys dont mind if I tag along the way in this thread and ask questions and such.
Thanks again
Suzie

Hi Suzie...

Welcome back to the furnace.

Feel free to hang out here all you like and fire away with questions!

Welcome Suzie!!

Welcome to the thread and back to AZ Suzie!
like Jay said, ask away. with the whole collective here we should be able to answer most if not all questions

Hatch1921 wrote in post #10489987
Good to hear you are enjoying the Canon S90 Dean

Here's a couple of example shots that you might not get with your ordinary P&S. Both of these are SOOC. Just snaps I was able to take because I actually had the camera with me.

The F2 lens actually gives you a bit of background blur. Combined with useful wide angle (28mm equiv) makes for some fun shots.

Where'd they find that Truck? Tut's Tomb?

BTW, here's one of my inspirations for getting back into photography after 20+ years away. These two shots of me (both purchased by me) by photographers who do my sort of work for a living. I saw and shared my fellow track rider's enthusiasm at seeing good shots of themselves on their bikes on the track. We rarely had photographers of this level visit the phoenix area for our trackday and racing events, so I decided in late 2008 to give it a try myself.

Wanker has a knee down and I'm supposed to be impressed?

S.C.

Cmonster wrote in post #10490310
Hi everyone,
I've been visiting these forums on/off the last few months and moved back to AZ from Chicago about a week ago (and its bloody HOT)- but I am completely new to photography! I have SO MUCH to learn and wrap my mind around, and would greatly appreciate it if you guys wouldnt mind teaching me some basics, tricks, tips, or plain anything- I am very excited to get going! Anyhow I hope you guys dont mind if I tag along the way in this thread and ask questions and such.
Thanks again
Suzie

Welcome Suzie! You'll find that we're all pretty helpful here.
Do you have a website to share? What type of photography do you like to do?

Dean Rachwitz wrote in post #10490529
Here's a couple of example shots that you might not get with your ordinary P&S. Both of these are SOOC. Just snaps I was able to take because I actually had the camera with me.

The F2 lens actually gives you a bit of background blur. Combined with useful wide angle (28mm equiv) makes for some fun shots.
I'm really quite pleased with it.

Awesome Dean! My S90 never leaves my side. I ended up getting one of those Lowepro neoprene pouches so I can just clip it to my belt loop.

Hey Dean. I'm going to Laguna soon. I was thinking of renting a 300mm ƒ/2.8 but I think I'm just going to borrow a buddy's 1.4 extender and use it with my 70-200mm ƒ/2.8 IS.
Any last minute advice? Good places to post up besides the Corkscrew? I was thinking that Rainey Curve may be a good place too.

Wow, some nice photos around here lately. Love the fire works.
I was busy, busy, busy....hope to catch up here soon and post some more.

Welcome Suzie! A bunch of very helpful people around here, and all around nice also.

Peekin' in..... *smiling and waving*

Hey Joyce, I forgot to say "CONGRATS" on the Discovery Channel thing... that is so awesome. I left a note on FB for ya.

Great shot with hte S90 Dean... In the right hands, the camera does great things... we have to give you some credit for the final outcome.

Welcome SUZIE!! Do you have a place where you upload your photos for sharing? What kind of stuff do you like to shoot? We definitely have tons of talent in the thread, and a wide variety of shooting interests.... so most of what you need help with should be covered. For starters, I'd suggest reading a book called "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson... a lightbulb will go off, and you'll be on your way to shooting in Manual (if you aren't alreadY)... and seeing improvements in your shots.

Welcome Suzie!

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #10490532
Where'd they find that Truck? Tut's Tomb?

That's out at Speedworld at the mudbog races.

Kristy wrote in post #10492499
Great shot with hte S90 Dean... In the right hands, the camera does great things... we have to give you some credit for the final outcome.

Thanks Kristy.

scottcolbath wrote in post #10490863
Wanker has a knee down and I'm supposed to be impressed?

Nah, though I would be impressed to see you with a knee down on your KTM. And crashing doesn't count.

vmdc wrote in post #10492306
Awesome Dean! My S90 never leaves my side. I ended up getting one of those Lowepro neoprene pouches so I can just clip it to my belt loop.

I bought a cheapie Kodak hard case at Best Buy that's a perfect fit and clips firmly to my belt. Provides some nice extra protection when I have it in a bag with other stuff.

vmdc wrote in post #10492335
Hey Dean. I'm going to Laguna soon. I was thinking of renting a 300mm ƒ/2.8 but I think I'm just going to borrow a buddy's 1.4 extender and use it with my 70-200mm ƒ/2.8 IS.
Any last minute advice? Good places to post up besides the Corkscrew? I was thinking that Rainey Curve may be a good place too.

Ya know, I've never shot Laguna.

WARNING: Lengthy, boring motosports photography advice to follow. Do not drive or operate heavy machinery while reading.

I would say that of course the two corners you've mentioned will be good, but the really key thing is the light. Where the sun is, is an important determining factor as any. My advice would be to get there early and scout the corners to see what your angles will be in relation to the sun when the racing begins. The best panned, framed and exposed shot will suffer if the sun is in your lens. If the sun is high, try to get the riders leaning away from you, or 3/4 to directly head on. If they're leaning towards you in mid day sun, the part of the bike towards you will be in shadow. The correlation is that early morning or late afternoon sun shining into the inside of a corner can make for some nice photos.

If you want to get some good panning shots (and who doesn't?) A fast corner that the bikes maintain speed through is better than a slow corner. Since panning is all about trying to synchronize your motion with that of the subject, it is much more difficult to accurately track a motorcycle in a slow corner as they brake very hard coming in, and accelerate very rapidly going out. Also when panning, start tracking your subject several seconds before you plan to press the shutter. That gives you time to match their speed and set your framing. I would recommend that you start off with a relatively high shutter speed and work your way down. If the bikes are going by at high speed, 1/500 will give you some background blur and still a high rate of keepers. Once you feel you've got the technique at that speed, work your way down. If you start out at 1/200 or lower, your keeper rate will probably be very disappointing.

Hope you find that of some help and I apologize if you find the info too basic.

I've copied and saved it into my notes!! Those are great tips Dean.
I'll be there for all 3 days so I'm sure I'll get at least 1 or 2 good shots. Thanks for the advice!!!

Oh, one more critical bit. When panning, follow through after you press the shutter! The natural desire is to pull your camera down immediately after you press the shutter, and that WILL ruin shots. So keep carefully tracking your subject for a second or so after you press the shutter and I promise your keeper ratio will be higher.