Why are there so few car photographs?
Discussion
rich888 said:
Cheers Rogue86, my best 'guess' was based on a few photos I took a few weeks ago at a go-cart track and was experimenting with shutter-speeds and found that most of the pics taken below 1/125 were blurry for all the wrong reasons, my next plan of attack is to sit in the rear seat of the car, which is a bit risky because the wife will be driving on the motorway, and take photos of all the cars overtaking us 
Best to shoot with a friends car (so you can match speeds) and on a private road, with a harness if possible. It's surprisingly hairy hanging out of the back even at 40mph!
Thanks kman and Rogue86 for your tips, will have a play later in the week.
In terms of taking the pics, was thinking along the lines of sitting on the back seat behind the drivers seat, winding the side window down and pointing the camera out through the opening so no risk of falling out, on a motorway I would expect plenty of cars to be overtaking us so lots of photo opportunities. Just need a convoy of supercars to pass us on the maiden trip
What I found from the go-cart photo session was that most of the pics looked fine when viewed on the tiny LCD screen, it was only when I viewed them on a larger monitor back home that I realised that a faster shutter speed was required - I did take pics at various apertures and shutter speeds at the time, maybe it was because I was using the 135mm lens which caused many of images to be blurred, what with the shutter speed/ zoom calculation I should have adhered to and kept the shutter speed above 1/135th instead of dropping the shutter speed below 1/125th.
What has been mentioned on here a few times is that if the shutter speed is too high it makes the car look like it is stationary, so certain compromises have to be made, along with panning techniques if corners are involved.
In terms of taking the pics, was thinking along the lines of sitting on the back seat behind the drivers seat, winding the side window down and pointing the camera out through the opening so no risk of falling out, on a motorway I would expect plenty of cars to be overtaking us so lots of photo opportunities. Just need a convoy of supercars to pass us on the maiden trip
What I found from the go-cart photo session was that most of the pics looked fine when viewed on the tiny LCD screen, it was only when I viewed them on a larger monitor back home that I realised that a faster shutter speed was required - I did take pics at various apertures and shutter speeds at the time, maybe it was because I was using the 135mm lens which caused many of images to be blurred, what with the shutter speed/ zoom calculation I should have adhered to and kept the shutter speed above 1/135th instead of dropping the shutter speed below 1/125th.
What has been mentioned on here a few times is that if the shutter speed is too high it makes the car look like it is stationary, so certain compromises have to be made, along with panning techniques if corners are involved.
rich888 said:
Thanks kman and Rogue86 for your tips, will have a play later in the week.
In terms of taking the pics, was thinking along the lines of sitting on the back seat behind the drivers seat, winding the side window down and pointing the camera out through the opening so no risk of falling out, on a motorway I would expect plenty of cars to be overtaking us so lots of photo opportunities. Just need a convoy of supercars to pass us on the maiden trip
What I found from the go-cart photo session was that most of the pics looked fine when viewed on the tiny LCD screen, it was only when I viewed them on a larger monitor back home that I realised that a faster shutter speed was required - I did take pics at various apertures and shutter speeds at the time, maybe it was because I was using the 135mm lens which caused many of images to be blurred, what with the shutter speed/ zoom calculation I should have adhered to and kept the shutter speed above 1/135th instead of dropping the shutter speed below 1/125th.
What has been mentioned on here a few times is that if the shutter speed is too high it makes the car look like it is stationary, so certain compromises have to be made, along with panning techniques if corners are involved.
I think you might be likely to get a few adverse reactions from people if you try and snap them on a motorway. They may wonder what your are up to. Some may not take kindly to it.In terms of taking the pics, was thinking along the lines of sitting on the back seat behind the drivers seat, winding the side window down and pointing the camera out through the opening so no risk of falling out, on a motorway I would expect plenty of cars to be overtaking us so lots of photo opportunities. Just need a convoy of supercars to pass us on the maiden trip
What I found from the go-cart photo session was that most of the pics looked fine when viewed on the tiny LCD screen, it was only when I viewed them on a larger monitor back home that I realised that a faster shutter speed was required - I did take pics at various apertures and shutter speeds at the time, maybe it was because I was using the 135mm lens which caused many of images to be blurred, what with the shutter speed/ zoom calculation I should have adhered to and kept the shutter speed above 1/135th instead of dropping the shutter speed below 1/125th.
What has been mentioned on here a few times is that if the shutter speed is too high it makes the car look like it is stationary, so certain compromises have to be made, along with panning techniques if corners are involved.
As for shutter speed.
If your subject is pretty much head on, use a fast shutter speed for max sharpness. As fast as possible especially if you are thinking of "large" prints. There is not much to gain by not freezing the action and much to be lost. IMO.
If panning then it's a different game and you might want to see some blur - but it needs to be "proper" blur that is clearly intentional. If you are using a manual focus point you only need to consider shutter speed and the depth of field effect in terms of what is blurred and what is not. The rest is down to your panning technique and the distance to the subject plus how quickly it is moving.
If you are using AF and some suitable tracking mode you need to know how your system deals with the tracking at various settings and ideally find a point of good contrast on the subject onto which the focus system can lock and hold to track the subject.
Moving location to moving subject probably requires a low enough speed to make the wheel look like they are turning unless the requirement for the composition dictates that certina attributed of the wheels (tyre logos for example) need to be specifically positioned, in which case either work out what is necessary and use a rig or "fix" the wheels in Photoshop, And if you are doing that you may as well blur them there too. IMO.
rich888 said:
my next plan of attack is to sit in the rear seat of the car, which is a bit risky because the wife will be driving on the motorway, and take photos of all the cars overtaking us
Pointing a camera at random people like this wouldn't be wise tbh. Its distracting for drivers and people could find it very rude as they will suppose you're photographing them inside their cars.kman said:
rich888 said:
my next plan of attack is to sit in the rear seat of the car, which is a bit risky because the wife will be driving on the motorway, and take photos of all the cars overtaking us
Pointing a camera at random people like this wouldn't be wise tbh. Its distracting for drivers and people could find it very rude as they will suppose you're photographing them inside their cars.
Day out at Sliverston Ferrari day
Ferrari Racing Day Silverstone by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr
#ferrari #silverstone #599xx #fxx #xxprogramme #motorsportphotography #nikonphotography #corseclienti #supercars #fxxk #fxx by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr
#ferrari #silverstone #599xx #xxprogramme #motorsportphotography #nikonphotography #corseclienti #supercars #fxxk #fxx by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr
#ferrari #silverstone #599xx #xxprogramme #motorsportphotography #nikonphotography #corseclienti #supercars #fxxk #fxx by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr
#ferrari #silverstone #599xx #xxprogramme #motorsportphotography #nikonphotography #corseclienti #supercars #fxxk #fxx by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr
#ferrari #silverstone #599xx #fxx #xxprogramme #motorsportphotography #nikonphotography #corseclienti #supercars #fxxk #fxx by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr
#ferrari #silverstone #599xx #fxx #xxprogramme #motorsportphotography #nikonphotography #corseclienti #supercars #fxxk #fxx by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr
ABC_3117 by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr
Ferrari Racing Day Silverstone by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr#ferrari #silverstone #599xx #fxx #xxprogramme #motorsportphotography #nikonphotography #corseclienti #supercars #fxxk #fxx by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr#ferrari #silverstone #599xx #xxprogramme #motorsportphotography #nikonphotography #corseclienti #supercars #fxxk #fxx by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr#ferrari #silverstone #599xx #xxprogramme #motorsportphotography #nikonphotography #corseclienti #supercars #fxxk #fxx by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr#ferrari #silverstone #599xx #xxprogramme #motorsportphotography #nikonphotography #corseclienti #supercars #fxxk #fxx by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr#ferrari #silverstone #599xx #fxx #xxprogramme #motorsportphotography #nikonphotography #corseclienti #supercars #fxxk #fxx by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr#ferrari #silverstone #599xx #fxx #xxprogramme #motorsportphotography #nikonphotography #corseclienti #supercars #fxxk #fxx by Dave Goodhand, on FlickrABC_3117 by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr
A few from BTCC on Sunday. Appalling light but worked with it rather than against it!
Some more of my stuff here if you're interested
Some more of my stuff here if you're interested
WRC Rally Fest Cholmondeley Castle by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr
WRC Rally Fest Cholmondeley Castle by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr
WRC Rally Fest Cholmondeley Castle by Dave Goodhand, on Flickr
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