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[michael243]

Hi many months ago I put a post up asking what DSLR to buy but I never brought one even through I got very good advice off here, well last week I brought a Canon 1100D. Its a brilliant camera, i will mostly be using it for car photography, I have the kit lens it come with I dont think I will be changing that for some time through as it does exactly what I want it to do for the moment, I also have a Sandisk Ultra SDHC 16GB which can hold around 3000 .JPEG files, the problem I have is that on my last car spotting trip I took 1,304 photos yeah it was my first trip out with it and I was practicing using it, like panning etc most of my photos came out well I think

Well its all about practice, should I buy another memory stick so I have two 16GB cards or just keep the one? Also what else should I buy I was looking into getting a Polarizing Filter, mu budget for that is around £30, I have also heard I should get a Lens Cleaner, I found A Hama Lens Cleaning Pen on Amazon for £7.45, is it any good? Also what else would I need to get?

Sorry for the long post, just trying to get some questions across as fast as possible

Some of my favorite shots from last Saturday, are shown below, please take a look and tell me what you think, good and bad points are welcomed












Rare BWM!! by michaelbham243, on Flickr

Many Thanks
Michael Phillips

[MysteryLemon]

You need a slower shutter speed and better panning technique. That way the backgrounds will be blured but the cars sharp. All comes with practice.

As for memory card, well, that depends on your uses. May as well get a backup, they aren't going to break the bank these days.

[Gad-Westy]

Hi Michael,

Hate to sound negative but there are a few issues with these. The BMW at the end is nice and sharp but the others all look soft to me. The Dino, has miss focussed all together and focus appears to be on the bus in the background. If you're panning I'd aim to take your shot more or less side on to the car. It is far more effective than head on. If you want the head on shots to be nice and sharp, you'll need much higher shutter speeds than if you are panning. Two very different techniques. The other consideration in all this is your focusing. I'd personally use single point focus and continuous tracking but there are many ways to skin a cat.

I hope I don't sound too critical, but spend some time perfecting your technique, reading, and asking questions before spending too much. Once you're happy with that side of things, you'll know what gear you need. All that said, spare batteries and memory cards never did anybody any harm. A polariser will help for certain shots but isn't just something you can shove on your lens and get instant results. In the wrong hands, it will have more negative effect than positive.

Edited by Gad-Westy on Wednesday 20th February 12:14

[michael243]

MysteryLemon said:

You need a slower shutter speed and better panning technique. That way the backgrounds will be blured but the cars sharp. All comes with practice.

As for memory card, well, that depends on your uses. May as well get a backup, they aren't going to break the bank these days.

Yeah when I spoke to a other photographer he recommended using 1/80 and also I have no panning technique as I don't really understand how it works, I youtubed it but it never really made any sense to me and yeah lots of practice is needed!

True, I might as well buy one they only like £15 nowadays

Thanks

[michael243]

Gad-Westy said:

Hi Michael,

Hate to sound negative but there are a few issues with these. The BMW at the end is nice and sharp but the others all look soft to me. The Dino, has miss focussed all together and focus appears to be on the bus in the background. I hope I don't sound too critical, but spend some time perfecting your technique, reading, and asking questions before spending too much. Once you're happy with that side of things, you'll know what gear you need. All that said, spare batteries and memory cards never did anybody any harm. A polariser will help for certain shots but isn't just something you can shove on your lens and get instant results. In the wrong hands, it will have more negative effect than positive.

Thanks for the reply, yeah I know their is issues that why I am trying to learn I quite like the photo of the BMW, in my eyes it came out alright, on the other hand the Dino I am quite gutted about, I kinda rushed it as it just appeared from behind a bus, don't worry and advice is good advice for me, I will go out with it more often so I can learn what I am doing so I can get better shots to get.

I might invest in a spare battery and a spare memory stick

How do you use a polarizer then? obviously it would help straight away but it should help me right?

Many Thanks

[Gad-Westy]

michael243 said:

Yeah when I spoke to a other photographer he recommended using 1/80 and also I have no panning technique as I don't really understand how it works, I youtubed it but it never really made any sense to me and yeah lots of practice is needed!

True, I might as well buy one they only like £15 nowadays

Thanks

Can't remember who gave me this tip (thank you whoever you are) but for panning. Point your feet, shoulder width apart at where you want the car to be in your shot. Swivel your hips so that you're facing where the car is coming from. When the car is in view, try to keep your central focus point on it and smoothly start to track it keeping the camera focusing the whole time. When your body is pointing forward, take your shot. 1/80 isn't a bad starting point but play around with slower and faster and see what works for you. To a large extent it'll depends how fast the car is moving as to where the balance lies. i.e you want the car to be sharp but the background to exhibit some blur.

[michael243]

Gad-Westy said:

Can't remember who gave me this tip (thank you whoever you are) but for panning. Point your feet, shoulder width apart at where you want the car to be in your shot. Swivel your hips so that you're facing where the car is coming from. When the car is in view, try to keep your central focus point on it and smoothly start to track it keeping the camera focusing the whole time. When your body is pointing forward, take your shot. 1/80 isn't a bad starting point but play around with slower and faster and see what works for you. To a large extent it'll depends how fast the car is moving as to where the balance lies. i.e you want the car to be sharp but the background to exhibit some blur.

Thanks, that is a good tip, something I haven't yet heard, I can learn much from this and while its focusing when do I press the shutter fully? Is it when it is directly in front of me? Yeah thats very true, at the moment I am very much a novice so not many terms I know or make sense, I am sure some of my shots show the starting of some skill that can progress

Many Thanks

[Gad-Westy]

michael243 said:

Thanks, that is a good tip, something I haven't yet heard, I can learn much from this and while its focusing when do I press the shutter fully? Is it when it is directly in front of me? Yeah thats very true, at the moment I am very much a novice so not many terms I know or make sense, I am sure some of my shots show the starting of some skill that can progress

Many Thanks

Assuming that Canon is the same as Nikon, you'll need to keep the shutter button half pressed to keep the camera focusing. Push it down fully when you want to take the shot. You will need to select continuous focus though (Nikon call it AF-C, I think Canon call it something else). One alternative is that you manually focus on where the car is going to be when you take the shot and then you don't need to worry about focusing at all. Just track the car in your viewfinder, and fire your shot when ready.

[michael243]

Gad-Westy said:

Assuming that Canon is the same as Nikon, you'll need to keep the shutter button half pressed to keep the camera focusing. Push it down fully when you want to take the shot. You will need to select continuous focus though (Nikon call it AF-C, I think Canon call it something else). One alternative is that you manually focus on where the car is going to be when you take the shot and then you don't need to worry about focusing at all. Just track the car in your viewfinder, and fire your shot when ready.

I will have to look into this thanks and how does manual focusing work? what does it do that Auto doesn't

Many Thanks

[Gad-Westy]

michael243 said:

I will have to look into this thanks and how does manual focusing work? what does it do that Auto doesn't

Many Thanks

Well manual focusing simply means that unless you rotate the focus ring on the lens, then the focus doesn't change. I.e. the camera can't get it wrong. It's potentially a good way to shoot when doing tracking shots. In your case, if you're stood by a main road that you know a car is going to drive along, you can focus on a point on the road that will be roughly the same distance from the camera as the car is going to be then you leave the focus alone. It will never change. You could even use auto focus to focus in the first place and then switch the lens to manual so that focus is locked. If this all sounds a bit complicated, it's likely my explanation at fault as it's quite a simple process to implement.

[michael243]

Gad-Westy said:

Well manual focusing simply means that unless you rotate the focus ring on the lens, then the focus doesn't change. I.e. the camera can't get it wrong. It's potentially a good way to shoot when doing tracking shots. In your case, if you're stood by a main road that you know a car is going to drive along, you can focus on a point on the road that will be roughly the same distance from the camera as the car is going to be then you leave the focus alone. It will never change. You could even use auto focus to focus in the first place and then switch the lens to manual so that focus is locked. If this all sounds a bit complicated, it's likely my explanation at fault as it's quite a simple process to implement.

Oh I get it now, I will have to stand on Park Lane next time and test this out, thanks for the information

[tenohfive]

There is a way with Canon certainly that you can adjust how it focuses - instead of half pressing the shutter to focus you press a different button to focus. Once focused you can take your finger off the button and it stays focused at that distance. It takes a little getting used to but personally I find it incredibly useful.

In your case the application is fairly obvious - wait for a car to be at the point you're going to take the photo and focus on it. Wait for the next car and you can just pan and press the shutter when the car gets to that point - no faffing around trying to pan and focus - much as you would manually focusing, but if you're new to it all the autofocus will probably be more accurate than your efforts to manually focus.

To actually set it up you have to go through the menu to the custom functions - have a nosy at your instructions.

On the polariser front I'm not sure there's any pressing need for one just yet - their main use is cutting down reflections etc, and they won't recover the blown out sky in your photo's. And you'll probably want new lenses in the near future so it'd be a bit of a waste to buy filters for a lens you don't end up using, particularly if you end up going down Cokin/Lee/Hitech route rather than screw in filters.
If however you're sure you want one, buy the best you can afford - there's no point putting cheap glass in front. The Hoya Pro-1 Digital range are pretty good:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hoya-Digital-Circular-Pola...

[michael243]

tenohfive said:

There is a way with Canon certainly that you can adjust how it focuses - instead of half pressing the shutter to focus you press a different button to focus. Once focused you can take your finger off the button and it stays focused at that distance. It takes a little getting used to but personally I find it incredibly useful.

In your case the application is fairly obvious - wait for a car to be at the point you're going to take the photo and focus on it. Wait for the next car and you can just pan and press the shutter when the car gets to that point - no faffing around trying to pan and focus - much as you would manually focusing, but if you're new to it all the autofocus will probably be more accurate than your efforts to manually focus.

To actually set it up you have to go through the menu to the custom functions - have a nosy at your instructions.

On the polariser front I'm not sure there's any pressing need for one just yet - their main use is cutting down reflections etc, and they won't recover the blown out sky in your photo's. And you'll probably want new lenses in the near future so it'd be a bit of a waste to buy filters for a lens you don't end up using, particularly if you end up going down Cokin/Lee/Hitech route rather than screw in filters.
If however you're sure you want one, buy the best you can afford - there's no point putting cheap glass in front. The Hoya Pro-1 Digital range are pretty good:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hoya-Digital-Circular-Pola...

Thanks for the reply, as I have said I am very much a novice so dont know much, I will just test and see how it goes for me, yeah true to auto will be better till I know what I am doing and the instruction but doesn't say much

One of the main reasons I want a polarizer is for the effects it produces on the car, like on the lights and sometimes on the windows, I quite like that, also it helps cut down reflections which is a good point and thanks for the link, If I can find it a few £ cheaper I will defo be buying one

[DibblyDobbler]

This is why I love PH Photography forum

[Kermit power]

I wouldn't really bother with a spare battery. I bought one with my 450D, and I've never, ever needed it, as you can comfortably get 1,000+ shots out of a full battery charge!

With regards to memory cards, it's supposedly better to have a few smaller capacity ones than one large one, as this means if you were to get a corrupted card, you'd lose far fewer shots. I don't, however, follow this advice myself!

Looking at the shots, and the Dino in particular, I don't actually think it's the focus which is out, as the road markings in front of the car appear to be in focus as well as the bus behind it. My assumption would be that you've tracked the car until it reached the point at which you wanted to take the photo, but when you've pressed the shutter button, you've stopped moving the camera. This means that everything static is sharp, but the moving Dino is not.

What you need to focus on with a panning shot is to keep the camera moving so that the car remains in the same place in the frame for the whole exposure. It might only be 1/80th of a second, but that's still enough to blur the car if it's moving and the camera isn't.

[michael243]

Kermit power said:

I wouldn't really bother with a spare battery. I bought one with my 450D, and I've never, ever needed it, as you can comfortably get 1,000+ shots out of a full battery charge!

With regards to memory cards, it's supposedly better to have a few smaller capacity ones than one large one, as this means if you were to get a corrupted card, you'd lose far fewer shots. I don't, however, follow this advice myself!

Looking at the shots, and the Dino in particular, I don't actually think it's the focus which is out, as the road markings in front of the car appear to be in focus as well as the bus behind it. My assumption would be that you've tracked the car until it reached the point at which you wanted to take the photo, but when you've pressed the shutter button, you've stopped moving the camera. This means that everything static is sharp, but the moving Dino is not.

What you need to focus on with a panning shot is to keep the camera moving so that the car remains in the same place in the frame for the whole exposure. It might only be 1/80th of a second, but that's still enough to blur the car if it's moving and the camera isn't.

I dont see the point in smaller cards as If you take many shots you need more

Yeah I am most gutted about the Dino, and really? I just saw the Dino and saw it in the viewfinder and shot the photo as I just wanted to get a good photo of it, yeah I will be trying it out in 1/80 when I ma back, thanks for the advice

[Kermit power]

michael243 said:

I dont see the point in smaller cards as If you take many shots you need more

This is only because they can become corrupted, and you might not know until you get home and try and transfer them to your PC. If you've gone out and shot a thousand photos on one large card, you might lose the lot. If you've spread it out over 5 smaller cards, you'll still have 800 of your shots to play with.

michael243 said:

Yeah I am most gutted about the Dino, and really? I just saw the Dino and saw it in the viewfinder and shot the photo as I just wanted to get a good photo of it, yeah I will be trying it out in 1/80 when I ma back, thanks for the advice

The easiest way to think of it is that anything you want in nice, sharp focus has to be stationary relative to your camera sensor. There are two ways of doing this.

The first is to use a shutter speed fast enough to completely freeze the action. This is all well and good, but with a car shot, it robs the whole thing of the feeling of speed which is arguably what compelled you to take the shot in the first place.

The second is to move the camera at the same speed as the car, so that the car appears to be stationary, and the background appears to be moving. I suspect you probably started out doing this on your Dino shot, but then froze when you actually clicked to take the shot.

[michael243]

Kermit power said:

The easiest way to think of it is that anything you want in nice, sharp focus has to be stationary relative to your camera sensor. There are two ways of doing this.

The first is to use a shutter speed fast enough to completely freeze the action. This is all well and good, but with a car shot, it robs the whole thing of the feeling of speed which is arguably what compelled you to take the shot in the first place.

The second is to move the camera at the same speed as the car, so that the car appears to be stationary, and the background appears to be moving. I suspect you probably started out doing this on your Dino shot, but then froze when you actually clicked to take the shot.

I am very useless at keeping things safe

Well as your probs have saw me say I am novice, when I get better at this, I will learn and be able to take better photos, its a long path but with help such as your help it will be much easier for me , Thanks

[Craikeybaby]

My understanding is that the front element on the kit lens rotates while focussing, which would mean that a polarising filter won't be much use

[Gemm]

Craikeybaby said:

My understanding is that the front element on the kit lens rotates while focussing, which would mean that a polarising filter won't be much use

Yes, it will. You just need to rotate it after composing and focusing.