Street bike photography Tech help

[fastshutter]

Hey guys. I live in the north GA mountains. I have been tring to get photos of

the guys riding street bikes up the mt roads. I'm getting some good shots of

them in curves and stuff but the problem is that they never seem to be super

sharp. What do you guys feel is the min on shutter and ap. to totaly stop the

movement and have enough dop. 250 @ 5.6 ?????

 

Sorry my typing sucks

 

Kenny<div></div>

[fastshutter]

I guess I should also say that this is about 6:00 in the evening so that let is super slim shady. that photo is 1/125 @ 4 I think. If anyone has any advice on this thanks

 

 

Kenny

[Matt Laur]

The EXIF data on your images says f/2.8... which is pretty shallow. Focus on moving subjects can be tricky, and with such a shallow depth of field, you're bound to have some trouble. The ISO on your image is 200... which could be part of your trouble. Given the relatively dim light, you might want to crank up to 400 or 800. You'll introduce a little bit of noise, but you'll get the ability to work with a much greater depth of field and a higher shutter speed. You can work with the noise somewhat in post production, but that won't matter as much with a nice, sharp image in the first place. You'll have to experiment to find the sweet spot between speed and noise. That higher shutter speed, by the way, will also help with any movement in your camera/lens. What are you doing to help keep that camera steady as you make these shots? You're obviously panning with the bike movement, so at 1/125, there's lots of opportunity for movement-induced blur. Not so bad at the 70mm at which you took that shot, but higher speed will make a big difference, as would an image stablizing lens.

[dave_blake]

That's definitely not enough shutter speed or DOF. I would be trying for at least 500 SS @ 5.6 If you increase your ISO that would also help. Don't be shy about going to 800. You can always try to clean up any static post. Also, are you doing this for a hobby or money? If money, you might even consider purchasing a fast lense. Can you use a fill flash (low power, -2)? That may also help. <BR>

 

Dave<BR>

<a href="http://www.daveblakephotography.com"> Dave Blake Photography </a><BR>

<a href="http://www.photopayoff.com"> Photo Payoff </a><BR>

[SCL]

A faster lens, higher iso, and shooting more directly head on to the subject, rather than panning as it passes by should help improve sharpness. You might also consider a high powered flash.

[doug grosjean]

Ken,

 

On the shot you posted, it looks like the DoF is very shallow. The Honda on the tank, and part of the rider's LH shoulder, are much sharper than the rest of the image.

 

Not sure about the GA mtns, but up here in Ohio at 6:00 PM, in the shade, you don't have enough light to use small apertures (for deeper depth of field) while shooting in the shade as it appears you did (I don't see any hard shadows).

 

Motorcyclist Magazine had an article 20 years ago on how they shot the photos they do. Excellent article. I saved a paper copy, but don't have it at in front of me at the moment. Got a snail-mail addy? I can lay hands on it in the next couple days and snail-mail you a copy.

 

Traveling to a racetrack on a m/c, they'd pack a small tripod, a normal lens, and a mirror lens about 250mm focal length (back in days of 35mm film). They tended to pan a lot at the racetrack, in which case you *want* a slow shutter speed so you can blur the background.

 

They usually did panning of some sort, to add motion to the shot. When panning, they'd use about 1/30s.... but that works a bit better if the bike is further away, because then it seems to be going in more of a straight line. Nearer, a cornering bike is arcing, and panning may result in the photo I'm attaching below. Nice and artsy, but you wanted sharp.

 

They'd also zoom in while shooting a bike head-on, to make it look as if the bike just went into warp drive.

 

IIRC from the article and experience, to "freeze" a bike required 1/250 - 1/500. Depends also on how zoomed in you are, and speed of the bike.

 

How fast is the rider in the pic actually going? Are you shooting strangers, or friends where you can ask them for a particular speed?

 

Also, some *old* photo books I own have charts where they list speed, angle of the moving target to the photog, and suggested shutter speeds. They're a clue, but only a clue, since the rider in the photo you shot is arcing around you.

 

Doug Grosjean<div></div>