Motorbikes shooting - 5 images. (big) plz look and post what you think.

[fernando_scherer]

<p>Hi people, this weekend we had a motorbike training here on the city's track, and because its open for watching, i went to try shooting them. that event i didnt need permission for. i want to build a portfolio of sports, but have few occasions that i can shoot without much hassle.<br>

So, i took the D300 and a 70-300 vr, my only tele lens for the while. (i know its not a pro lens, i had an 80-200 but the af failed on me so i sold). The weather yesterday was overcast so maybe explains the problems in af, i had few keepers, most of them probably my fault. The camera settings i used, were 1-af point only, af-c, speed or aperture priority, and mostly had vr on. no tripod. Even the best ones werent so sharp, not sure lens of my fault.<br>

What would you tell that could help me with keepers rate?<br>

the pannings were between 1/60 and 1/125.</p>

<p><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4006/4303927097_3fd226677d_b.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="680" /><br>

<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4029/4304673100_16078b35e4_b.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="680" /><br>

<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4049/4303926701_135fa35cfb_b.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="680" /><br>

<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4072/4304671596_6abd304586_b.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="680" /><br>

<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/4303926421_f7456cd5ee_b.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="680" /></p>

 

[shoppix]

<p>Pretty good captures. think maybe your panning skills are not fine tuned yet. Takes much practice.<br>

Keep shootin'</p>

 

[mike_stemberg]

<p>A touch of sharpening in post-process seems to make your shots a lot better...</p>

[fernando_scherer]

<p>thanks for your advice,<br>

i had a hard time following those bikers, i hope i can try that again.</p>

[raymond bradlau]

<p>Make sure you start following the bikes a pretty good distance before where you want to make the image, so make sure you set yourself up somewhere you can see them coming when possible</p>

<p>Twist/swing with your body not your arms, you want to be in a "normal" shooting position when you take the shot not "twisited"... point your toes and body to the spot you plan on releasing</p>

<p>for a perfect pan you need to limit the movement to just side to side, many of your shots look like the bike is moving away from you vs. across your field of view.</p>

<p>Be smooth and dont jab the shutter, gently squeeze to fire</p>

<p>I find shutter priority works best, and 1/60th is pretty slow 1/125 should be plenty slow for most shots and have a much higher keeper ratio<br>

Fast moving bikes are much easier to pan than slow, panning gets harder when you are closer and with shorter lens so back up and use a longer focal length when you can</p>

<p>I get better results with the "Lock-On" set to off</p>

<p>Oddly enough NOT using VR works best for me (it takes time to settle and at the speeds bikes are moving dont need it) </p>

<p>panning from the inside of a corner is good so you can see the rider</p>

 

[fernando_scherer]

<p>ok thanks for that. i first tried to do that on the straight but when they passed me they were pretty close, so i had to swing at lightspeed. no keepers there. so i found that slight corner when they came at a distance, so i could set myself for them. but on 300mm handheld were too hard to keep the af on them, for i was shaking, than i set the zoom backwards so i could have them on my fov before it. ill remember monopod next time.<br>

is it possible to do at 250/500ish? the sharpness would be greater.</p>

[richard_reeve3]

<p>Bikes on a track follow predictable lines. The bike is generally within a few inches of the same "line" at any point on the track.<br>

In the past with slow focussing lenses I have had success by pre focussing on the spot where I want the bike to be when I take the shot (watch for a couple of laps) then panning with the bike to that spot and shooting. If you want to use slow shutter speeds the vehicle has to be going exactly perpendicular to you, any movement towards or away from the camera will cause blur. If you get it right you can get keepers right down as low as 1/125sec.</p>

[fernando_scherer]

<p>thanks a lot, ill try it next time.i find the small visor bit hard to focus on manual to make a lock on, but ill remember next time to do it</p>

 

[Matthew Brennan]

<p>Fernando, your focus is good, what you require is faster shutter speeds and to turn VR off for these sorts of action stills. 1/640th is the slowest speed I'd bother with - 1/1000th is better.</p>

<p>I had a D300, crank it up to ISO 1600, 2000, 2500 and even 3200 and turn off the VR - that will get you some much sharper / hard edged images. VR is good for shooting stationary subjects at shutter speeds of below 1/100th - it's useless for fast paced action shots like this. Of course putting a tri-pod under your camera / lens will also yield an instant improvement.</p>

<p>I'm a motorcyclist / racer/ bike race fan myself - I think your frames here are good considering the light was dull. practice with the panning technique will provide improvement.</p>