"M Power"

Shot with a slow shutter speed and aid of a monopod, this BMW was a

lot of fun to see, hear, smell, and photograph. Now all I need to do

is drive it! ;)

 

Any thoughts, comments, or constructive criticism is greatly

appreciated.

I am curious - could you tell whether this is a real pan or PS motion blur enhanced pan. It is almost unbelieveble for a real pan with obviously quite a lot of speed along the optical axis. Ok, the aperture is f/22, but still, say the sped is 30 m/s and you shoot at an 45 deg angle you'd have speed along the optical axis some cos(45) * 30 m/s = 21 m/s and that with 1/30 exp.time means 0.7 meters approach during the exposure - and yet the car is remarkably sharp.

Don't get me wrong. I am not a puritan, just curious. In any case, the shot is marvellous. I am envious. This is a truly fantastic motorsport shot - regardless.

Thanks for the comment and interest in this shot. The shot was taken with a 300mm f/2.8 lens on my monopod and all done in camera. I did tilt the camera to give the illusion of the car coming down the hill and experimented with all sorts of shutter speeds as he made his laps. Almost all of them were failures. This one however was sort of sharp when I looked at the screen so I kept it and I am glad I did. If you really want to see a crazy shot I will Email you the Mini photo I took in the same corner at 1/20 sec! THAT one was unbelieveable but the car was also closer to 90 degress to my lens.

OK. All I can say it is amazing because of the approach angle (the tilt is trivial). I know how difficult it is to get dramatic pans. It seems so statistical. What ever I do I only manage to get one good per a certain amount of shots. And what makes the difference with that one good - I can't really tell - luck? The more ambitious I am (the longer the exp. time) the more I have to shoot to get one right. And if you shoot for money, you got to shoot the safe ones first and only then slow the exp.time.

I don't use monopod at the tracks these days. I guess I have to blow the dust out of my monopod and learn to use it again - because of this shot.

Okay, here is the Mini shot at 1/20th of a sec. When I pan, especially when it is this slow, I nake very, very small movements. Think about how long the shutter is really going to be open and that dictates how much movement you need. So I put my right hand into the grip and strap and my left hand over the lens applying a fairly heavy amount of force downward onto the tripod mount so the camera, lens, and monopod act as one when I move and there are no unwanted hangups.

 

As far as luck being involved.. I would say definitely. There is no way around it. But by shooting a number of shots like this and getting used to the different cadence of the different cars, it helps to eliminate the amount of luck needed. Like anything else, it's all about practicing and learning what works best. And I still learn something new every time I pick the camera up. ;)

It's kind of sad - looking the rating of the Beamer shot, that photogs who do not shoot motorsport regularly or for living do not understand how difficult it is to get one good pan.

Yep, the Mini is a good example of an excellent perpendicular pan. It reminds me of my "Dallara" shot which I took with 1/30 and consider a pure fluke. It's fairly easy to succeed with 1/90 in perpendicular pan, but going slower from there every step is pain. When I tried the monopod I was very unconfortable with it. The camera never seemed to rotate the right way (I'm almost 2 m tall so the monopod was too short)so subsequently I left the monopod home. I guess it's down to the motorway with it tomorrow.

There is the famous quote: "The more I train the luckier I get."

Juha,

 

I had the same problems but stayed with it rotating the lens to the full extreme and then looking through the lens. If frame is not where I want it to be, I move either myself or the monopod until it's natural and then while looking through the viewfinder rotate through the racing line that the particular car I want to capture is driving and if ANYTHING is a strain or feels un-natural, I reposition again until everything is smooth and I can do it with my eyes closed if I have to. This is in my opinion the only way to free you up to concentrate on keeping your subject from moving within the framework of your composition and achieve a solid pan shot.

 

As far as the ratings, it's their opinion.. but I would bet that those who are rating the images that low have never tried to take such a shot and really don't know. If I ever need advice on how to take pictures of my friends kids or pets with a point and shoot I am sure we could ask them for help right? ;)

 

What are you shooting tomorrow?

The motorway was just a throw. I sometimes go to a nearby motorway to train panning - especially if I have new gear or it has been long time since the last race shooting. I've even trained panning with video gear in order to try to find differencies between different rotating techniques... and it still seems to be about luck. My next "project" will most likely be a mint condition Aston Vantage from 1984 in pictoresque environment.

Sounds awesome! Please post them when you can.

EXCELLENT Lighting! Motion is flawless

Jonathan, thank you very much for your kind words. I really appreciat eyou taking interest in my photo and taking the time to comment. There are so many people who trash my shots without even a hint of why.. It makes me question as to why I post them. Then people like both yourself and Juha take interest and leave some really nice comments.. That's why I keep coming back I guess.. for those who "get it".

6/6

Norman, thank for your comment on one of my first pan attempts... it's only when I look at your pan I realise how poor my own effort was!!

 

I fail to see how anyone can pick fault in this shot, it is brilliant. That's all I can think to say - just brilliant!