witolda_maruszewska

The Albert Memorial is a typical touristy-type photo opportunity in

this part of London - I see it every day however and thought I'd have

a go in trying to get a different viewpoint from the typical postcard

shots. Would love to know whether this works as a photo, so opinions

and critique gratefully recieved.

Spotted these three on a sunny evening in Hyde Park, totally absorbed

in their chess match. Couldn't resist grabbing this shot but thought

it looked better in B&W than colour - thoughts, opinions and critique

welcome as always.

Not a bad effort for a first try - we all have to start somewhere... :)

 

I think the main problem here is unsteady panning - there is evidence of camera shake on the wheels and sponsors logos. That's just down to technique really; you need to pick up the car early and follow it right through with the camera after you've activated the shutter and make sure your movement is smooth as you rotate your body.

 

If you can manual focus with your camera, pre-focus on the racing line and leave the setting there, then you don't have to worry about the autofocus delay at all. Also, with an integrated digicam you do get shutter lad, so activate the shutter a fraction before the car is square on.

 

You might find that switching to maual exposure also helps some; for single-seaters, 1/320s & f10 at 100 ISO is a good start, and just work from there.

 

Hope this helps and remember, practice makes perfect :)

I dunno, I'm trying to figure out why this photo doesn't do anything for me...

 

On the face of it (if you pardon the pun) it seems like a technically well executed image, though as a photojournalist, studio work is somewhat alien to me and therefore I'm not going to criticise the methods or equipment used to obtain the end result.

 

Regarding the photo itself; there's no *POP* to it, no "capturing of the moment". It feels too set-up with no spontaneity at all and very little apparent chemistry between the photographer and the subject. Overall, I find it rather wooden.

 

The subject seems all too aware of the camera and very self-conscious about the whole situation - IMHO a portrait should be as natural as possible, whether a set-up studio shot, an environmental portrait or a candid - and it should be the photographer's objective to make the subject essentially forget that the camera is there.

 

My experience is that people ARE nervous about being photographed, and putting the subject at ease (humour is a very useful tool here) will create a much more natural look that is more representative of the person being photographed.

I like this - in the main for the atmosphere that the shot conveys. It looks very much like photos in some pre-1965 motor racing books that I have on my shelf, and certainly wouldn't look out of place in any of them.

 

On a technical side, I'd prefer to lose some of the empty grass in the foreground as it is wasted space (tighter crop or better framing), but otherwise everything else works well.

I think the early morning start was worth it to get this one; I love

the quality of the light and the tranquility. Went back the next day

and the feel was totally different... I'd be welcome to know what you

think about the shot - comments and critique are welcome as always.

This portrait of a racing driver friend of mine is a candid i.e. it

was not planned in any way - it was taken during a question and

answer session at a fan get-together. The shot was taken in a room

with a large north-facing window and off-white walls and ceiling,

with a touch of fill flash bounced off the ceiling just to lift the

hilights. The only editing was a slight crop and conversion to B&W.

Critique and comments welcome as usual.

A 13th century mill house, river, snow and dappled shade, all backed

by a bright blue sky - I just couldn't resist. Only had a 50mm lens

with me on this walk so couldn't get the whole building in. I think

this photograph works, but I wouldn't mind some opinions on this.

An opportunistic photo that I took on the podium at Rockingham; I'm

not entirely sure that Colin White realised what he was doing here

with his bottle of champagne, but the slow shutter speed is kind of

deliberate... I got a few good laughs out of this one in the pit

lane - just curious to know what you think about this, as it (with a

little imagination) appears to have a double meaning! :)

Too blurry (camera shake, too slow a shutter speed) and not in focus, I'm afraid.

 

The best way to tackle this sort of shot is to watch the cars go through, see what line they take. Then manually prefocus on that line, using a spot on the track as a marker so you know when to press the shutter. Pick the car up well before that point and follow it through smoothly till after you've taken the photo; rotate your body from the waist and squeeze the shutter as the car passes the marker.

 

Ideally you want to be using a shutter speed in the range of 1/125 to 1/180 so that you'll get the car sharp, but blur the wheels and the background in a pleasing manner.

 

Hope this helps :)

This would have been an excellently executed pan shot but for a few details. First of all, the blurred figure in the foreground is distracting, and secondly, the framing could have been a bit better - if you moved it up, you could have possibly got rid of the figure altogether, and I do like to see space for the car to move in to.

 

As a suggestion, what you could have done in this particular sitiuation is to move your viewpoint down, get the whole of the person in the frame, focus on him and blur the car out! :)

Not a bad effort. Ideally you need to focus on the driver's head though, rather than on the car. The blur on the back is fine, but this exposure makes the car look a little washed out, particularly since the tones of the car and track are very similar. As a result, the photo doesn't stand out as much as it could.

This was a chance shot I bagged while the train I was on stopped at a

small rural station. The quality of the light just begged for a photo

to be taken; considering I couldn't do much in terms of composition

and there wasn't a great deal of time in which to shoot, I think I've

done quite well with this, though I did get quite a few funny looks

running down the carriage, camera in hand! :) Comments and critique

welcome as always.

Here's my other boy (a rescue cat) - not the easiest fella to

photograph being black, but I think I've managed it here while he was

out eyeing up some interesting insect life. I'd like to know what you

all think of this shot, particularly regarding the framing and the

exposure. As ever critique and comments welcome.

Nice cat, great lighting and composition, but this photo is unfortunately let down by the lack of sharpness and the poor focusing. It lacks the "snap" that would otherwise have made this in to a real top quality shot.

This shot took a lot of patience as Mr Thomas is a very timid and

nervous cat. A former stray who has made his home in my garden &

garage, he is very wary of strange goings on (including cameras) so I

had to wait until he was asleep to capture this portrait.

 

Not my usual type of work (I normally shoot motorsports) so I'm

curious to find out what you all think and what I could do to improve

on this any further.

This is one from this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed, taken at the

very top of the hillclimb as the cars approach the Top Paddock.

Critique and comments welcome as always; I like this shot but I'd

like to know what you all think.

This isn't a particularly good photograph unfortunately - there are a lot of things that can be improved, small things, but they will make a big difference when you try this again.

 

The shutter speed is far too slow - you should be aiming to pan at around 1/160 on a straight where cars are going flat out or 1/125 if they are not going quite so fast. The aim is to get the car sharp (which this isn't) with a blurred background. In order to maintain a good shutter speed, use a higher ISO film. (Fuji Superia 400 is a good start)

 

As a result of the too-slow shutter speed, you have introduced quite a bit of camera shake into the picture wich is extremely distracting and as a result, the car is blurry instead of sharp.

 

Also, the car isn't quite in focus. If your camera doesn't have AI servo, manually pre-focus on the line the drivers use. In both instances, pick up the car in the viewfinder on the approach and follow it through smoothly as you pan.

 

The problem with rally photography is that for each car, you only get one chance to get the shot right.

 

 

I like this - you've caught the car really well, even down to the left rear tyre biting into the surface.

 

However, with pan shots, you really need to think about your framing i.e. you need to give the car space to either move into or move out of the frame. That way you can see that it is going somewhere or coming from somewhere.

 

Other than that, everything else is spot on - well done!

Not bad at all for a first attempt!

 

I do like the bright car against a dark background approach, but however, one tip for the future - watch out for your backgrounds. I find the two people and their deckchair (?) quite distracting. The shot would look better if there was either more people at the vantage point (puts the shot into context) or none at all (a study of the car).

Not bad. I actually quite like this as it is a little bit different and quirky.

 

HOWEVER, the shutter speed you've used (1/60) is way too slow if you want to be shooting this sort of action to any reasonable sort of standard and consistency. With slow shutter speeds, any lateral or vertical movement of the subject(s) will be accentuated, and that is why the following car is blurry.

 

For head on action, you need to be using at least 1/400 and in most instances faster than that depending on the light conditions and the ISO rating of your sensor.

I love the paint job on the car! Works really well as a photo, plus the car is lovely and sharp. Just a couple of things to pick up on though:

 

1) Shutter speed is too high (as mentioned by Tim and Fred) for this sort of shot - it has a static feel to it. Rule of thumb for a Canon DSLR when panning is 1/200 or slower; 1/125 and 1/180 are nice. Slowing the shutter speed will give you a nice blurred background and a real feeling of speed.

 

2) Framing - this shot would work better if there is more room for the car to move in to i.e. more space on the right of the frame. More trees above the car would be nice too. Framing that isn't so "tight" adds more dynamism to this sort of image.

Not a bad try when taking the fence into account. One of the necessary evils of taking photos from the public areas unfortunately, as is the spectator's head that's in the way.

 

I would have preferred seeing the whole car in shot rather than having the rear wing cropped.

 

Oh, and it *IS* Heidfeld, btw...

I also forgot to mention, this shot made it into Motorsport News, one of the UK's motor racing weekly publications.

One of those "right place, right time shots", John got a bit of a

wobble on in Turn 4 and obligingly wobbled it straight into the wall.

Impact was back then front - this shot caught the moment the back of

the car hit. I was set up for pan shots, hence the motion blur at the

back of the car, with the front being sharp. Opinions welcome as

always.