Dirt track pictures

Aakajx · Feb 18, 2014

Here's the link to my Flickr .

any tips, advice would be great. That way I can grow from here. If you want to edit my pics it fine. What's your thoughts on these? I'm planning of sharing them for the riders.but I want to hear what yous think first.

Flickr: aakajx's Photostream

EIngerson · Feb 18, 2014

First off, the riders will love the photos. I'm a rider too, so believe me they'll like them. lol

I noticed you have your camera in "Shutter priority" for panning. Now try another way. The 6D and 70-200 F4L are a great combo for motocross.

Give this a shot. Set your camera to AV (Aperture priority) ISO 200, F4, Auto focus mode set to AI Servo, Auto white balance and Select the single point AF point. (use the center one) The camera will pick the shutter speed for you. You'll see shutter speeds anywhere from 1/800 to 1/8000. That's going to stop all motion. (that's a good thing) Some people will say that you need wheel blur to make the photo "interesting" well, that's a load of crap. If you capture the right action, the wheels will not matter.

Now, set your 6D to use back button focus (video link right below)

The whole time you track your subject hold the back button down and your camera will track the subject so all you have to do is press the shutter release. It will already be metered, and the focus will stay locked on the subject. (If you use only the shutter release your camera will lock on to the subject and by the time the shutter releases it will be out of focus again)

I know it seems like a lot, but it's not.

Lastly, if your shutter speeds are too slow (1/250 or below) increase your ISO until you're above 1/320-500 ish. (that should only apply on overcast days)

Seems like a lot to digest, if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Eric

Aakajx · Feb 18, 2014

Thanks Eric ill give that a shot this weekend

. I was trying to pan lol.. Yeah see that's what I thought from reading that most people like the motion blur, Wheels blurred. Thanks for that video to

EIngerson · Feb 18, 2014

No sweat. Here's a couple of mine without the blur. I tend to think they work fine.

MX 3 by Ingerson Photo, on Flickr

Joey Rossi by Ingerson Photo, on Flickr

Shane by Ingerson Photo, on Flickr

Aakajx · Feb 20, 2014

I thought I wrote back to this. I love the second picture

the pictures look awesome. I'm looking forward to photographing motox.

R3d · Feb 21, 2014

They're not bad. Technically sound, though some are a bit underexposed. There's just not much compositionally that's really grabbing me.

DBA · Mar 11, 2014

EIngerson said:
That's going to stop all motion. (that's a good thing) Some people will say that you need wheel blur to make the photo "interesting" well, that's a load of crap. If you capture the right action, the wheels will not matter.

Eric is right, unless it's a panning shot you need to stop the wheels enough to be able to count the individual knobs with ease. For me that's usually shutter speeds of 1/1250 and higher, just depends on the speed that they're going at that section of the track.

Only other advice I have is to work on your composition.

Aakajx said:
Thanks Eric ill give that a shot this weekend . I was trying to pan lol.. Yeah see that's what I thought from reading that most people like the motion blur, Wheels blurred. Thanks for that video to

Little to no wheel blur/motion just makes for a much better image. Here are a couple I got a week ago.