Karting shots C+C

[jfrabat]

Last sunday I was invited to a Karting race here in Costa Rica. While the location was not the most photogenic (the parking lot of a mall), I still think I managed to get a few good shots, especially considering I only had one vantage point. I slightly retouched all the pics here in PaintShop Pro (mostly color and cropping). Please, if you like a shot, tell me WHY you like the shot, and if you don't (don't worry, I have thick skin, you can say you don't like my shots!) please say WHY so that I can learn from my mistakes.



Personally, I REALLY like #3, but I want to hear (well, read) your comments....

 

[dxqcanada2]

I think your shutter speed should be lower to take advantage of blurring out the background with panning.
They look too static ... the feeling of going somewhere would enhance the images.

 

[jfrabat]

How slow (fast?) woult you recommend? One step lower speed, or more?

 

[fokker]

I can't see your exif data, but I'm guessing you were shooting somewhere around 1/125s, in which case it looks like you may have been able to get away with 1/60s with good technique, but you'd get a lot less keepers.

 

[jfrabat]

I can't see your exif data, but I'm guessing you were shooting somewhere around 1/125s, in which case it looks like you may have been able to get away with 1/60s with good technique, but you'd get a lot less keepers.

It was either 1/250 or 1/350... They were going pretty fast.

 

[bhop]

I agree about the shutter speed. How low you should go depends on how fast they're moving. The slower the better though, as long as you can get the subject sharp with panning. I shot a track day recently with cars averaging around 110-160 on the straights.

Just for an example, this pic is as the car is slowing, so it's probably going around 60-80mph, but you can see how it looks at 1/60s
Evolution | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[imagemaker46]

For what they are they look pretty good, a little more contrast would help. The other guys have added comments about panning. A tighter crop at the top would take out some of that background. Otherwise they look fine.

 

[AceCo55]

Whilst I can see the point about slower shutter speeds, I think one problem may be the small size of the images.
When I zoomed in, all had good motion blur in the wheels. The problem with karts is that it is harder to see because the wheels and tryes are so small ... and here the tyres are slicks. There is some motion blur in the background - I understand the others suggesting there isn't ENOUGH blur.
Even dropping down to a shutter speed around 1/160 to 1/125 would dramatically increase the background blur. These shutter speeds means you are more likely to get a pretty decent "keeper" count.
By all means experiment with 1/80 - 1/60. You will get really good blur but a fewer keepers.
You have also caught quite a few with wheels lifting.
I shoot dirt karts and it is much easier to get a sense of motion simply because there is more sliding of karts, wheel spin and dirt flying around. I would hate to shoot karts on bitumen. When a race is over 6 laps, this is my usual "shutter speed" strategy ....
First lap: 1/640 - I still get SOME wheel blur but these are my safe, "got some in the bag" shots.
Next lap: 1/500 or 1/400
Next lap: 1/320 to 1/250 or 1/200
Next lap: 1/200 or 1/160
next lap: 1/125 to 1/100 panning
last lap and wind down lap: 1/100 to 1/60
The sweet spot (nice motion effect with reasonable keeper rate) for me is:
* around 1/400 for karts coming towards me around a corner
* around 1/160 for high keeper count panning parallel to me
* around 1/00 for reasonable keeper count panning

 

[jfrabat]

Whilst I can see the point about slower shutter speeds, I think one problem may be the small size of the images.
When I zoomed in, all had good motion blur in the wheels. The problem with karts is that it is harder to see because the wheels and tryes are so small ... and here the tyres are slicks. There is some motion blur in the background - I understand the others suggesting there isn't ENOUGH blur.
Even dropping down to a shutter speed around 1/160 to 1/125 would dramatically increase the background blur. These shutter speeds means you are more likely to get a pretty decent "keeper" count.
By all means experiment with 1/80 - 1/60. You will get really good blur but a fewer keepers.
You have also caught quite a few with wheels lifting.
I shoot dirt karts and it is much easier to get a sense of motion simply because there is more sliding of karts, wheel spin and dirt flying around. I would hate to shoot karts on bitumen. When a race is over 6 laps, this is my usual "shutter speed" strategy ....
First lap: 1/640 - I still get SOME wheel blur but these are my safe, "got some in the bag" shots.
Next lap: 1/500 or 1/400
Next lap: 1/320 to 1/250 or 1/200
Next lap: 1/200 or 1/160
next lap: 1/125 to 1/100 panning
last lap and wind down lap: 1/100 to 1/60
The sweet spot (nice motion effect with reasonable keeper rate) for me is:
* around 1/400 for karts coming towards me around a corner
* around 1/160 for high keeper count panning parallel to me
* around 1/00 for reasonable keeper count panning

Ace, thats the kind of advice I was looking for, thanks!