moving objects

[ketan]

Hi,
I see sometimes pictures of a racing car in perfact focus and blurred background. How do you do that ? what are the settings?
Thanks.:blushing:
Ketan

 

[hockeybear]

Hi,
the technique is called panning, focus on the car as soon as it appears in your vision and keep it in your view finder as it gets closer. As it passes in front of you, press the shutter button while still following it in the view finder. The moving of the camera will blur the background, but the car will be sharp. You don't need a fast shutter speed because the car was static in the view finder. Experiment with slow speeds and you can get the car sharp and blur the wheels to give the impression of movement
I hope I explained that well enough

Dave..

 

[daybreak]

Fast shutter speed. As fast as you can go.

 

[Steph]

Fast shutter speed. As fast as you can go.

If you use too fast a shutter speed, both the car and the background will be sharp, thus loosing the feeling of speed. Hockeybar described the technique perfectly. You need a fairly slow shutter speed, that will depend of the speed of the moving subject. Panning is not easy to master and requires to experiment a bit with different shutter speed.

 

[daybreak]

aha thanks guys.

I have always thought that while panning you should use as fast a shutter speed as you can go. I should have read the post above me haha.

 

[Dm3k1]

I am by no means an expert, but i agree with the first post as far as technique. If you are not in a position to do so is it POSSIBLE (I am a nooby when it comes to photography) to drop your f-stop so that you can boost the shutter speed thus capturing the motion and limited DOF (get the car and blur the background? Just a thought- please let me know if I am wrong

 

[Steph]

I am by no means an expert, but i agree with the first post as far as technique. If you are not in a position to do so is it POSSIBLE (I am a nooby when it comes to photography) to drop your f-stop so that you can boost the shutter speed thus capturing the motion and limited DOF (get the car and blur the background? Just a thought- please let me know if I am wrong

It is not really possible to do it that way. The feeling of speed is given by the fact that the background is blurred due to the movement of the camera. The out-of focus background caused by a shallow depth of field looks completely different. Panning is really the technique to use to achieve this result.

 

[Dm3k1]

^ I see what you mean. Thank You

 

[LokiZ]

Like Steph said as well as others, the way we blur backgrounds for portraits with shallow DOF doesn't really pass on the feeling of speed or motion....

The effect of panning would be called a motion blur (meaning a blur that has direction) Where as the blur you get from a zoom lens set to a small number aperture is...well...just a blur.

motion blurs can be added during PP but it kind defeats the purpose as well as nothing quite beats a well done panning shot. Not to mention how good it makes you feel when you nail it.

 

[keith204]

I won't completely post twice, but here is something I posted on another topic, and the link is http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90920 look for the keith204 post.

But here is what I wrote in one of them... These are an answer to somebody asking what techniques and settings I use.

Lens:
My 70-200 is my lens of choice at the tracks.

Pod:
The cars are going in circles where I photograph, and believe it or not, a monopod gets in the way when touching the ground. When you're spinning in circles, you trip over the monopod unless you actually walk around it. Anyway, I find it more effective to use the monopod hanging about 1 foot from the ground to simply add some weight balance to the camera. Then I handhold the camera.

Mode: Shutter Priority; 1/60th second
This will vary depending on how fast the cars go, and how close you are to them. 1/60th is my sweet spot, where I can get about 80% good results with sharp cars and that coveted blurry background.

Focus:
Auto, AI-SERVO, Center-Point
The 70-200 2.8 Sigma has a HyperSonic Motor which does super well at keeping the subject in focus. Before I knew about this, I didn't have AI Servo on. By the time I would focus, and then I would click the shutter, the car was already out of the depth of field, and a lot of the cars ended up blurry. AI Servo and a fast-focusing lens will save you here.

Tips:
Follow the car for awhile, before clicking. You'll get more reliable results that way, because you will get a much better feel for the speed. In this bicycle picture, it would be tough to do this because there's simply not time to 'follow' the bike... once you follow it, she'll have both wheels on the ground again. With race cars, you have more time.

Look at your lighting. At night, in order to shoot at 1/60 and an aperture of 2.8 without the picture coming out too dark, I have to up the ISO to 1600. I have no choice. Remember, a grainy picture is better than a picture that's too blurry to use.

All in all, I'd say these were the things that helped the most:
AI Servo, learning shutter priority, and 'hanging' the monopod for centerweight. Oh, and practicing a steady hand.

Also, as I mentioned it took me FOREVER to get this down. Cars going 100+ miles an hour can be a pain in the butt sometimes and racing photography isn't about capturing the car, it's about capturing the ACTION. Blurry backgrounds rock when it comes to this.

You can see my progress (pitiful shots at first, and the last couple weeks getting better) at www.w3Bolivar.com/cpg.