I recently took some pictures at a friend's autocross event. Curious if any of these are good shots, or helpful shots that I should do the same next time. Not quite sure what to look for.
http://beccathebuilder.smugmug.com/A...620533_fkmNJKj

 

i loled at the miata with the teeth if that helps

 

You asked for critiques of your photos. I like your shots but if you want to take your photo's to the next level, consider these suggestions.

DSC_6251 Here it is as you posted it.



This shot has some good things to it. The background doesn't distract from the car and course (unlike the shots with the buildings in the background. It is shot from a low angle which is always good for cars on course. There are cones in the foreground which at interest.

Here it is after I made some very simple changes.


First I leveled the picture. Rookie mistake to leave photo tilted (unless you are going for a particular affect). After leveling, then create your crop. Rather than have the car sitting in the middle of the frame, where is isn't dynamic at all, place the car in such a way as you show to some degree where it is going or where it has been. This helps the photo be less static. Crops are always subjective and there are a number of ways this photo could be cropped, this is just one suggestion. Next, adjust the contrast and levels a bit. It was a flat day, and the Evo is silver, but a bit more contrast adds a bit more pop. Finally, a bit of sharpening.

This is one of your best shots of the day I think.


I think it would have been better if the Miata was in the top left 1/3 of the frame so we could see more of the course off to the right. It is almost level (that still should be fixed) and you have some nice contrast as well as the cones in the foreground which give great perspective. The shot is also pretty sharp.

Another shot that is great to get, although a bit tricky, is a passing shot with a slower shutter speed where you pan the shot following the car. When done well this gives a very sharp image of the car, with the wheels and background showing motion blur. Fun to try, but it takes lots of shots before you get one that works.

 

Not too bad, but there were a few compositional and subject errors made through the set.

First rule of composition - Don't center the subject in the frame. There are a few situations where you can break this rule, such as a closeup where the subject takes up the most of the frame, if not all. In automotive action photography you want to give the sense of motion and direction which is tough to do in a still photo. By offsetting the subject you can impart a implied direction and add a little to an image.



Not to say this example was completed done correctly, but I think it gets the point across about composition.

The other thing I noticed was the use of too high a shutter speed. Once again the object in action photography is to show movement. By using too high a speed you end up stopping everything.




This shot was done at 1/60, which is a little overkill, but anything 1/500 and lower should yield good results. I notice most of yours were shot at 1/800.

One last thing I noticed, you shot a lot in manual mode (which is great). However, I have always been an advocate of shooting in AV (Aperture mode). Give it a try and see if you like the results.

 

[QUOTE=Zazz93;9264120]


Not to say this example was completed done correctly, but I think it gets the point across about composition.

Great example of using an tilted photo for the effect. No one is going to consider this simply careless work. Also, the other example posted is a great example of a panned shot.

Two very nice shots.

 

lower your shutter speed to blur the wheels and learn to pan. cars look like their parked.

 

I agree with Zazz about the centering of the photos... Rule Of Thirds. I am assuming you just used auto focus and let the camera choose the best AF point rather than selecting which AF point you wanted to use. This is fine, and you can crop the photo later in post processing, but you may also want to try selecting a specific AF point and shooting so your subject is composed properly.

Touching on the shutter speed, and capturing the motion... to start with, just simply set your camera on Shutter Priority, and then set your shutter speed to 250 to start (may need to drop more if the cars aren't going too fast), then work your way down as you get better at panning.

I think you have a couple good pictures in your set, and a few of them capture the car cornering hard. Go crop them using the Rule Of Thirds and see how they come out. Here is an example of one... cropped and tweaked the contrast and saturated a few colors (blue and yellow), nothing fancy...

Original


Processed

 

Wow. This is fantastic advice. Thank you so much for the time you took. This is great! Next event is next weekend, so I'll bring my cheat sheet! Much thanks!!

 

I just read through all of your comments. Much thanks. Lots for me to think about next weekend!

I do shoot in manual and actually have done a bit of panning. I wasn't sure what was preferred since I can only take so many shots in a day- and you're right, it will take a bit of practice with the cars (I have always shot horses, which are slower). From the comments, sounds like it's more worthwhile for me to get some panned shots and less of the others.

I also do use AF, but I select the point, not auto. I find with auto, it constantly chooses the field or a cone in the forefront and misses the car.

I use the Rule of Thirds when I shoot other times, but I was having a heck of a time keeping up with the cars!! This next set I do, I'll take the time to process them and put this to work!

Thanks again! More to come!

 

dhays- what changes did you make to the lighting? I like the pop your picture created.

 

Try to have the sun at your back so light strikes the side of the car facing you instead of shooting "into the sun" which causes shadowing of side you are photographing. This will show off wheels & grills better too.

 

Well, I shot again yesterday. Couldn't get an angle without the building yesterday, so I know I am handicapped out of the gate. I was able to take some panning and some into the turn at a much lower shutter speed to get the tire spin.
These are all original- not processed.
http://beccathebuilder.smugmug.com/AutoCross/7-31-2011/

 

It doesn't look like you have a polarizer on, I'd snag one of those pronto and I usually polarize out the windshield. Looks like you got better with the lower shutter speed but I'd take it down even more and keep practicing. I try to shoot slow enough so that you can't see any spokes, just the rotor and calipers through the ghost of the spinning rim

 

Not bad, but I'm guessing you went a little too far with the low shutter speeds. What this set is lacking is sharpness. I think 1/250th is plenty slow to get the look you want and still maintain decent sharpness. Sharpness is a key factor in what is considered a good shot. It's also important to note that whenever your focal length goes up so should your speeds. So longer lenses need faster shutter speeds and shorter lenses can generally get away with slower speeds. On occasion you can get a magic shot or two down around 1/60 - 1/125th but those are generally 1 in 10 or 20 for an average shooter.

Also, with today cameras there is plenty of resolution to where you can cheat and crop your desired composition so don't think too much about the comp while you're trying to catch the action. Just make sure to get the entire car and the elements you choose to include and crop to your desired composition.

 

I was actually shooting with a polarizer filter.

 

my apologies, it looked like the windshield was glared out in a lot of the pictures I looked at. In that case, I would say rotate it around so the windshield polarizes out, that will also help with some glare and over exposure on the hood of the more saturated color cars, on white and silver cars it doesnt really matter.

And I have to respectfully disagree with Zazz's suggestion to stay around 250th of a second, or raising the shutter speed with a longer lens. I say keep practicing until you get more consistently sharp pictures with a lower shutter speed. It's hard and you will of course always come across fewer sharp pictures, but it's better to have a few really great shots than a bunch of pretty okay ones.

I personally never really shoot action above a 60th unless the car is around triple digit speeds. I still get a lot of crap shots, but I'm getting better and better. You will too, practice makes perfect

 

Some of the basic things to look out for...

- There are a lot of underexposed pictures (watch your exposure)
- Don't crop too close to the car (watch your composition)
- Never cut off portions of the car

And most importantly...
- Slow down your shutter speed, you want to get a sense of speed. No photoshop will save you in post processing from a mediocre picture. You want some excitement, some sense of movement.