First panning attempt: Superbikes in the city

sean · 28 Jun 2007 at 00:17

Hi all. Took my camera into town today - there was a superbike event on to drum up interest in the next race over at Knockhill. Or something like that, it was an excuse for the riders to show off and some good practise photography for me!

I was shooting with a 350D and kit lens. My first ever attempt to capture subjects in motion.

From the three hundred or so shots I've got there's a dozen that aren't completely terrible so I'll post a few here. Criticism and advice is very welcome!

1. Low speed panning

2. Slightly faster panning.

3. I missed the mark slightly so it's quite blurry

4.

sean · 28 Jun 2007 at 00:18

5. This looked great in motion but the photo's a bit uninspiring.

6. The jetman! I was shooting Av and the camera's obviously exposed for the city chambers in the background. I'm not sure what can be done to properly expose the guy without ruining the rest of the image. Any suggestions?

Mint_Sauce · 28 Jun 2007 at 00:41

You can use the dodge tool to lighten him up sligtly. Also try using the shadow/highlight thing in photoshop. Here's one I did quickly...

Also, it would look better imo if the thing on the right was cropped out and possibly cropped tigher from the top so the rocket man sits more in the top right of the frame.

Mint_Sauce · 28 Jun 2007 at 00:50

I had a quick play with the motorbike too.

sean · 28 Jun 2007 at 01:09

Mint_Sauce said:
You can use the dodge tool to lighten him up sligtly. Also try using the shadow/highlight thing in photoshop. Here's one I did quickly...
(image removed)
Also, it would look better imo if the thing on the right was cropped out and possibly cropped tigher from the top so the rocket man sits more in the top right of the frame.

Thanks. I'll have to see about getting myself a decent photo editor, I'm still using my old copy of PaintShop Pro from the 90's.

I really dig the selective colouring though.

ScarySquirrel · 28 Jun 2007 at 08:17

Is that a proper jet pack? I didn't even know they existed :eek:

Hen_Dawg · 28 Jun 2007 at 12:12

Jet packs exist allright, been around a while but they've never been safe so genereally only go a few metres up before heading back to ground

Ry@n · 28 Jun 2007 at 17:10

Dont mean to be harsh but why are they blurred? What shutter speed did you use? Aperture etc

I know panning shots should be, but not the bike ?

I am asking because i want to do some motorbike photography but i would like to achieve sharp shots.

sean · 28 Jun 2007 at 17:45

Ry@n said:
Dont mean to be harsh but why are they blurred? What shutter speed did you use? Aperture etc

I know panning shots should be, but not the bike ?

Biggest reason being it was quite hard to keep the bikes perfectly framed for the entire duration the shutter was open. I was jostling with the crowd right at the front perched over the barrier most of the time.

Also I was standing right before the pit lane on a corner so the bikes weren't moving so fast. In order to get some good background blur I was shooting at 1/100 and sometimes 1/60 (auto aperture, ISO 400) and it was chilly out. I blame hand cramps / shivers