gokarts/motorsports...new one on me!

morgan · 8 Feb 2006 at 08:32

Saturday i've been asked to take some shots of an indoor karting race. completely new to me as I am normally just weddings/portraiture.

I've never done any kind of motorspots, but I'm really looking forward to it.

I really need some tips on panning? shooting styles and technical tips if possible.

One of the main questions I have is regarding focussing techniques. Is the rule of thumb to prefocus on a point, switch to manual focus, then when the subject is on the point take the shot? or do pople now use AI servo?

I'm also a little concearned about lighting. As I say it is an indoor event. I am condidering something like ISO1600, 1/125 for panning shots and keeping around the F2.8-4 range.

I was also thinking about setting up my 420EX as a slave on a tripod away from me to get some decent lighting.

I have the folowing tools at my disposal:

20D, 70-200L F2.8 IS, 24-70 F2.8, 10-22 F3.5/4.5, 85 F1.8, 580EX, 420EX.

I'm thinking that about having the 70-200 on most of the time, 580 on the camera with a lightsphere II diffuser and the 420 with a stofen and tripod mounted.

does this sound wise or am I well off the mark? As I say this is new territory to me so any input would be really appreciated

thanks

rpstewart · 8 Feb 2006 at 09:18

Hmmm, that could be a tricky one being indoors.

Depending on the size of the place the 24-70 might be a better bet but you'll be able to judge that easily once you get there. With the 70-200 go for IS mode 2 to let you pan while the lens deals with up and down stabilisation only.

If you can get away with ambient lighting and still get 1/100s or so then I'd go for that, you might get hassle off some folk for using flash while they're driving. If you do use flash then have a go at using second curtain sync with a really slow shutter speed, that way you'll hopefully get a motion blur trail leading up to a sharp subject as you pan with the subject.

morgan · 8 Feb 2006 at 10:13

ahh ok cool. good thinking on the flash.

didnt think about the IS mode - I just keep it on mode 1 all of the time.

what would happen if i used mode 1 for panning?

AdWright · 8 Feb 2006 at 12:29

Mode 1 tries to stabilise on both the vertical and horizontal axis. As you may want to pan horizontally, you would be best to use Mode 2 which turns off horizontal IS.

morgan · 8 Feb 2006 at 14:24

would it make the shot look different then if i didnt turn it off?

AdWright · 8 Feb 2006 at 14:28

Well, if you are panning horizontally to track a car/kart, and the IS is trying to couteract that movement, you could end up with results which are not as sharp as they could be

Joe T · 8 Feb 2006 at 17:47

70-200 sounds great. Ive never used flash when panning, so I cant comment on that.

A tripod may well not be much use tbh. You will need to move the camera around quite a lot, so being fixed to a tripod may be a problem A monopod may be better if you are worried about weight.

For panning, use shutter speeds of around 1/320 and 1/250th (if the light allows) to get a blurry background. You may be able to decrease these depending on the situation, speed of cars/karts and the distance you are from them.

divine` · 8 Feb 2006 at 19:07

Joe T said:
A tripod may well not be much use tbh. You will need to move the camera around quite a lot, so being fixed to a tripod may be a problem A monopod may be better if you are worried about weight.

I think the tripod was for putting the slave flash on

morgan · 8 Feb 2006 at 20:00

cheers for your input guys...yep tripod was for the 420

MrSix · 8 Feb 2006 at 21:09

To be fair I wouldn't bother with the wireless slave on the tripod.
I know i'd be pretty narked if I had a numpty flashing a blulb in my face every time I went past them (says he who shoots MTBers with one

)

Still, stick with ambient lighting if you can and I wouldn't worry too much about the real slow speed panning shots...you'll be better off going for a fast shutter speed to freeze the action, then slowly work your way down until you're comfortable...otherwise you'll miss a load of shots and just get annoyed.

Check out SDK^'s gallery from his karting shots...they're superb - http://www.ph-digitalphotography-motorsports.com/gallery_pages/karting-rye-house.htm

SDK^ · 8 Feb 2006 at 21:31

Thanks Mr Six

I was shooting outdoors so it was easier to use a faster shutter. If you're indoors then panning will be better with the low light.

Here's a photo 1/125

morgan · 9 Feb 2006 at 09:18

sweet

iso1600 it is then!

I may try some flash stuff in the 2nd race...bit of 2nd curtain sync. I'll also try to post some pics (as crap as they may be) after the weekend.

great shot sdk btw.

morgan · 12 Feb 2006 at 18:57

well.....

all went good i think. had a great time shooting. light wasnt too hot, although it was indoors there was more light than i thought there would be but i was still set to iso1600 most of the time.

I didnt use the flash in the end - no need. used the 70-200 most, with ai servo focus. had real fun practicing panning...harder than it looks. spectators areas was a bit limited..couldnt get down low due to a wall, but good view over a few corners

overall had a ball shooting something new

anyway, shots here:

http://www.michaelelder.f2s.com/temp/karen/

thanks again for everyones advice. really helped me out.

MrSix · 12 Feb 2006 at 21:09

Great job!

These photos have a really nice feel to them, did you do any post processing work on them, or are they straight from the camera?

What camera was it too, a 20D? The noise levels are barely noticable.

Zheka · 12 Feb 2006 at 21:50

Great photos, looks like a lot of fun

I also like how you show them in your gallery.

rG-tom · 12 Feb 2006 at 21:55

depending on how steady a hand you have you can get cracking shots at seriously low shutter speeds

here's one i did earlier, manual focus @ 1/6th of a second, 135mm, no IS (30 year old lens

)

Tom.

SDK^ · 12 Feb 2006 at 22:25

rG-tom said:
here's one i did earlier

Earlier ????.... Last April

rG-tom · 13 Feb 2006 at 08:42

SDK^ said:
Earlier ????.... Last April

pfft it was may

Tom.

morgan · 13 Feb 2006 at 09:26

MrSix said:
Great job!

These photos have a really nice feel to them, did you do any post processing work on them, or are they straight from the camera?

What camera was it too, a 20D? The noise levels are barely noticable.

cheers for the comments guys.

I made a standard action which was noiseware (no shapening). then duplicate layer (softlight 10% opacity) to pop out the definition a little, followed by a 20% smartsharpen. then the image processor did the resize.

Zheka said:
Great photos, looks like a lot of fun
I also like how you show them in your gallery.

the gallery is a bog standard one from bridge > tools> photoshop> web gallery. makes it all for you automatically.

sisnt really have much time to work on the images sepeately so i just did a batch on the actions and resize and then used the gallery. bit lazy really i guess....

overall really enjoyed it - eve thouh my good to bad shot ratio was terrible it really made me want to shoot some more motorsports stuff.....

morgan · 13 Feb 2006 at 09:29

rG-tom said:
depending on how steady a hand you have you can get cracking shots at seriously low shutter speeds here's one i did earlier, manual focus @ 1/6th of a second, 135mm, no IS (30 year old lens )

Tom.

awesome shot.....have to practice my panning a little more to get down to 1/6 though I think!