Crash sequence - how to improve shots?

[steelerdirtfreak]

Sunday night I caught the below sequence of a crash. I'm just wondering what I can do or could have done to improve the quality of the shots; whether it is something I could have changed in the split second before clicking off the sequence, or something I can do with Photoshop Elements after the fact.

This happened a little after 7 pm, there was a very bright sun, low in the sky, to the right, so I had actually been shooting more to the left of this. I'd pick the cars up at around this spot and then pan with them until they'd hit a spot I could shoot.

[steelerdirtfreak]

Here are the last 2 shots I was going to include.

Sort of ironic who this guy's sponsor happens to be.

Oh, and the driver was ok, for the most part. He was dazed, and quite shaken, but nothing major.

[Old Timer]

Nothing like dirt for action. Hate that time of day, bright in one spot dark in another, not a lot you can do but shot as fast as the lens will allow.

[SmartWombat]

Not much you can do in the spilt second.
Perhaps shoot in Tv mode and set a high (ish) shuitter speed of 1/800 or 1/1000 to stop the motion. That's what I was doing for my "busy weekend" crash shots.
Definitely use Servo AI AF, have it available anyhow.
On Canon, you can set the AF on the * button, and so you can pre-focus and shoot without the shutter release triggering the AF. Then when the action happens you hit the * with your thumb and hold down the shutter button.

[Tom_Proctor]

Hey I love your pictures. I love dirt racing, especially modifieds and sportsman cars. Brett Hearn & such. I'll be going up to the local speedway here (Albany Saratoga Speedway) and get some shots.

For that picture up there It looks like your shutter was a hair too slow. Or when there's smoke, auto focus doesn't do a good job. I was taking a picture of a drag car burning out and after a bit of smoke the focus gave up on me

[SmartWombat]

Or when there's smoke, auto focus doesn't do a good job. I was taking a picture of a drag car burning out and after a bit of smoke the focus gave up on me

If you have the custom function on a Canon set to take AF from OFF the shutter button and transfer it to the * button on the back of the camera ... then you just take your finger off the button and leave the focus locked at the last good setting.
Of course you have to do that just before the smoke/dust gets too dense, which is a little hard to judge :mad2:

[Sebastian]

Faster shutter speeds.

[SmartWombat]

Also consider this technique:
http://luminous-landscape.com/tutori...ancement.shtml

[steelerdirtfreak]

Thanks for all the feedback, I appreciate it.

Not much you can do in the spilt second.
Perhaps shoot in Tv mode and set a high (ish) shuitter speed of 1/800 or 1/1000 to stop the motion. That's what I was doing for my "busy weekend" crash shots.
Definitely use Servo AI AF, have it available anyhow.

I usually always shoot in Tv mode, I think that one of my problems here was that I had just taken a shot where the sun was directly behind me and I caught this starting out of the corner of my eye so I just snapped around and started shooting, but now the sun was off to about one o'clock from me. That, plus he was flipping/barrel-rolling from right to left while I was turning back from left to right.

Hey I love your pictures. I love dirt racing, especially modifieds and sportsman cars. Brett Hearn & such. I'll be going up to the local speedway here (Albany Saratoga Speedway) and get some shots.

I love the modifeds. I'm going down to Lernerville tomorrow night to cover the DIRT SDS series show there, so I expect I'll have quite a few shots of Hearn, Fuller, Decker and company.

Faster shutter speeds.

You know, my luck at shooting these wrecks.....either they happen at a spot I just left, or, in this case, less than a minute after I had changed from shooting at 1/500 to 1/200. With the sun getting lower and directly behind me, I wanted a little less shutter speed for where I has actually shooting, and I'm also trying to work on some of my panning shots (with the panned, blurry background)

Nothing like dirt for action. Hate that time of day, bright in one spot dark in another, not a lot you can do but shot as fast as the lens will allow.

This track is one of the worst, for sun, that I have ever shot. And because it is a Sunday night track, they start with hot laps at 5:00, meaning I've got an extra 2 hours to deal with the sun compared to the other tracks I cover. And at this track, the sun is behind the front stretch, slightly to the turn one side, which kills most of that front chute, all of turn one, and part of turn four. And on the back stretch, the entire length, a 15 foot solid white fence, which just does wonders when that sun is hitting it directly. That fence starts in the middle of turn two and runs all the way thru turn three and on into the pit entrance.

This is my first year of working at this track, and I'm finding it to be quite a challenge...

[Tom_Proctor]

Thanks for all the feedback, I appreciate it.


I usually always shoot in Tv mode, I think that one of my problems here was that I had just taken a shot where the sun was directly behind me and I caught this starting out of the corner of my eye so I just snapped around and started shooting, but now the sun was off to about one o'clock from me. That, plus he was flipping/barrel-rolling from right to left while I was turning back from left to right.



I love the modifeds. I'm going down to Lernerville tomorrow night to cover the DIRT SDS series show there, so I expect I'll have quite a few shots of Hearn, Fuller, Decker and company.


You know, my luck at shooting these wrecks.....either they happen at a spot I just left, or, in this case, less than a minute after I had changed from shooting at 1/500 to 1/200. With the sun getting lower and directly behind me, I wanted a little less shutter speed for where I has actually shooting, and I'm also trying to work on some of my panning shots (with the panned, blurry background)



This track is one of the worst, for sun, that I have ever shot. And because it is a Sunday night track, they start with hot laps at 5:00, meaning I've got an extra 2 hours to deal with the sun compared to the other tracks I cover. And at this track, the sun is behind the front stretch, slightly to the turn one side, which kills most of that front chute, all of turn one, and part of turn four. And on the back stretch, the entire length, a 15 foot solid white fence, which just does wonders when that sun is hitting it directly. That fence starts in the middle of turn two and runs all the way thru turn three and on into the pit entrance.

This is my first year of working at this track, and I'm finding it to be quite a challenge...

I can't get in to take photos. I'd have to take them from the stands. I'm still 16 and I can't go in the pits yet.

[SmartWombat]

Thanks for all the feedback, I appreciate it.
This is my first year of working at this track, and I'm finding it to be quite a challenge...

A challenge I'd like to have !
You may need to up the ISO, shoot a higher shutter speed, and then remove the noise.
I had amaxing results at ISO 3200 turining off noise reduction in the camera and post-processing with NoiseNinja instead.