Sebring SCCA Event in Harsh Light

[Harold Davis]

these were taken last weekend at Sebring International Raceway. Mid to late morning. I tried to tame the light with a circular polarizar and just tried some different areas to see what i could come up with. There wasnt a cloud in the sky!!!!!!:rolleyes All were taken with a D300 and a 18-200 lens in manual mode.

thanks for looking. comments and critiques much appreciated!!

1 f/22, 1/125s, ISO 200, -0.7EV


2 f/9, 1/125s, ISO 200, -0.7EV


3 f/7.1, 1/125s, ISO 200, -0.7EV


4 f/11, 1/125s, ISO 200, -0.7EV


5 f/14, 1/160s, ISO 200, -0.7EV

[EKStarzinger]

That last one has a very nice, vintage feel.

I've had your same problem at every race day except one this year at Road Atlanta. I've had to go as high as +2.3EV to keep the aperture size out of diffraction territory when I've been doing panning shots.

EK

[Pete7D]

Are this what they call panning shots?

[Pete7D]

I would love to learn how to do this with my canon 7D

[Harold Davis]

pete, yes this is panning. i usually drop the ISO low in order to get down to 1/80s. go manual. you are exposing for the car and if your bg changes while panning and you are not in manual, your exposure will change. turn the VR/OS/IS off. it competes too much with the AF to make it worth it. find a composition with a nice background and start banging away as they come by.

it's challenging and does take a lot of practice. you will not have many keepers.

also, your shutter speed might vary according to the speed of the cars. ie, if you are shooting indy cars at 160+ mph, you can get away with a faster shutter speed. say 1/160s.

thanks, EK. seems that last one is pretty popular!!

[EKStarzinger]

Pete - +1 on the practice. It took me a lot of hours of experimentation at the track to start to figure it out. One interesting thing I've found is that a heavy lens lets me pan at slower speeds more reliably.

EK