some racing photo help

[Dirt_Warrior]

I bought a sony a100, and then i purchased a Sigma EF-500 DG Super ADI TTL Shoe Mount Flash, my first question is, Is this a descent combination? and secondly, what lens do i need to take pictures like in the links below, am I close or way off, and where can i find the lenses i need i'm ust about tapped out of $.
http://www.dt52photos.com/photo/show...cat=596&page=1
http://www.mrmracing.net/gallery/taz...807/combs72807

[tufcat]

Will you be shooting from the infield or the stands? If shooting from the infield, are you able to shoot from near the inside wall or just a centralized location in the middle of the infield?

[Dirt_Warrior]

most of the pictures i'll be taking will be in various locations around the in field walls, I can take em pretty much anywhere I want as long as can keep from getting hit.lol

[tufcat]

I am not familiar with your camera or flash. Based some quick online reviews though, I would think that you should be in pretty good shape, assuming the flash will work on the camera.

I'm not sure if the kit lens will be up to the job, especially depending on the actual focal length of your shots. With that being said, if you have the kit lens, I would try it before investing in another lens. If you have to buy another lens, an f/2.8 zoom lens would probably give you pretty good results and flexibility. You should also experiment with iso and exposure compensation settings until you get things dialed in the way you want them.

Take lots of pictures and post a few here for us race fans.

[Dirt_Warrior]

Here are a few I took at two different tracks with my Sony A100 w/ vivitar series 1 f2.8 28-105mm lense. I havent got to use my flash yet but hopefully sat. I'll get to. Any suggestions on the flash settings or on my camera settings in general so that my pics can be better would be appreciated.
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...or/lc9logo.jpg
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...r/lc10logo.jpg
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...or/lc6logo.jpg
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...or/prac009.jpg
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...or/003prac.jpg
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...or/prac008.jpg
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...or/lc4logo.jpg
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...or/lc5logo.jpg

[Ultra Magnus]

Are these small crops of much larger images? I ask because the image quality seems pretty low. What ISO were you shooting at?

BM

[Dirt_Warrior]

yea some of them I cropped to get ride of dust in the picture I cant remember the iso was set on, any recommondations on the settings I should be using.

[Ultra Magnus]

Well, how close were you to the action? Could you post an original un-cropped image?

I'm no expert, but shooting at iso 1600 at F29 doesn't seem right for daylight conditions.

Back it down to iso 100 - 400 and F10 - F14. Heck, even try a couple with the lens wide open.


Try to zoom in enough as to not have to crop them very much at all. Cropping a small section out of a big pic really amplifies noise and grain, where as resizing a big full size pic down to web size effectively smooths out a lot of flaws.

BM