Superbikes at Croft

[wull]

Down at Croft watching my nephew race. Here is a few i got.
Any comments welcome :thumbsup:
Wull
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[Jimmy B]

Outstanding shots, it's been fun watching your skills improve! Keep up the good shooting, Jimmy B

[brmill26]

I agree totally with Jimmy. Wull, these are simply awesome! Fantastic variety of looks, all very well executed. I have nothing in the way of critiques. I have only to say thanks for sharing these, b/c they're fantastic! I'd put these up against any pro work from any motorcycle race I've ever seen.

[wull]

Thanks Jimmy and Brad for your comments.

They are much appreciated. Had a great couple of days, bit of rain on friday but the sun came out for the race on saturday.

I was pleased with the photos, first time i have had more keepers than ones to delete.

Thanks again
Wull

[youthsportsPIX]

Great shots!

[swampy65]

Wull, from an absolute novice these are fantastic shots.

Can't wait for the end of the month when I go to Manfeild to watch my nephew race again. I went ahead and bought the Nikon D60 with lenses that I discussed with you. Being my first time with a DSLR, I hope I can get some good shots. Can't believe that I'm turning into a bit of a "petrol-head", the Bikes never interested me before, but after seeing my nephew race earlier in the year, I guess I'm Geoff's number one fan now (after his mother of course ) And I'm looking forward to taking my new found "hobby" further too

Thanks for sharing and inspiring

[wull]

Thanks.

Swampy you will not be disapointed and will notice a huge difference in your pictures. Look forward to seeing them on here soon.
I am in no way an expert but if there is any help i can give with settings etc. Just ask

Thanks again
Wull

[SmartWombat]

Wull, will you be at BSB Silverstone ?

[swampy65]

Thanks Wull, that's my next dilemma, which settings do I use. I've bought a couple of "Digital Photography For Dummies" books and have been reading through these. I guess practice makes perfect or near to it but any advise you or anyone else can give would be greatly appreciated. I'm still trying to come to grips with aperture, f numbers, trying very hard not to get a glazed look

[brmill26]

Swampy, starting out you probably want to use AV mode. If it's strong sun, ISO100 should be fine, if it's cloudy ISO200 to 400. Your aperture will vary depending on the type of shot you want and the quality of your optics. To freeze motion and create some depth of field, use a wide aperture like F/4 or F/3.5 if you can go that wide. To create a pan, where the background is blurred and the bike is sharp, use an aperture of F/8.0 - F/11. Be sure that gives you a shutter speed of at least 1/125 or higher, otherwise your shots will be too blurry. And realize that panning - turning the camera to follow the bike/car - takes a lot of practice to make perfect.

Most of all, have FUN and experiment with different settings to see their different effects on the photos.

[swampy65]

Thanks brmill, I'm sitting at work, saying out loud "I Love this man" (and yes I'm a girl) , my Boss thought I was talking about him....foolish man I've printed off your advice and will keep it with me and practice, practice, practice. I'll have to keep reminding myself, it'll take time to get as good as all you lot but from what I've seen on this website so far, I'm in excellent hands

[wull]

Wull, will you be at BSB Silverstone ?

Yes Mate, Hoping to be down all weekend but possibly only sat & sun due to work. Are you going ?

[wull]

I do it slightly different from Brad in that i use shutter priority for mine. Neither are wrong just i didnt get my head round the aperture priority mode and shutter worked for me.

I select the s dial for shutter priority and for panning shots i dont usually go below 1/250 but find my best results at about 1/320. Try and relax when panning, easy to get uptight which i find causes camera shake. If i am shooting the bikes head on i up the speed to about 1/500.

I use large fine jpegs for most with optimize image set to vivid. I have also found white balance very important. You will find it in your menu and just set it for the conditions.. For you prob direct sunlight for me mostly cloudy

For focus i use focus mode AF - C and set AF area mode to Dynamic. I then set metering to centre weighted. Also important to turn the VR off on your lens when panning. Another thing to remember is when looking in the viewfinder whilst holding the shoot button half down you will see the red square light up. This is your focus point which tends to move between shooting if you leave the camera on. Easily re adjusted using the left or right button on the rear dial.

Another very important thing is exposure. To set this you will see a button with a plus or minus on top of the camera. Hold this in look through the viewfinder and turn the rear dial and make sure it is set to 0. I was shooting at -0.7 for ages until Brad told me about it.

I am no expert these are just what seems to work for me.

As Brad says have a play with all the different modes and settings and see what works for you. Have Fun

Wull

[Lori11]

Out freakin' STANDING!!! I cant even pick a favorite! Now I am all excited for racing this weekend!

[SmartWombat]

Are you going ?

yes. will PM you with mobile number.

[swampy65]

Thanks Wull. I might have to go and "play" on the motorway this weekend and have a practice with both yours and Brad's tips. Appreciate both of you taking the time in advising me

Have fund at the races with SW and I'll look forward to seeing some more photos.

[SmartWombat]

I'll be getting some bike practice at Goodwood Revival.
Though they won't be as fast as the superbikes ...

[brmill26]

Wull and I basically just said the same thing, but coming at it from different directions. Sorry if that's confusing. Wull's method is better for understanding panning (as shutter speed directly controls the amount of blur caused by the panning motion), my method of using aperture will really only help you on the non-panning shots. Using AV mode to shoot nearly or at wide open on your lens, and filling the frame with the bike (not always easy!) will create depth of field that separates the bike from the background. I've included some photos to hopefully make that clearer.

This shows why you'd use AV mode - picking an aperture close to wide open in order to separate the car from the background. This shot is almost wide open aperture on my 70-200, at F/4.5, ISO 100, and a shutter of around 1/1000.


And here's an example of a panning shot. Shot at around 110mm on the 70-200, F/9, ISO100, shutter of 1/80. Again, shot in AV mode where I chose F/9 knowing the camera would chose a pretty long shutter that would give me the blur. However, the downside of not choosing the shutter speed myself is that I got 1/80, and I would never recommend choosing a shutter speed that slow if you want consistent results. I got a bit lucky that I got the car sharp in this one.



I hope that helps. Good luck, have fun, and show us some of your shots (good and bad) b/c that's how we all improve around here!

[wull]

Out freakin' STANDING!!! I cant even pick a favorite! Now I am all excited for racing this weekend!

Thanks Lori

Enjoy the racing

[wull]

yes. will PM you with mobile number.

Got it mate, I will give you a buzz when i get there.

[wull]

Thanks Wull. I might have to go and "play" on the motorway this weekend and have a practice with both yours and Brad's tips.

No probs. When you get to the race track try and find a slower corner to start with until you get the hang of it. As Brad says look forward to seeing your photos good or bad.

Thanks for the tip Brad. I will give that a go next weekend. If i can get close enough to the track for photos. Hear Silverstone isnt the best place for taking pics.

[SmartWombat]

Ah which is why I do it with the shutter speed
Most of my shots are panning shots, and I want the right speed for the right amount of blur.

[wull]

Will you be there all weekend paul. Whats it like for photos ?

I am thinking of trying to get the day off on friday and do the 6 hour drive before the wee fella is out at about 11 o clock. Much prefer taking photos on the fri sat as the sunday usually gets to busy.

Wull

[brmill26]

Ah which is why I do it with the shutter speed
Most of my shots are panning shots, and I want the right speed for the right amount of blur.

Quite right; that photo was taken several months ago when Manual mode still scared me. Now I shoot racing almost totally in manual b/c the meter gets so thrown off when filling the frame with a white or black car. And of course for all the other advantages of fully controlling the shot... but that's best left to another time.

I'm jealous of you guys going to Silverstone! You must share plenty of shots!

[wull]

I'm jealous of you guys going to Silverstone! You must share plenty of shots!

Dont be too jealous Brad. Probably be raining all weekend