Crash Course in Photography

[Englebert]

Awesome!

[Leeshez]

Nice advice

[Pauldredge]

cheers for all this, helped me take some wicked pictures with my camera

[Ad]

very helpful, will be using this when learning my new 350D

[GR7]

Thanks for this topic... I've only just noticed it and I'm often asking photography questions!

What I would like to know is HOW DO YOU TAKE A PHOTO OF A RACING CAR OR MOTORBIKE? I often take pics but I usually keep my camera on Auto but I don't know why (probably because I'm no good at it) so what is the best way for me to get a good bike or car that is moving at 140mph or whatever.

I usually stand at hairpin to get bikes/cars at a slower speed and very often the background is in focus and the car/bike is blurry!! I could do with panning tips please!!!

[b3nje]

I could do that on my camera but i couldn't tell you how to do it lol.

Aperture and all these things confuse me, simple i know.

I know what to do on my camera but still don't know what's what!

[Rich]

I usually stand at hairpin to get bikes/cars at a slower speed and very often the background is in focus and the car/bike is blurry!! I could do with panning tips please!!!

You need to look what settings you camera has with regards to its focus.

On a Canon there should be something labelled AI Servo, which will allows the AF (Autofocus) points on the camera to pick up the bike or car and track and focus on it sharply. By half pressing the shutter and panning with the vehicle it should allow the camera to track the vehicle and get a sharp in focus shot rather than a blurry moving object with a sharp in focus background. Most cameras take a second or two with the shutter half pressed to allow the focus to be obtained.

With panning, be smooth, and follow through with the camera after releasing the shutter, do just abbruptly stop.

You will have trouble taking shots of things at 140 mph though!

[ukaskew]

Thanks for this topic... I've only just noticed it and I'm often asking photography questions!

What I would like to know is HOW DO YOU TAKE A PHOTO OF A RACING CAR OR MOTORBIKE? I often take pics but I usually keep my camera on Auto but I don't know why (probably because I'm no good at it) so what is the best way for me to get a good bike or car that is moving at 140mph or whatever.

The second post in my topic goes through panning, that should get you started...

http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showp...26&postcount=2

As Rich said, 140mph is a little on the tough side, especially if you are just starting out. Try to get them coming out of a corner at around 60-100mph, much easier initially.

The AI Servo bit Rich refers to is AF-C on a Nikon, probably has a similar name to one of those two on your Fuji.

[lanky]

I have seen it mentioned on other sites and you mentioned it within the guide, when regarding the pictures what does noise mean?

[ukaskew]

I have seen it mentioned on other sites and you mentioned it within the guide, when regarding the pictures what does noise mean?

Here goes...



Instead of the background being silky smooth you can see lots of speckles and mudiness, that essentially is what noise is when regarding an image. It's not to be confused with pixelation, which looks like blockiness when you enlarge a picture too much.

[lanky]

Oh excelent cheers.
Got my Panasonic DMC-FZ7 today so I can try some of these out.

[GR7]

I have seen it mentioned on other sites and you mentioned it within the guide, when regarding the pictures what does noise mean?

You might find something about noise here Lanky!

http://www.neatimage.com/overview.html

[spiezels]

brilliant mate, so useful.

To do the shot of fireworks for example would a tripod be needded.

[UncleGrumpy]

For fireworks, use a tripod and set your camera to B (bulb) and use a shutter release if you can, set your exposure to 3 or 4 seconds and your aperture to f/11, start your exposure when it first bursts and stop when the trails disappear, that should do the trick.

A good book for stuff like that is the Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby - subtitled The step-by-step secrets for how to make your photos look like the pros! Its packed with usefull stuff and it covers Canon and Nikon gear, I bought it for the missus when she bought her Nikon but to be honest i've read it more than she has - its like gold dust for anyone new (ish) to photography.

I.S.B.N. 0-321-47404-X Amazon sell it here and its worth every penny!

[spiezels]

Found a nice place for it, set my camera up as you said and got my missus to try the moving shots.

Worked ok but i forgot to tell her to pretty much fill the screen with car, so i had to zoom in on the PC (so quality isnt as good) but looks pretty good to me lol well for our first go aye.

Attachment 18069

Attachment 18070

gonna give it another go with a mates car soon. yey


oh and i was only going 40-45

[jonnyjogpants]

great thread chris, as you know i am just starting out in the world of DSLR's

thanks for the Info

[army200]

The Tutorials on this site can be downloaded to your ipod... Stick your ipod on get out with your camera its like having a pro teacher with you..

http://www.ashotapart.com/tutorials.html

I found them really usefull when I started shooting a few weeks ago

Some pics I've taken on my site... Still a beginner!!

Nikon D40x
18-200 VR
10-20 Sigma

http://www.daveshawphoto.co.uk

[darren_rallye]

EXCELLENT advice here - thanks a lot

[Moby]

This is a great guide chris - thanks for spending the time putting it together.

[Just Bob]

Nice guide ukaskew.
I have recently bought a Fuji s6500FD and your guide was more valuable than all the stuff in the manual. They seem to think that when you buy a camera, you know how to use it! I don't!

Thanks again.