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Photo Forum / General Photo Topics / Australian Photography / April 2005Sports photography at night
Hi everyone, Went to the go-kart track with my brother tonight, and, both being novices, could not work out how to take good shots of moving objects in a relatively well-lit area at night. (Taking motionless shots yielded well-lit pics, but moving object were the problem). We tried increasing ISO sensitivity, flash (object too far away), lowest f-number we had (1/2.8) and the shutter needed to be open far too long in order to have enough light, but, being moving objects, the slow shutter speed meant blurred images. Any suggestions? We were using the Panasonic FZ20 with 12x optical zoom. Not a DSLR yet, but we are working our way up! Daniel. Its a money thing. Buy a canon 20D (or better) Dslr & a 85mm f/1.2 L lens & you will bring 'em in like a laser. You just need a faster shutter & thus higher ISO (with lower noise) & a faster lens. > Hi everyone, > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Daniel. >You just need a faster shutter & thus higher ISO (with lower noise) & a faster lens. agreed. Although, you can make the movement work for you. Last time I tried this I used Delta 3200 B&W @ EI1600 and some 400iso colour print film. It was pretty dark... my notes say I exposed the 3200 at 1/60th @ f2.8 and 1/15 @ f4-f5.6. This pic (http://unite.com.au/~u3819a/gallery/images/sports01.jpg) was 1/15th @ f4 or thereabouts. The colour ones were very hit-n-miss... and out of the roll I think I got 2 or 3 half decent ones. Couple uploaded at http://www.nlandgl.com/junk/ Since you're shooting digital, experiment! Maybe use a monopod (or tripod as a monpod) to limit vertical wobbles. This would keep the blurs going in the direction of travel. Pan by setting your feet in position so that you can swivel you hips to follow the action, keeping you shoulders, head and the camera all moving as one. I personaly wouldn't use flash unless organised beforehand with club officials. Having raced karts at night, bright flashs into ones eyes would be rather distracting and probably affect the pilots sight. One good thing is you can get right up to the edge of the track barriers which puts you pretty close. Cheers, Nige I'd like to see you lock focus on a moving vehicle with a 85f1.2........as much as it's a fantastic portrait lens, it's focus speed sucks for sports. > Its a money thing. Buy a canon 20D (or better) Dslr & a 85mm f/1.2 L lens > & you will bring 'em in like a laser. You just need a faster shutter & [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] >> >> Daniel. [top posting reformatted] Hi Derek, >> Its a money thing. Buy a canon 20D (or better) Dslr & a 85mm f/1.2 L lens >> & you will bring 'em in like a laser. You just need a faster shutter & >> thus higher ISO (with lower noise) & a faster lens. > I'd like to see you lock focus on a moving vehicle with a 85f1.2........as > much as it's a fantastic portrait lens, it's focus speed sucks for sports. I believe Paul meant to say that you should a) switch to manual focus, then b) pre-focus on a section of the track, then c) allowing for the shutter lag, release the shutter just before carts hit the section you've focused on. With a bit of luck and a lot of practice, you can get great photos that way. I disagree completely that getting great photos trackside is all a money thing; expensive equipment doth not a master make. Cheers, Saso G'day Daniel I agree with what has been advised about panning, it's something you'll get used to and with digital you can afford to do lots of practising. Back in the bad old days it became very expensive, but still doable. Personally I've found at speedway that a tripod will result in camera shake (through the ground) so now I only do handheld....although I'm presuming that karts might not give the same tremor effect that comes from sprintcars (being more powerful and heavier). Handheld makes it much easier to swing back quickly for an on-track incident too. My preferred lens is either 75-300 USM or 70-200 f4 L series, never use flash. If you care to email me direct (replacing the obvious) I can steer you to some photos that might help. happycamper_au AT yahoo DOT com DOT au Bronwyn ;-) > [top posting reformatted] > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > > Saso Wow..thanks...didnt know i would have to break it all down. My coment re $ was that a DSLR & fast lens is not a cheap option but will do the job WITH added skills. Man whats with all the anal retentives in here ? . > I believe Paul meant to say that you should a) switch to manual focus, > then b) pre-focus on a section of the track, then c) allowing for the [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Saso Hi Daniel, alternative lenses are Canon 135L f/2 which would be nice. and if you got the cash and can find it the 200mm f/1.8L. For the record, then the 85mm f/1.2L is used for sport, especially for indoor sport! No one says you have to use Autofocus! the trick is always work within your limitations! usually it is our abilities and the budget that limits us the most :-) good luck Henrik > I'd like to see you lock focus on a moving vehicle with a 85f1.2........as > much as it's a fantastic portrait lens, it's focus speed sucks for sports. [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] >>> >>> Daniel. Daniel, You could also use the much cheaper Canon 50mm f/1.4 which would you an 80mm f/1.4 FOV and this is a very nice little lens! Henrik > Hi Daniel, > [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] >>>> >>>> Daniel. > Hi everyone, > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > Any suggestions? We were using the Panasonic FZ20 with 12x optical > zoom. Not a DSLR yet, but we are working our way up! If you try to 'capture' a go-kart dead in it's tracks, it will look like it's just parked in the middle of the track. Try panning your shots. Here's a tutorial I found with google to save myself typing one out :-) http://www.juzaphoto.com/articles/panning.htm Also, if you can manually pre-focus on a point on the track and click the shutter (allowing for shutter lag) so that it fires when the kart is at that point, your shots should look great. >Hi everyone, > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > >We tried increasing ISO sensitivity, flash (object too far away), one thing I need to suggest that's more important than taking a photo! Under no circumstances use a flash for any night time sport involving motor racing of any kind. whether it be professional or novice. the flash will distract the driver/rider and can cause accidents if the flash is close or is very bright, (ie SLR external). Don't use a flash, I have seen (from the drivers point of view) for my self the damage it can do!!!! >lowest f-number we had (1/2.8) and the shutter needed to be open far >too long in order to have enough light, but, being moving objects, the [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > >Daniel. |
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