Photo Techniques - Page 2 - Drifting forum

Ross · 24-06-2005, 17:16

you cant beet the good o'l motorway for a bit of practice, you can have a play with my flash if you want. doh scrub that its nikon dedicated and probably wont talk to your canon, still you can have a go it ya want.

Mrs P · 24-06-2005, 17:29

I think ur right, prob won't like my canon!

if it's no bother to u then yeah, would be great to try for a bit

i generally don't use a tripod as i find it too restrictive, especially as i love to get really high one moment, then suddenly really low.
My tripod is actually meant for camcorders. This means that when I attach my camera to it I can do really smooth panning, plus I can have my camera at a really sharp angle as I pan. Part of the problem I had at silverstone was that it was free hand, long shutter speed - so if I moved even a little there were bad results!

It's a shame u live so far away or we could maybe go down to the motorway and try loads of different methods. But so far I think I'll try:

Panning with my tripod
Shutter speed approx half a second, adjusting with experimentation
Strong flash right at the end to freeze the car
Low exposure so that it doesn't get too bright

Fingers crossed!!!

Ross · 24-06-2005, 17:40

sounds like a good plan

pritty much along the lines i was thinking.
a bit of useless trivia for ya, did you know your camera shares the same brain as its all singing all dancing £6000 big brother

and you can hack the firmware (what ever that is) to basicly give you a d1s in your body, a bit like invasion of the body snatchers with less screamy pointy behaviour and more functions, with out the 13 odd meg though. aparenty canon have got the right arse about it.
HAVE A LOOK AT THAT
dont know if id recomend it its way way beond my understanding but apparently reversable if it goes tits up.

missy · 24-06-2005, 17:41

at the moment i'm still using a film camera, though i am looking at getting a canon eos 300d pretty soon.

the camera i use atm is a pentax mz30 with a 35-80 lens. the thing i get frustrated with is when i take pictures and then think that would be so much better if it was digital!!...

funnily enough i seem to find that my best drift shots recenctly imho have been of damien mulvey..

but still i look at the shots and wish it was in digital, as i know the quality would be alot better..

i also like these shots..

i normally take photographs during the practise runs and then film during the competiton runs... for filming i use a panasonic nv-gs 11b.

the quality with the video camera is great but my only complaint is that i still can't seem to get the footage onto the pc..

wildtracks was the first time i used a tripod for my photographs and i got alot better shots.

paddy, if you go on amazon, at certain times of the day you can get the canon for £200-£300. the only reason i haven't got mine yet is money.

btw... my pictures will probably disappear at midnight as my hosting ends tomorrow.

Mrs P · 24-06-2005, 17:54

I checked out the website and it does sound really good.... prob is, if the hack went wrong and I wasn't able to get my camera back to norm...
....I'd probably do this ->

!

if I get myself a new digital slr as a back-up in case things went wrong, i'd risk it - mainly coz the chances of success seem high and benefits very good

but in the meantime i'm happy being a safe wimp!

EDIT:
Missy: it's completely up to you what camera you get etc, to be honest your film camera [from the pics I've seen] seems to be up to the job.

Bearing in mind you've scanned the pics in to get them on here, they appear to be of excellent quality, smooth/no noise and the pics are sharp with good colour balance. Have you tried adjusting the shutter speed on your camera? When I spoke to you you were using just the Sports mode....if you adjust the shutter speed you may have more luck with panning. I also like the fact that you went for a different angle to most - taking your pictures from behind the cars. It isn't a spot I personally would have stayed in very long but it's nice to see experimentation and you managed to show off how much the cars leaned

Mart · 24-06-2005, 19:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by yeager

Sorry for slight offtopic, what happened to Martin Williams?

Hi Si

as Ant pointed out, I'm still alive

and will indeed be in attendance at GT Battle

Looking forward to catching up with a few faces and watching some quality drifting.

and hopefully snap a few worthy pics

Paddy · 25-06-2005, 00:37

Why dont you use a monopod with a two way head ?

I use it and when I want low shots I just take a few step back and let the monopod lower itself by leaving it "fall back" ? I'm looking into buying a flash too so I dont have to use the camera's built in one cause it doesnt reach over the length of the 500mm lens ...

PermiaN · 26-06-2005, 08:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paddy

...two LI-ION batteries. I hope to get my hands on a 70 to 200mm...

I've got a Canon 300D with the bundled 18mm-55mm and a Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM and for what I need these are fine (well I say fine, without a lottery win they are fine!). One thing that did suprise me with the Canon after using other digitals was the battery life, it seems to go on forever....

Paddy · 26-06-2005, 13:57

Sweet, thats what I like to hear !

I'm waiting by the postbox all week, still no sign of it ... (Yes, I know its Sunday, but still !)

ent · 26-06-2005, 18:03

just sharing my experience with film SLR and D-SLR

3yrs with Film SLR
Nikon F60, F80
1yr with D-SLR
Nikon D70

kit, Tripod, 3way adjustable mount, Ball mount, Single leg tripod thing, 1GB SanDisk Ultra 2, 2x 512GB SanDisk Ultra 2, 2 battery, SB800 Flash, CPL filter, UV filter

past experience in getting a good feel on photo of a drift is using the single leg tripod, what it does is when you are using low shutter speed and a long range lens, you WILL have hand shake no matter how stable your hands are.
low shutter speed (depends on how fast the car is going), focus setting should be in CF, focus area set to center, flash setting set to rear curtain, and capture mode set to multi frame.

this way, you have the car sharp, background blur, wheels blur and looks to have movement

and to capture a shot where the front is in focus and rear of car is not, thats just a case of good panning and slow shutter speed.
what you do is focus the just one point of the car (badge or grill), slow shutter, no flash needed, and master the art of panning, all you do is make sure your focus point is always in that spot, then the rest are all blur.

but in regards to Film Vs Digital, i look at it as editing.
why i say editing? because using D-SLR, capture mode set to RAW, you can change all kind of colours, retouch, crop, add/remove things via computer. but using Film, you are pretty much stuck with what you shot, different Films mean different 'feel', some people like to use 800 films to shoot indoor portraits, some like to use 100......but using D-SLR, you can change ISO whenever you like, change it while you are shooting or change it using photoshop.....thats the advantage of D-SLR, disadvantage about D-SLR is....the photo thats on print is not as 'solid' or 'strong, sharp'

mmm......sorry if my post doesnt really make sense....my english isnt really good....

thanks

Ross · 27-06-2005, 09:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paddy

Sweet, thats what I like to hear !

I'm waiting by the postbox all week, still no sign of it ... (Yes, I know its Sunday, but still !)

any sign yet paddy?

Paddy · 27-06-2005, 13:23

None at all

It was despatched last Thursday morning ...

It's only driving me up the wall !

Paddy · 27-06-2005, 14:28

Hahaha,

Arrived about ten minutes ago !! w0000t !

They despatched the CF card separately tho and no sign of it ...

Ross · 27-06-2005, 15:05

exellent

when are we going to see what it can do then

missy · 27-06-2005, 15:40

paddy are you the guy i gave the photo of walton drifting his car at wildtracks too, topass on to him?

Paddy · 27-06-2005, 15:57

Was never at an Event in England ...

Yet

@Ross

Need to get a CF card first, lol, might try and pick up a cheap one tomorrow in town while I wait for the other one to arrive !

The 500mm lens is sexcellent

Ross · 27-06-2005, 16:33

mmm 500 mm very tempting

im watching a sigma 300mm f2.8d apo on ebay at the moment its only at £150 but 6 days to go, ive got a feeling its going to go batshit, i borowed the 70-200 f2.8 off al at rotorstock it was luuuvely so much quicker than my old 70-300 but so much more money.

check out this bad boy!

afs 400mm f2.8 ED2 a snip at nearly £6000

a lotto win and i might be tempted

Paddy · 20-07-2005, 00:15

Ross, what settings do you use for the Rear Curtain flash ?

Chris · 20-07-2005, 00:37

interesting question

what shutter speed do people use for drifting... ?

Mart · 20-07-2005, 09:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris

interesting question

what shutter speed do people use for drifting... ?

I was trying as low as 1/80 but apart from the obvious need to pan well and be steady I also found that because of the nature of drifting and particularly during the transitions different parts of the car would be moving at different speeds relative to the camera, so you could, for instance have caught the front of the car nice and sharp but the back all blurred.

Also when trying to use the slower shutter speeds I was finding it difficult at Lydd with the bright sunshne not to over expose.

Probably a fair amount of my photo's were taken at 1/100 and 1/120 any higher and the cars begin to look stationary unless to have included other clues to portray the dynamic nature of drifting

24-06-2005, 17:54	#25 (permalink)
Mrs P Rug Killer Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: UK Posts: 469	I checked out the website and it does sound really good.... prob is, if the hack went wrong and I wasn't able to get my camera back to norm... ....I'd probably do this -> ! if I get myself a new digital slr as a back-up in case things went wrong, i'd risk it - mainly coz the chances of success seem high and benefits very good but in the meantime i'm happy being a safe wimp! EDIT: Missy: it's completely up to you what camera you get etc, to be honest your film camera [from the pics I've seen] seems to be up to the job. Bearing in mind you've scanned the pics in to get them on here, they appear to be of excellent quality, smooth/no noise and the pics are sharp with good colour balance. Have you tried adjusting the shutter speed on your camera? When I spoke to you you were using just the Sports mode....if you adjust the shutter speed you may have more luck with panning. I also like the fact that you went for a different angle to most - taking your pictures from behind the cars. It isn't a spot I personally would have stayed in very long but it's nice to see experimentation and you managed to show off how much the cars leaned Last edited by Mrs P : 24-06-2005 at 18:05.

27-06-2005, 16:33	#37 (permalink)
Ross CQB 241 Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 1,010	mmm 500 mm very tempting im watching a sigma 300mm f2.8d apo on ebay at the moment its only at £150 but 6 days to go, ive got a feeling its going to go batshit, i borowed the 70-200 f2.8 off al at rotorstock it was luuuvely so much quicker than my old 70-300 but so much more money. check out this bad boy! afs 400mm f2.8 ED2 a snip at nearly £6000 a lotto win and i might be tempted Last edited by Ross : 27-06-2005 at 16:52.

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24-06-2005, 17:16	#21 (permalink)
Ross CQB 241 Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 1,010	you cant beet the good o'l motorway for a bit of practice, you can have a play with my flash if you want. doh scrub that its nikon dedicated and probably wont talk to your canon, still you can have a go it ya want.

24-06-2005, 17:29	#22 (permalink)
Mrs P Rug Killer Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: UK Posts: 469	I think ur right, prob won't like my canon! if it's no bother to u then yeah, would be great to try for a bit i generally don't use a tripod as i find it too restrictive, especially as i love to get really high one moment, then suddenly really low. My tripod is actually meant for camcorders. This means that when I attach my camera to it I can do really smooth panning, plus I can have my camera at a really sharp angle as I pan. Part of the problem I had at silverstone was that it was free hand, long shutter speed - so if I moved even a little there were bad results! It's a shame u live so far away or we could maybe go down to the motorway and try loads of different methods. But so far I think I'll try: Panning with my tripod Shutter speed approx half a second, adjusting with experimentation Strong flash right at the end to freeze the car Low exposure so that it doesn't get too bright Fingers crossed!!!

24-06-2005, 17:40	#23 (permalink)
Ross CQB 241 Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 1,010	sounds like a good plan pritty much along the lines i was thinking. a bit of useless trivia for ya, did you know your camera shares the same brain as its all singing all dancing £6000 big brother and you can hack the firmware (what ever that is) to basicly give you a d1s in your body, a bit like invasion of the body snatchers with less screamy pointy behaviour and more functions, with out the 13 odd meg though. aparenty canon have got the right arse about it. HAVE A LOOK AT THAT dont know if id recomend it its way way beond my understanding but apparently reversable if it goes tits up.

24-06-2005, 17:41	#24 (permalink)
missy Driftscene Tog Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Bucks Posts: 1,441	at the moment i'm still using a film camera, though i am looking at getting a canon eos 300d pretty soon. the camera i use atm is a pentax mz30 with a 35-80 lens. the thing i get frustrated with is when i take pictures and then think that would be so much better if it was digital!!... funnily enough i seem to find that my best drift shots recenctly imho have been of damien mulvey.. but still i look at the shots and wish it was in digital, as i know the quality would be alot better.. i also like these shots.. i normally take photographs during the practise runs and then film during the competiton runs... for filming i use a panasonic nv-gs 11b. the quality with the video camera is great but my only complaint is that i still can't seem to get the footage onto the pc.. wildtracks was the first time i used a tripod for my photographs and i got alot better shots. paddy, if you go on amazon, at certain times of the day you can get the canon for £200-£300. the only reason i haven't got mine yet is money. btw... my pictures will probably disappear at midnight as my hosting ends tomorrow.

25-06-2005, 00:37	#27 (permalink)
Paddy PIMP Snapper Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Waterford, Ireland Posts: 1,033	Why dont you use a monopod with a two way head ? I use it and when I want low shots I just take a few step back and let the monopod lower itself by leaving it "fall back" ? I'm looking into buying a flash too so I dont have to use the camera's built in one cause it doesnt reach over the length of the 500mm lens ...

26-06-2005, 13:57	#29 (permalink)
Paddy PIMP Snapper Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Waterford, Ireland Posts: 1,033	Sweet, thats what I like to hear ! I'm waiting by the postbox all week, still no sign of it ... (Yes, I know its Sunday, but still !)

26-06-2005, 18:03	#30 (permalink)
ent doughnutter Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: HK Posts: 41	just sharing my experience with film SLR and D-SLR 3yrs with Film SLR Nikon F60, F80 1yr with D-SLR Nikon D70 kit, Tripod, 3way adjustable mount, Ball mount, Single leg tripod thing, 1GB SanDisk Ultra 2, 2x 512GB SanDisk Ultra 2, 2 battery, SB800 Flash, CPL filter, UV filter past experience in getting a good feel on photo of a drift is using the single leg tripod, what it does is when you are using low shutter speed and a long range lens, you WILL have hand shake no matter how stable your hands are. low shutter speed (depends on how fast the car is going), focus setting should be in CF, focus area set to center, flash setting set to rear curtain, and capture mode set to multi frame. this way, you have the car sharp, background blur, wheels blur and looks to have movement and to capture a shot where the front is in focus and rear of car is not, thats just a case of good panning and slow shutter speed. what you do is focus the just one point of the car (badge or grill), slow shutter, no flash needed, and master the art of panning, all you do is make sure your focus point is always in that spot, then the rest are all blur. but in regards to Film Vs Digital, i look at it as editing. why i say editing? because using D-SLR, capture mode set to RAW, you can change all kind of colours, retouch, crop, add/remove things via computer. but using Film, you are pretty much stuck with what you shot, different Films mean different 'feel', some people like to use 800 films to shoot indoor portraits, some like to use 100......but using D-SLR, you can change ISO whenever you like, change it while you are shooting or change it using photoshop.....thats the advantage of D-SLR, disadvantage about D-SLR is....the photo thats on print is not as 'solid' or 'strong, sharp' mmm......sorry if my post doesnt really make sense....my english isnt really good.... thanks

27-06-2005, 13:23	#32 (permalink)
Paddy PIMP Snapper Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Waterford, Ireland Posts: 1,033	None at all It was despatched last Thursday morning ... It's only driving me up the wall !

27-06-2005, 14:28	#33 (permalink)
Paddy PIMP Snapper Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Waterford, Ireland Posts: 1,033	Hahaha, Arrived about ten minutes ago !! w0000t ! They despatched the CF card separately tho and no sign of it ...

27-06-2005, 15:05	#34 (permalink)
Ross CQB 241 Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 1,010	exellent when are we going to see what it can do then

27-06-2005, 15:40	#35 (permalink)
missy Driftscene Tog Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Bucks Posts: 1,441	paddy are you the guy i gave the photo of walton drifting his car at wildtracks too, topass on to him?

27-06-2005, 15:57	#36 (permalink)
Paddy PIMP Snapper Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Waterford, Ireland Posts: 1,033	Was never at an Event in England ... Yet @Ross Need to get a CF card first, lol, might try and pick up a cheap one tomorrow in town while I wait for the other one to arrive ! The 500mm lens is sexcellent

20-07-2005, 00:15	#38 (permalink)
Paddy PIMP Snapper Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Waterford, Ireland Posts: 1,033	Ross, what settings do you use for the Rear Curtain flash ?

20-07-2005, 00:37	#39 (permalink)
Chris You poo face Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Bristol Posts: 1,340	interesting question what shutter speed do people use for drifting... ?