Advice required for motorsport

[Mike.P]

We have a large powerboat race starting in Alicante in a few months and as I have never taken photos of fast moving objects I went down to a dirt track with a friend, his kids and quad bike to try it out.

First of all I found out that the Pentax focus system doesn't seem too quick at tracking moving objects but also I would like to know how you get motion blur in the backgoound while keeping the main subject in focus.

A few pics showing them riding the bike but it all looks a bit stagnant to me.

 

[V8burble]

If panning, in shutter priority slow the shutter speed to 1/125" (In the region of) and practice keeping the subject nicely stationary in the pan. If head on, use a shallow DoF to isolate the subject. Fast shutter speeds are great to freeze dust, stones and water in motorsports shots, but can also make vehicles appear lifeless and parked up, rather than in motion.

BTW, not sure you wanted to put this in this section...

 

[Marcel]

Moving to the correct forum.