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PGD
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Its a good place to practice panning 
I wouldnt go for a high shutter speed tbh, try going slower with the shutter then pan/follow the car for a blurred background. A fast shutter is good for capturing startline action though
A few examples
I wouldnt go for a high shutter speed tbh, try going slower with the shutter then pan/follow the car for a blurred background. A fast shutter is good for capturing startline action though
A few examples
D
Dinsdale
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You'll need ear defenders
Matt
Slowish shutter speeds and panning (quickly) as has been mentioned above. But above all else as Matt has said, even if you forget your camera, take some good ear defenders with you.
Personally - take the first few pictures with a fast shutter, and each lap get slower
You'll have some keepers then plus the panning practice as you go slower...
Went to silverstone, so yeah take some ear defenders - probably a good idea
Enjoy yourself!
You'll have some keepers then plus the panning practice as you go slower...
Went to silverstone, so yeah take some ear defenders - probably a good idea
Enjoy yourself!
Daveblu
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Sorry for the briefness of my OP, had to make a dash for work and was hoping to catch a few replies for my return home, okay, again, what tips and pointers can any of you with Santa Pod experience throw up, above this post is the mention of both hi and lo shutter speeds and of course panning, I'm using a Nikon D3100 and have a range of lenses from 11-16mm,f/2.8, 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6, 55-200mm 1.4-5.6 and 150-500mm f/5 - 6.3.
Never having been to Santa Pod before, I hope someone could point me in the direction of the better vantage points, I made a huge error when I was at Rockingham earlier this year not knowing I could cross the track and sit on top of the monkey pit, advice like this will be invaluable to me.
I have learnt from Jus Jon, PGD,, Matbin and Dinsdales replies re Shutter speed, Panning and of course ear defenders, hoping I would get a little more like aperture and speed settings, I'm just getting into manual settings but am a long way from comfortable right now, I don't want to settle for Auto just to get a couple of "good shots", I want a little more control and hope to learn from any errors I make, but hope someone could give me a good starter base to begin from.
Thanks again.
Never having been to Santa Pod before, I hope someone could point me in the direction of the better vantage points, I made a huge error when I was at Rockingham earlier this year not knowing I could cross the track and sit on top of the monkey pit, advice like this will be invaluable to me.
I have learnt from Jus Jon, PGD,, Matbin and Dinsdales replies re Shutter speed, Panning and of course ear defenders, hoping I would get a little more like aperture and speed settings, I'm just getting into manual settings but am a long way from comfortable right now, I don't want to settle for Auto just to get a couple of "good shots", I want a little more control and hope to learn from any errors I make, but hope someone could give me a good starter base to begin from.
Thanks again.
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Personally - take the first few pictures with a fast shutter, and each lap get slower
they dont do laps at Santa Pod
As suggested take a range of exposures, and even if you dont take any shots, practice panning for a little while..
I used to do a lot of drag racing, and now my hearing is not very good, so dont forget the ear defenders!
I was told as a young photographer, if in doubt: 125th @ f8
I used to do a lot of drag racing, and now my hearing is not very good, so dont forget the ear defenders!
I was told as a young photographer, if in doubt: 125th @ f8
andrewc
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With respect, if you follow this advice you may as well just shoot parked cars in the car parks.
A good motorsport photo will convey some motion, but too high a shutter speed and you'll freeze the wheels.
If its a panning shot, then with practise you can drop the shutter speed quite low and you'll have a sharp car and a blurred background, the wheels on the car would be blurred as well.
I would start at around 1/250 and work down from there. Review your shots. Panning requires a steady stance, and its all in the hips. Smoothly fire off a shot but follow through the swing.
Shutter Priority mode, continuous focus mode, and choose your own focus point.
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Craikeybaby
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It's hard to give aperture/shutter speed values because until you are there you won't know what the light will be.
Andrew's advice above is pretty much what I would say.
I haven't been to Santa Pod for a while, but I understand you can still get round to the pits, by walking round behind the start line. For panning shots my guess would be on the main banking (cars going L to R) work your way along that to find the best background (and speed off car to pan with).
My strongest advice would be to do some research before you go, check out Dominic Romney's (Romney?) images, I think his blog is called Modern Pics, his pictures from Santa Pod are incredible. Then you can also use the maps feature on Flickr to see what shots other people are taking from the public areas at Santa Pod.
And of course make sure you put some images up for critique afterwards!
Andrew's advice above is pretty much what I would say.
I haven't been to Santa Pod for a while, but I understand you can still get round to the pits, by walking round behind the start line. For panning shots my guess would be on the main banking (cars going L to R) work your way along that to find the best background (and speed off car to pan with).
My strongest advice would be to do some research before you go, check out Dominic Romney's (Romney?) images, I think his blog is called Modern Pics, his pictures from Santa Pod are incredible. Then you can also use the maps feature on Flickr to see what shots other people are taking from the public areas at Santa Pod.
And of course make sure you put some images up for critique afterwards!
All these were taken at Santa Pod. http://iwantpics.co.uk/09102011 POD.html
stormcrow
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D-pearce92
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Great shots but complete overkill on the watermarks, when panning one thing that really helped me is something called back button button focussing, its something worth looking into, it really improved the amount of photos in focus, also when you press the shutter remember to keep tracking the car after youve taken the shot.
I have tried the back button focus,but I found it worse I did not like it at all.I also realised that I was developing a habbit of using the back button to focus,that habbit could be a disadvantage in future.I thought to my self once a back button focuser make sure I stick with it otherwise I will be going for the back button when I should not.I went back to the shutter release.
Daveblu
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A few from yesterday, I know I'm far from being perfect, I'm working on that ;o) http://www.flickr.com/photos/davehblu/
Many Thanks for all tips offered, very much appreciated.
Many Thanks for all tips offered, very much appreciated.
hollis_f
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Glad you had some good weather.
The main problem is that you've got the wall obstructing many of the shots. I've found that I get the best images from the grandstand, high enough so that I shoot over the wall and far enough along the course so that the cars are moving fairly fast, but not so fast as to make it impossible to pan accurately. Just past the Christmas Tree works well. You also get a better angle for the sunlight from that side.
I then set the exposure manually and take a test shot of the advertising on the opposite wall. Then it's just a matter of re-learning how to do panning correctly. From my position speeds of 1/100 to 1/200 work best - depending on the speed of the car.
Johnd2000
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IMO there's more to shooting drag racing than just panning. There's lots of great shots to be had at the start line and before (warming up the tyres etc).
The ideal spot, for me, is about 20-30 yards from the start line, on either the bank or the lowest level of the grandstand. From there, a 70-300 (on FF) will cover everything from lighting up the tyres, through the start, to fast (panned) running as the cars pass your position. On a bright day, the bank has the edge as it puts the sun behind you.
Ear defenders are handy (though I don't always bother) as are warm clothing and good boots (particularly if camping there). A radio is handy as the on-site station is great for keeping up with a schedule that can change a lot in poor weather.
The ideal spot, for me, is about 20-30 yards from the start line, on either the bank or the lowest level of the grandstand. From there, a 70-300 (on FF) will cover everything from lighting up the tyres, through the start, to fast (panned) running as the cars pass your position. On a bright day, the bank has the edge as it puts the sun behind you.
Ear defenders are handy (though I don't always bother) as are warm clothing and good boots (particularly if camping there). A radio is handy as the on-site station is great for keeping up with a schedule that can change a lot in poor weather.