Newbie with Nikon D90 - car photos

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cdl

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Hi all,

I'm a newbie so be gentle!

I've got a Nikon D90 and an 18/200 VR lens which i've had around a month. I'm going to a car show over the weekend and wanted to get some decent photos of cars moving.. This may all sound simple to most, but when i've tried it i get car in focus but wheels not moving!

Could someone explain in idiot terms what mode and what settings i need to achieve this?

I know it sounds daft but we've all got to learn!:)
 
You need to slow the shutter speed down to allow you to catch movement in the wheels (and surrounding detail) - reading around (this is something I haven't had any practice with personally) it looks like you should be aiming between 1/60 and 1/125 of a second to capture that motion (obviously this all depends on the speed of the subject).

There's panning tips in the guides forum here. I also found this video which seems to do a good job of going over the camera settings you'll need to get that effect at whatever focal length you're using, and has some tips on positioning etc.

A tripod with panning capabilities will help as well to keep the vertical movement while panning to a minimum.

Probably worth getting out to the nearest A road and practicing if you're worried about not getting what you want as well. It should be easy enough to test the theories out. :)
 
Hi cdl,

There are two things to read up about here:

1) Very simply put, showing or freezing motion in photographs is controlled by shutter speed. A high shutter speed will freeze motion (dependant on the speed of the moving object), and a low shutter speed will 'blur' moving objects (dependant on the speed of the moving objects).

2) For the shots you described where the car is sharp but the wheels and background are blurred, a technique known as panning is required. This is where your shutter speed is set slow enough to allow movement to be seen in the moving object if your camera were to be kept still, but in this instance you want to smoothly follow the object (from left to right or right to left) or pan, whilst taking the shot.

Hope that makes sense.

Search on here or Google 'panning' and 'shutter speed' for some great articles and goodluck!
 
Number45 said:
You need to slow the shutter speed down to allow you to catch movement in the wheels (and surrounding detail) - reading around (this is something I haven't had any practice with personally) it looks like you should be aiming between 1/60 and 1/125 of a second to capture that motion (obviously this all depends on the speed of the subject).
Click to expand...

That might be too long an exposure for someone who has never done panning before. I'd start at around 1/320 and work your way down.

One important thing is to make sure you follow through when you pan.
 
If you've got a photo editor you could add the blurred wheels effect after and see how that looks. You could maybe use some photo's you already have to try it out on.
 
thanks for the advice all, had a practice and will give it a go! :)
 
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