Shooting motorsport

mark4183

mark4183

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Mark
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Hello there, I have reading on this subject quite a bit for quite a while and i just seem to be going round and round in circles. Especially most of the helpful tips are related to canon and not a nikon

Anyway, recently i have been getting more and more frustrated with my shots from the track as they arent in focus, i seem to take to many (deleting quite a few afterwards), lighting, exposure blah blah the full works. The more frustrated i get whilst at the track, the more i change the settings and without thinking and getting lost ive given up.

The camera is my beloved nikon D300s and my zoom lens is AF-S VR 70-300 F/4.5-5.6G IF-ED and the general setting are in shutter mode which im always flicking through settings (feel stupid ) metering, not to familiar with it and flicking through, same as exposure compensation. ISO tends to stay at around 200 and i have the camera shooting 6fps (no battery grip) generally 9 focus points and continuous focus AF-C.

Think thats all the setting above.

Think thats everything i can think of, i feel stupid for this because i thought i was doing well and getting along but all of a sudden i cant do it anymore.

Hoping for a help and sorry for the long read
 
Firstly what are you trying to achieve?
Are you looking at panning shots, "action shots?
Some photos may help.
 
Ive been trying alsorts really.... panning shots where the cars are zooming passed and shots where the cars are coming head on into or out of a corner so shutter speeds tend to vary and i try lots ranging from 1/125 to about 1/250 i have been down to 1/60 with some, shall we say interesting blurry mess. Every now and then i get a shot and think wow tho but cant remember what i changed etc and im playing with dials and messing everything up. feel a tit because i thought i had the hang of this a while ago

A friend of mine who races, asked me to take pics for him this year and i got really excited and said no probs and i did really well at donny last year for his first race but not i feel a tit

Thanks
 
I'd be keen to read the replies too

*sits and waits....*
 
Hey don't feel stupid, we're all here to learn - well most of us probably. I'm just getting to grips with this field too and have been gradually learning through the crap photos I've taken, looking at other peoples exif details to see what settings they've used and soaking other peoples really helpful advice on here.

The only bits of advice I can offer is change to single point - think 9 may be contributing to some of whatever issues you are experiencing. If handholding choose a shutter speed higher than the focal length you're shooting at. If 300mm then use say 1/400 or 1/500 and use the panning technique - focus on the subject keeping the button half pressed as you follow it, take the shot and continue to follow the subject once taken. As your keeper rate increases then try reducing the shutter speed so the background blurs better and gives more sense of speed.

Maybe the other thing is to practice on passing traffic rather than trying to learn solely at motorsport events if that's what you've been doing. Start by making subtle changes to one type of settings at a time (rather than changing several) and see how the adjustment has affected the result. Not as much fun but what you learn should result in a better success rate and make it a more enjoyable experience when uploading the shots that matter more to you.

I'm sure others more in the know will be along shortly and correct me if I've given duff gen.

Don't despair or give up, it will start to gradually click. :)
 
PS - Your original post was the only one there when I started replying... told you someone would be along shortly :lol:
 
Panning is quite difficult to master but once you 'get' it you can get some great shots. How close are you to the action and can you get any closer. As you zoom in, any camera shake us pronounced. I think you might be being a bit hard on yourself. I normally shoot around 1500 during a rugby game and if I get 10-15 good shots, with 1 or 2 outstanding ones I am quite happy. You are judging yourself against shots you have seen in mags. Those are the best of possibly 5 or 6 thousand images or more when you take into account all the pro's at an average event and their glass is much more expensive than yours. The previous comment about practising on cars on a high st is great idea.
 
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