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A beginners attempt at drifting
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I went to round 4 of the D-rift this weekend and it was my second time taking pictures of motorsport. I only started photography a month ago when I bought my 400D so I’d appreciated any comments and criticism for a beginner to help me improve,
Regards,
Sean
Hey man, nice shots, a little dark, maybe drop down a few stops, or if you took these in raw format, go back into lightroom/photoshop and adjust them a bit, you could probably use a slightly longer shutter speed also, to give a little bit more blurring. What shutter speed did you use anyway?
Iv been wanting to get on track for the prodrift in mondello, how did you go about getting the passes?
For a second attempt and only a beginner, these are shots some pro’s would be proud of to see in print. In some cases they are better than some ‘pro’s’ efforts. Like has been said, they are a bit dark but that can be easily sorted the next time out. Shutter’s could be a little bit longer but are pretty good as is.
badphotos:
To get a media pass for Prodrift in Mondello, you will need to be accredited to a media organisation and apply for the pass up to 7 days before hand. A lot of people don’t treat motorsport with the respect it deserves so if you do get in, make sure your out of harms way. I’ve seen seasoned motorsport photographers but first time at a drifting event nearly be cleared out of it because they don’t understand that drift cars move in a different way to regular grip racing. Usually, where you think it’d spin out and end up is the complete opposite of where they’ll end up.badphotos: Hey man, thanks for the comments. You are right about them being a little dark, I was trying to find a good balance on the day but I guess I went a little too dark and they werent in raw so I cant go back and change them. I was using 1/125 shutter speed but I guess it should be longer?
paddymcgrath: thanks for the comment paddy, that’s really encouraging. what shutter speed would you recommend?
Im not a pro like paddy or anything but i would have gone for between 1/50 or 1/80, 1/30 might be hard to keep the car itself nice and sharp, im not so sure as i havent gotten to try the new camera at drifting yet, only getting these figures from photographing fast moving traffic, but thats generally panning one direction, experiment!
I was only messing about the other day, but i was getting nice results at 1/50, iso 400, and i cant remember but i think f11 or f18 or something, it was a pretty dull day aswell. Its actually quite good practice just playing with settings by a busy road, that way you can turn up at some event and pretty much know straight away what settings to use! People give ya some strange looks though!!
badphotos:
Thats great advice. I never tried that long I must admit. I remember trying 1/60 and found it hard to get them sharp, but I guess I just needed more practice. I will give your experiment a try and see how it goes, it would be nice to get a bit more blur but I always thought that 1/30 would be impossible but its worth a try. I’ll try that now next chance I get and thanks for the advice.Drifting isn’t all about how low of a shutter speed you can get to, like any form of photography, if you want good shots that are different from everybody elses you need to think about what your taking photographs for, who your audience is and what can make them stand out. Don’t stand on the inside of one corner all day long, vary your angles as much as possible to keep people interested.
As for 1/30th being next to impossible, with practice and experience you should make it down to 1/15th at times, a good friend of mine can do almost sharp 2 second long pans ….
2 seconds!!??? Steady hands!! Maybe 1/30 would be a bit slow alright, i haven’t taken my dslr to a drifting competition yet so im not sure a good shutter speed for that, like i was photographing 40-50mph traffic, drift cars tend to go a bit quicker than that at times! guess it depends on how fast the subject is moving! and also how far away from it you are.. ie. the further away you are the less you have to pan. So it would even vary from track to track, mondello entry speed is almost, if not 100mph, where as the infield in watergrasshill would be alot slower. Like paddy says its down to taste, even some shots where its totally static look great, i suppose it kind of varies from photo to photo, i might be way off with my shutter speeds.
Thats a lot of advice lads, I’ll have to try and remember that next time. I see what you mean too Paddy, there is a lot to consider when taking the photographs but as a beginner I’m quite happy if they come out clear. It is a challenge getting pictures of motorsport, buts its something I’d really like to do well and with all the advice you guys have given me hopefully i can put it to good use at another event. Thanks a million guys for all the help,
Regards,
SeanI thnk you have good motion blur in the wheels at 1/125th, so it’s not a bad place to be to have sharp shots. I’d stay near this until you gain more practice at panning (not that these shots need much improvement!). Shoot in Tv mode and adjust ISO to get the range of apertures you need.
Some of those are superb shots for only having had the camera a month! I’d be very happy with those mate.
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