off topic
 

btw, i have a pair of 1gb secure digital (sd) cards for sale. pm if interested.

Re: 356 pics-- Thank you! :D

Well yes, all of 12 days. Or does b&w not count? Only sepia? Not that there is anything wrong with that... ;) :p
(you know we love it as it was our own)
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/177804-gratuitous-black-white-pictures-bb2.html?highlight=tripod

Arlequin, the race in PIttsburgh is great and it takes place in a park. The road spirals down in continues turns and provides many nice moments of overtaking and drama. But it is not only famous for the race in itself but also for the celebration of vintage cars and all the festiviies that happen along the way. I honestly haven't seen so many racing memorobilia vendors at any event a i seen there. And the attendance of bboth spectaors and racers is awesome as well. All around a great event. Check out this site for more info.
http://www.pittsburghvintagegrandprix.com/html/fan_info.html

Thanks guys. I'll definitely attend. After seeing all the vids and pics of Goodwood every year, I wish there was something similar to see on our side.

I'd have to agree with some others that have suggested that a digital SLR provides tremendous flexibility. I use a Canon 10D. Although the LCD can't be used for composition on any digital SLR, the ability to review shots immediately after the shot is invaluable. You can fine tune for your next shot. LCD feedback has shown me that a shutter speed of 1/60 works well to freeze motion at an autocross. LCD feedback at Laguna Seca showed me that at the particular location I was standing, 1/180 worked well.

One other thing to consider: If you set your shutter to 1/60 you probably won't be able to open your aperature up, no matter what film speed you are using. Too much light. Try adding a neutral density filter to the front of the lens to shade some of this light.

Laguna Seca, 1/180th sec
http://www.montereydiving.com/pelican/gulf917_10.jpg

Autocross, 1/60th sec
http://www.montereydiving.com/AX/photos/sharp1md.jpg

-Brad

That's the model that I want, the Canon 10D. Yep, it's a nice camera, and since I have an older EOS, I could use my existing lenses. At $1000, or is it $1500 I'll be waiting a bit, especially since the watch that I'm pining after is also almost $1000. <sigh>

Okay, I read the book and took your advice and things have definitely improved. Here is a pic from last weekend's AutoX...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1095990556.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1095990977.jpg

I used 100 speed film and a telephoto lens. I had the camera on "auto", so it seems the shutter speed is still a bit too fast (I watched the display and I think it was usually shooting around 1/250). Through my stupidity, the aperture was stuck at 8. I was panning the car and still I got almost no blur. Next time I'll use a manual shutter speed. However, on the plus side, there is noticeably less graininess. The driver, for instance, is somewhat clearer in the new pics than the first batch. So that is a big plus. However, I notice that I seem to be getting a lot less color than you guys. Not sure why.

Anyway, any critiques or advice on the latest shots is encouraged. I feel like with your help I am making progress.

I have a question.

Olympus C-3020 zoom 3.2.
I can't find a timer in the book instructions. The shoot button is not threaded for an extension. I don't want a shake when it's on a tripod.

Is there anything I can do for a remote shoot button ?

Ron-

You should have a timer on that camera. Go to your menu screen and select "camera". The timer function should be under the "drive" tab (single, continious, and timer).

SmileWavy

Bingo
"Mode Menu" then "Camera" then "Drive" then "clock sign"

wonderful.. although it seems to be fixed at 13sec.. it's wonderful
http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat6.gif

There has been a lot of guidance given on shutter speeds, panning and aperature, which has all been good info. But none of these are really the most important item in getting a good photo. One really needs to first emphasize COMPOSITION (the art) before these other items (the mechanics). From the photos you showed, it seems to me that your positioning relative to the cars/track was not optimal, and that might have contributed to your lack of enthusiasm about your shots. Better composition would shout SPEED in your shots, whether you panned, blurred, etc. I can give a couple of shots taken of my car at Laguna Seca as examples. The photographer may have had significantly more access to different parts of the track than you did, and he used it. He also played with things like tilting the camera from horizontal, to get even more of a "movement" theme going. Top shot shows blurring/panning technique, but in an uninteresting (composition) area. Not too thrilling. Second shot gave up some of the "mechanics" in favor of better composition. Much better at telling a story in my opinion.

Photos (c) David Wong david@avatarnumedia.com

Tom
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1096057128.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1096057160.jpg

Yep, you'll need to pan w/ the cars, you may want a VR lens.

Yes, missed the 800 speed film part. Try something slower, 400 or 200 and uses a wide aperture for narrow depth of field. You could also use 100 and push it higher if necessary.

The other good thing about wider aperture is narrower depth of field, which you'd generally want for shooting moving cars to make the subject really "pop".

Well, here are my latest pics from AutoX. And I have to thank you guys because I took your advice and I believe the improvement is dramatic. I ditched the automatic settings and went manual. I applied your advice to slow down the film and practice "panning" the cars as they went by and it worked out great. I used 100 speed film and generally stuck to a shutter speed of 125. I used a telephoto and threw on a polarizing filter. And the colors are WAY deeper, the cars are much sharper and the backgrounds are blurred nicely to give that "speed" effect. I also took Tom (TMH)'s advice and spent some more time thinking about composition. Unfortunately, AutoX is done on a pretty flat surface, so my options were limited. But I did try to capture the cars in turns and under acceleration so they would not be sitting so flat and maybe show a bit more drama. I also tried shooting from the infield so I could photograph the drivers instead of just the cars. I figure people driving fast cars are intrinsically more interesting than fast cars driving themselves. I also tried using the polarizing filter but it seems to have had little or no effect. My skies are still washed out. Hmmm...Anyway, I wanted to share these pics to demonstrate how helpful you guys have been and to say how much I appreciate your advice. Next season I plan to shoot a zillion more rolls and work on improving even more.
SmileWavy

<img src="http://fasterfasterfaster.com/Vito1.JPG" border="0" alt="" width="750"><br>
<img src="http://fasterfasterfaster.com/Henry1.JPG" border="0" alt="" width="750"><br>
<img src="http://fasterfasterfaster.com/BrianSC1.JPG" border="0" alt="" width="750"><br>
<img src="http://fasterfasterfaster.com/BillBrinkman1.JPG" border="0" alt="" width="750"><br>
<img src="http://fasterfasterfaster.com/BillBrinkman2.JPG" border="0" alt="" width="750"><br>

Janus, those look great. Big improvement, all thanks to your thread :)
I've applied similar settings, took a lot of trial and error, but came up w/ improved shots as well. As far as the skies are concerned, NE sky isn't always nice and blue. ;)

On the silver Carrera #155 in particular, it looks just about right. The 924 looks great in action. Good work.

bravo! http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/clap.gif

nice improvement!

excellent photos!!

Very nice. Looks like you've got some of the stuff going on well now. I now second what TMH said above, now you might want to work on composition. I'm very amatuer, and don't get to take photo's as often as I'd like, but I read a lot. Something I had never really noted concerning composition is the "1/3rd rule". The one third rule works. It says that if you divide your photo into thirds horizontally and vertically (like tic-tac-toe) you want to place your subject on the lines or even better on the intesections of the lines.

I think someone else has mentioned something to this affect before too. Besides interesting angles and such, if you put the car at the end of the photo instead of dead center the viewer imagines it racing across the photo. As I said, I'm no expert, and getting the car in the photo is hard enough when trying to pan, but it's something else to think about.

A good idea is too look at some of the action shots in some of the Porsche books, car magazines, and on the web. Pick some that really stand out and study their composition and technique.

These most recent shots look great, the slower shutter speed and panning made a huge difference.

Great job!