getting my feet wet

[Chris Kory]

I tried to capture some nice "action" shots with a friends car, what can I do to improve the next time?

1)http://static.flickr.com/46/153986508_d3032c2c9f_o.jpg

2)http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/7454/poised27jy.jpg

3)http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/742/slide1bz.jpg

4)http://static.flickr.com/67/153970181_e45e04f7fa_o.jpg

5)http://static.flickr.com/72/153970176_38f6299771_o.jpg

[John Thawley]

Chris:http://static.flickr.com/67/153970181_e45e04f7fa_o.jpg

Let's work with the bottom two. The others are heavily stylized and might not be the best place to start.

Also, I might recommend for future reference, post only one or two examples.... I think you'll get better feedback.

First, it appears you've done some post processing on the second image. Looks a bit oversharpened.

But lets work with the camara.... Photoshop can come later. By the way, Photoshop can make a good photo great.. it won't necessarily bail out a bad photo.


The thing that struck me first was you've got autofocus - center syndrome. Work with the 'rule of thirds'.... get move the car off center both vertically and horizontally. Doing that will give your image some depth that hopefully will pull the viewers eye into the photo.

The upper of the two images is a pretty good image. But try to picture it if you'd gotten the car down toward the lower right corner of the frame.

You've taken on the tougher variety of pan shots. You've tried to pan with the car traveling at an angle to the camera. This means differnt parts of the car are not parallel to the face of the lens and in essence one part of the car is traveling faster than another. The point closest to you is traveling the fastest. So.. you're camera can't keep up with ALL of the car.... no matter how good you are at panning. Now, that can be used as a technique for composition... but it is a bit advanced.

I would suggest working on your commposition. Remember and learn the rule of thirds... no matter what you're shooting. It will make you take better pictures. Then practice panning where you are parallel to the car... at least while you improve your technique.

It does appear that you've got a flair for what you want to shoot... there are some interesting ideas here. You just need to develop the skills to be able to convert your ideas at will.


Here's a similar angle with the car lower in the frame and shifted off center:

http://gallery.johnthawley.com/albums/albup04/ack.jpg

And here's a low straight pan shot. Again, low and shifted off center:

http://gallery.johnthawley.com/albums/albup52/abe.jpg

Keep shooting and measuring your results. Shoot a lot and then go shoot some more.

Good luck,

John

[Jeff Boerio]

This was a good lesson, John. Thanks for the posting.

- Jeff