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Old 08-14-2005, 06:39 AM   #34
c0wb0y007
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Belgium
Posts: 554
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Hi Dingo,

Hope I can help you a bit.

First of all I'm going to try to say something about the shutter speed:
I don't know what camera you use, but try to step away of using the sport mode. People tend to use high shutter times when it comes to sports photography, sometimes it is necessary of course. But from the moment you want to show the aspect of motion don't use high shutter speeds. When I'm shooting race cars at the Nürburgring, my shutter speed doesn't go any higher than 200/s. I prefer 125 or 160/s. I don't say that you won't have motion blur when shooting on 300 or even higher but it depends on how fast your object moves. I bet you can have good motion blur shooting F1 cars at 500 and even 800/s. I think that shutter speeds of 1/40s - 1/60s for shooting cars on public roads are just fine. That will do the trick.

Another important thing is that I think it's always good to pre-focus. You pre-focus on a part of the road, there where the car is going to pass. So, when you are into street photography just pre-focus on the lane where the car will be driving the moment it passes you. Note that it is possible the camera can't find a focal point, take in mind that a camera can only focus itself if it finds a differ in contrast. So, if your camera doesn't focus itself immediately when you focus anywhere on the black tarmac, aim on the yellow or white road markings.

Now, your camera is set, you see a red Enzo coming 8) ... . When it comes to positioning yourself; I'm always doing the same thing which is: I'm following the upcoming car through the view finder, My feet point into the direction as I want to snap the car. The result can be that you snap the car form the side such as TT's shots (E-class and Cayenne) or under another angle. Because you pre focussed before, you just have to wait when the car comes into focus and then you just have to pull the trigger

It can be quite frustrating in the beginning but pratice makes perfect.

Keeping a cool head is always an advantage, have seen people missing a shot because they lost their calmness, if you are shooting pictures you are looking through the lens, you go for the pictures and that's it. Some people tend to shoot a few pictures in a rush and they want to get involved what happens afterwards --> Don't !!! The satisfaction will be much bigger after seeing some great images appear on your monitor

Good luck with it Dingo !!!

Cheers
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