A couple of pics from Oulton Park Test Day - your comments !
Discussion
Hi there,
Spent an hour or so at Oulton Park earlier today spectating at their general test session.
Took my camera (as always) and got loads of photos.
The camera I am using is an Olympus E-500 DSLR with a 40-150mm Olympus lense.
Please let me know what you think as I have been working really hard on my technique.
Spent an hour or so at Oulton Park earlier today spectating at their general test session.
Took my camera (as always) and got loads of photos.
The camera I am using is an Olympus E-500 DSLR with a 40-150mm Olympus lense.
Please let me know what you think as I have been working really hard on my technique.
AF, would you mind telling me what the procedure is for turning up to track days / test sessions like these? I want to go to one some day soon with my camera but don't know whether to just turn up / check first / go to certain areas only / etc.
Love the final pic; just hope I can achieve panning shots as sharp as those!
Love the final pic; just hope I can achieve panning shots as sharp as those!
Please, Sir?! I'd be interested to know too.... 
bulb763 said:
AF, would you mind telling me what the procedure is for turning up to track days / test sessions like these? I want to go to one some day soon with my camera but don't know whether to just turn up / check first / go to certain areas only / etc.
Love the final pic; just hope I can achieve panning shots as sharp as those!
Love the final pic; just hope I can achieve panning shots as sharp as those!
Hi there,
Test sessions are usually free of charge and usually open to the public. The test sessions I attend most are at Oulton Park and Donington Park as these are my two local circuits. Oulton Park is pretty much an open track as there is no security guard at the entrance and once into the grounds you can pretty much go anywhere (as long as you stay out of the prohibited areas). This means you can wander round the infield and the paddock quite freely. As long as you don't make a nuisance of yourself or get in anyones way then you should be left alone.
Donington is slightly different as there is a security guard on the gate. In the past I have e-mailed ahead of my visit to check that I am ok to attend. As yet they have never refused, I just tell the security guard that I am spectating at the general test and he tells me where to park. In the winter the only access you can get is to the paddock, and pits/pitwall, although in the summer you can usually get to the infield and wander round to pick your ideal spot to shoot from.
I have previously been to a Britcar test day at Silverstone and again admission was free although I know they do charge entrance to the F1 test days.
Heres a couple of pics from the last Donington test day I attended: -
Hope this helps.
Regards
Tim
Edited by autofocus on Thursday 15th February 22:22
leeb said:
how. how how dammit!!!
i am not getting the hang of this whole panning thing. could you tell me what settings you use, is it af or mf at a point, and follow the car? clicking at what point?
sorry, need to know, and you appear to be a man who does.
thanks a lot
top photos!
i am not getting the hang of this whole panning thing. could you tell me what settings you use, is it af or mf at a point, and follow the car? clicking at what point?
sorry, need to know, and you appear to be a man who does.
thanks a lot
top photos!
Hi there,
My top tip for getting panning right is practice. I shot approx 250 photos yesterday and probably only got the panning right on 30 -40 of them. I just keep practising until I get it right.
I do vary the shutter speeds when I am shooting moving cars. I never used to but ended up shooting moving cars that looked like they were standing still. The shutter speed that I used yesterday was mainly 1/200s although a few were shot at 1/250s and some at 1/160s, the shutter speed I use depends on the circuit I am at and the speed of the car I am trying to shoot.
As for focusing I either use the S-AF (Auto Focus) or the C-AF (Continuous Auto Focus) setting on my camera.
Also I have read a really good book that taught me alot it is called Motorsport Photography and is by a guy called Tony Pleavin
www.amazon.co.uk/Motor-Sport-Photography-Tony-Pleavin/dp/1861083998/sr=8-1/qid=1171582134/ref=sr_1_1/203-3429642-9831126?ie=UTF8&s=books
Its well worth a read.
Hope this helps.
Regards
Tim
Edited by autofocus on Thursday 15th February 23:30
autofocus said:
bulb763 said:
AF, would you mind telling me what the procedure is for turning up to track days / test sessions like these? I want to go to one some day soon with my camera but don't know whether to just turn up / check first / go to certain areas only / etc.
!
!
Hi there,
I have previously been to a Britcar test day at Silverstone and again admission was free although I know they do charge entrance to the F1 test days.
Tim
You do need a ticket (warning you that Motorsport is dangerous!) but it is handed out FREE on the gate.
The trouble is that the access areas allowed have become fewer over the last few years;
I used to take my mountain bike and be able to cycle ALL the way around the circuit and have infield access.
Now, the public are limited to the area from Bridge down to Copse and it's hard to blag your way into the infield.
leeb said:
how. how how dammit!!!
i am not getting the hang of this whole panning thing. could you tell me what settings you use, is it af or mf at a point, and follow the car? clicking at what point?
sorry, need to know, and you appear to be a man who does.
thanks a lot
top photos!
i am not getting the hang of this whole panning thing. could you tell me what settings you use, is it af or mf at a point, and follow the car? clicking at what point?
sorry, need to know, and you appear to be a man who does.
thanks a lot
top photos!
Practice IS the key - best bet is to find one spot for a fair period (inside of a constant-radius corner makes life easier, like Hollywood at Donington), set the camera to Tv (shutter priority), set the shutter speed to say 1/200 or 1/250 to start with, and then slowly reduce it as you get comfortable with the technique, down to 1/125, maybe 1/100 or less depending on the 'crossing speed'* of the subject.
Technique:-
With the camera in a comfortable position (arms tucked into your ribs helps with stability for some), smoothly follow the car with the camera as it passes in front of you.
Keep your panning at the same pace as the car, don't 'overtake it' (under some circumstances you CAN, but ignore that for now).
Whatever you do, don't stop your hands when you take a photo.
If you've got a D-SLR, take two or three in quick succession.
The smoother your panning, the slower you can set the shutter speed. If you want to be REALLY flash, a monopod and a 2-setting Image-Stabilised lens will enable even slower shutter-speeds, but to be honest if you're close enough to the target even 1/125 will get some good results. See the following link for some stuff I took last year:-
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=312755
* Crossing speed - how quickly they're moving from your left to right (didn't want to assume I was being clear).
Edit: Just looked over mine again and am wondering what I'm doing giving you advice!!!
Edited by havoc on Friday 16th February 09:52
elderly said:
If you have paid to go to watch f1 testing at Silverstone, somebody is ripping you off!!!!!
You do need a ticket (warning you that Motorsport is dangerous!) but it is handed out FREE on the gate.
I believe they are charging £10 from this season.
Just another note to add about focusing while panning.... AF of some camera/lens may not be fast enough to track the car. If this was the case, switch to manual focus then pre-focus at the point of the track where you want to shoot, follow the car as normal and press the shutter just before the car gets to the point.
Edited by Gemm on Friday 16th February 11:29
Hi there,
How chuffed am I, sent my pics across to Team Eurotech for them to have a look at: -
www.teameurotech.com//news.htm?bM=2&bD=16&bY=2007&bT=99
Regards
Tim
How chuffed am I, sent my pics across to Team Eurotech for them to have a look at: -
www.teameurotech.com//news.htm?bM=2&bD=16&bY=2007&bT=99
Regards
Tim
luca brazzi said:
Fabulous shots.
That last pic is Phil Keen (Racing Green TVR) testing his LMP1 car. He'd be thrilled to have a copy of it printed.
LB
That last pic is Phil Keen (Racing Green TVR) testing his LMP1 car. He'd be thrilled to have a copy of it printed.
LB
Hi there,
Many thanks for your reply.
The car in that shot is the Rollcentre Radical and is the car that ran last year in LMP2. Phil Keen has been signed by Rollcentre to race their new Pescarolo LMP1 car but as yet I do not believe that this car has begun its testing programme.
Regards
Tim
autofocus said:
luca brazzi said:
Fabulous shots.
That last pic is Phil Keen (Racing Green TVR) testing his LMP1 car. He'd be thrilled to have a copy of it printed.
LB
That last pic is Phil Keen (Racing Green TVR) testing his LMP1 car. He'd be thrilled to have a copy of it printed.
LB
Hi there,
Many thanks for your reply.
The car in that shot is the Rollcentre Radical and is the car that ran last year in LMP2. Phil Keen has been signed by Rollcentre to race their new Pescarolo LMP1 car but as yet I do not believe that this car has begun its testing programme.
Regards
Tim
Gemm said:
elderly said:
If you have paid to go to watch f1 testing at Silverstone, somebody is ripping you off!!!!!
You do need a ticket (warning you that Motorsport is dangerous!) but it is handed out FREE on the gate.
I believe they are charging £10 from this season.
Edited by Gemm on Friday 16th February 11:29
Damm they have started charging
i thought it was part of the F1 contract to keep these days free. www.silverstone.co.uk/html/ra_f1test.php
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