Photography Question

[JaysGreenLX]

My friends and I were out trying to get some action photos of my car the other day and found that it was a bit more difficult than we thought.

The idea was to get a pic that would convey the idea of speed. Most of the pictures turned out like this one.

You can tell the car is moving but it doesn't look fast. We tried slowing down shutter speeds but then we go over exposure. We found that when we zoomed in a little, the pictures showed the desired result. Like this one.

What is it that we are doing wrong? How do I get a full picture of the car similar to the one above?

Thanks.

 

[1Day-ACobra]

Ok. There are several things to do here. I don't know which camera you're using but try the following:

If your camera has a setting with an icon that is a person's head, try it. This setting is supposed to be used to take pictures of people or animals. It focuses primarily on the subject, and the background comes out a little blurred. Also, if it has an icon of like a moving object, try this too.

If that doesn't work you'll need to play with your aperture/shutter speed options. Again I don't know which camera you're using or even if it has the ability to do this but most modern digi cameras do. Go through your camera's settings until you see a number displayed like 1/x where x is some number whatever the default is on your camera. This is the shutter speed and the higher the number x the faster the picture is taken, i.e. 1/1000 means the shutter speed is 1000th of a second. 1/10 means it's a tenth of a second. So for this kind of shot, change this number until you get to something like 1/5 or 1/10 or 1/20, but try it on as many settings as you can for the desired effect.

Check out your camera's manual and if you dont have it try Google and see what you come up with. Good luck.

 

[8urvett]

I am sure someone will correct me, but from what I understand is most motion shots are actually driving very slowly. Almost as slow as 5-10mph and of course the exposure is slowed down to like a 1/20 or 1/30. On a bright day like you have here you could always use the sunny 16 rule. keep your f-stop at 16 and shoot with the previous speeds of 1/20 or slower, hard part is finding an area where there isn't any traffic! slow shutter speeds will overexpose your shot's especially if your at a large f-stop like 2.8-5. Try again going slower and take the shot at 1/20 or so at like F-16 or smaller (meaning larger number 18, 22, etc.)

I hope that helps a little, I am sure the pro's will jump in now!!

 

[1Day-ACobra]

my bad i missed the fact that you had already tried shutter speeds.

play with your f-stop too.

if you can ONLY achieve the effect with zoom then, hell, get in good position, add the minimum amount needed to get the effect and shoot away.

what camera are you using by the way?

 

[Zentenk]

Aww I don't know much, this is a friends camera, driving around 60-70 mph. I may try to borrow the camera, I want to do some photoshots as well. So I am learning what others put up here as well, thanks!

 

[JaysGreenLX]

I am sure someone will correct me, but from what I understand is most motion shots are actually driving very slowly. Almost as slow as 5-10mph and of course the exposure is slowed down to like a 1/20 or 1/30. On a bright day like you have here you could always use the sunny 16 rule. keep your f-stop at 16 and shoot with the previous speeds of 1/20 or slower, hard part is finding an area where there isn't any traffic! slow shutter speeds will overexpose your shot's especially if your at a large f-stop like 2.8-5. Try again going slower and take the shot at 1/20 or so at like F-16 or smaller (meaning larger number 18, 22, etc.)

I hope that helps a little, I am sure the pro's will jump in now!!

Yes this does help. The only issue is with the slower shutter speed, there is a greater opportunity for a blurred picture. Especially while driving. But I can give it a try nonetheless.

The pics above were taken with an Olympus Camedia C50-Z 5.0 MP. I hate the camera. I would like to get something with more MP and more manual settings. Actually this camera can go into full manual but its not the most intuitive setup.

 

[8urvett]

Try using a monopod, if you can find safe place to stand out of the way of traffic, a person could pan you with the slow shutter (1/20 at say f11 or greater) and drive slowly by the person. They should be able to capture your car and make it look like it's going 70. It takes some practice, of course I don't have any shots like this to show you!!! (LOL) So now I have to get off my lazy butt and put my own advice to work!! Thanks a lot!

 

[Matt94GT]

i think movin shots look sweet i need to get one

 

[Silverstangs]

So your looking for something kind of like this.....

 

[JaysGreenLX]

So your looking for something kind of like this.....

Thats more like it. Except for the wheels...they still look like they are moving slow.

What Photoshop tool did you use to do that?

 

[JaysGreenLX]

Anyone else?

 

[DCAN87]

Thats more like it. Except for the wheels...they still look like they are moving slow.

What Photoshop tool did you use to do that?

Thats done by motion blur. If you have a still shot of your car you can post a pic and I can exchange the rims from there.

 

[JaysGreenLX]

Thats done by motion blur. If you have a still shot of your car you can post a pic and I can exchange the rims from there.

Do you motion blur the wheels from the still shot? I don't know if I have a still shot from the same angle.

 

[Blk98Cobra]

How the heck do you change your shutter speed....camera is a nikon coolpix 7600, been reading the manual but cant figure it out...

 

[JaysGreenLX]

How the heck do you change your shutter speed....camera is a nikon coolpix 7600, been reading the manual but cant figure it out...

I love the Coolpix cameras. I had a 2.0 mp before the one I have now and I liked it much better. Except for the battery life which blew. It didn't use LI batteries.

Anyway....there should be a setting on your spin dial to go into a manual mode. This will bring up a bunch of numbers on your screen. You can adjust F-stop, white balance, shutter speed. I am assuming you can do that on your camera being that it is a higher end Coolpix. Look in your instruction book for Manual Settings or Shutter Speed and that should contain the answers you are looking for.

 

[MinGrey02Stg2]

This is what I came up with...

 

[Blk98Cobra]

I love the Coolpix cameras. I had a 2.0 mp before the one I have now and I liked it much better. Except for the battery life which blew. It didn't use LI batteries.

Anyway....there should be a setting on your spin dial to go into a manual mode. This will bring up a bunch of numbers on your screen. You can adjust F-stop, white balance, shutter speed. I am assuming you can do that on your camera being that it is a higher end Coolpix. Look in your instruction book for Manual Settings or Shutter Speed and that should contain the answers you are looking for.

Nah its not in the manual and there isnt a dial for it, I have to use a damn tripod with this thing to take really good pictures w/o flash in low-light, it sux

 

[ReducedFat]

Paging Mr. Dmitry Zaltsman...

He'll know what to do.

 

[JaysGreenLX]

I have to use a damn tripod with this thing to take really good pictures w/o flash in low-light, it sux

Everyone does. I hate when people try to take night pics without them.

Paging Mr. Dmitry Zaltsman...

I need answers. :-D

 

[DCAN87]

Do you motion blur the wheels from the still shot? I don't know if I have a still shot from the same angle.

No. You motion blur the backround. You radial blur the wheels.