2011 Yorkshire Rally

Spent the weekend camping in Yorkshire with my little'un. Third year on the trot now going to the Yorkshire Rally. I think I've turned him into a proper "Bobble-hat"!.

Anyways, here are the first of a lot. I'm much happier this year with my shots. Last year I stuck to Av mode. This year I used combinations of Av, Tv and manual, which I think worked better given the speed of the cars and changeable light conditions. Still need to work on my panning though!

Hi Ted, while I know nothing about photographing rallies, I like #4 best of all. Chosen the moment perfectly. I think they may have benefitted if you had been able to get lower down, and on a couple panned with an even slower shutter speed.

As I say, I know nothing about rallies. So, I'd normally walk on without giving C&C. But I've already posted on another thread this morning saying I'm going to try and make more of an effort

I've got lots with a lower shutter speed! All going in the bin!!

Practise panning when it doesn't matter. Find an urban road and just keep taking shots (assuming you're on digital here). Remember to start the motion well before depressing the shutter, and "just" keep it smooth.

EM

Argh, I think I couldn't have done better than what you did here, not even close. Action shots are alien to me, but these are very good photos, you captured a lot of the right actions superbly!

My favourite's the Subaru pic.

Epithet Man is spot on with his advice however he has left out an important point and that is keep panning post shutter release.

example1

example2

Some good advice on the panning techniques there. I find Tv mode set to 1/90 or preferably less gives the best results for these type of shots. I will sometimes zoom out whilst panning to too, so you can pick the car up early in its trajectory whilst zoomed in, and still have it in the frame with space around it as it comes past - it gives you a bigger window of opportunity. Using manual focus preset on a chosen point of the track can also avoid problems with AF tracking. Even following focus manually can become natural with a bit of practice.

For gravel rallies it is actually quite nice to go for some high shutter speed (1/500+) shots to freeze the flying gravel, but best to choose an angle where the car is more directly towards or away from you so as to avoid capturing frozen wheels square on.

I think your second Land Rover shot is the best in terms of a successful panning shot - the angle and dust trails give a nice sense of speed. The yellow Corolla has a nice sense of action too despite the less pronounced motion blur, I think this might have been a good candidate for a high shutter speed shot - the angle and flying gravel providing the 'action' as opposed to motion blur. For me the other shots are less successful as they fall between the two techniques I mentioned above.

Anyway, I'll see if I can 'practice what I preach' in a couple of weeks when I'm off to Mull for the rally. I've been drafted in for chase car duties this year so not sure how much time I'll get for picture taking.

Do you not think the last two work best, with the car coming toward you?

Lots of great feedback there..thanks
I do try to follow the shot through, but I usualy over compensate and pan faster than the car.
I had my shutter speed at about 1/30 for the more successful panning shots.

Almost every vehicle has some out of focus areas. Is this due to low DoF ( iris open due to low light. ) or a common problem when panning?

I agree with the second Landy being the best of this bunch. Still got another 200 or so shots to process, so hopefully a few more good'uns in there.
My son ( aged 10 ), with a £5 second hand, 1.3Mp Canon P&S has actually got some better shots than these....I don't hate him...really..honest!!

I dont think they are all that bad Ted, obviously not world class rally shots but still far better than anything I could turn out.

I agree with Barrie, the last two "work" better with the position of the cars, the last is IMHO the best of the bunch with the car facing and the amount of dirt been thrown about, I even dont mind the fuzzyness on the front end of the car.

The cars all tend to be in the centre of the frame. I would try a little cropping to make then face into the picture from one side, and at the same time I would (in most cases) reduce the amount of road.

Rule of thirds stuff, and all that.

Cheers

G

You don't know how hard I had to try to get the whole car in the frame and you say they're too central!!

I know exactly what you mean, though. There is scope to crop differently. I suppose I went for central to avoid there being much more road in shot.

I'd definitely go for a section of road where they're coming towards you and I'd argue for 1/500@f10 or so. Prefocus, too.

This is from Rally Finland on a monopod with 100-300...I found panning from the side virtually impossible.




Bret

You only added that to make me jealous!!
I'd love to get to a Scandinavian rally.

you have no idea how much effort it took to a) get the ticket and b) get us there. We were out all day (!); three hours at the first stage, then another hour to get to the next, then treks and stuff... man, it was hard. Thank goodness the little monkey enjoyed it

Anyways. It's an example I'm quite happy with

Bret