# Looking for some help.



## sidigirl (Jun 22, 2012)

[SUP]
[/SUP]  I took this the other night, what can I do to take better shots?


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## chuasam (Jun 22, 2012)

get closer


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## Ernicus (Jun 22, 2012)

Closer would not be better if she wanted that shot.

OP, what do you mean by better?  Do you see any flaws or things you would like to improve on?  What would make it better for you?  If you state things you are looking to improve on, you will get better answers and more detailed help as to how to achieve it.  Simply saying "how can I make it better", will not get you great answers, and possibly answers you don't want.  Be specific in your own assessment and what you are looking for.


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## bratkinson (Jun 23, 2012)

I'm a million miles away from being any kind of an expert, but my first thought was a bit less grass, and a bit more air/sky above the bikers.  I'm assuming this is a crop of a photo, so a re-cropping would put more "headroom" in the picture.


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## imagemaker46 (Jun 23, 2012)

All depends, I don't mind wide shots like this, but it doesn't look sharp at all.  The background doesn't help the situation, and it's unlikely that there is a cleaner one to be found on this track. It's difficult to say much without knowning what the track looks like.  Looks a little flat as well.


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## Marcelle (Jun 23, 2012)

better focus wouldn't hurt, maybe try a follow up to give a motion blur to the background and work in hyper focal


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## cgipson1 (Jun 23, 2012)

#1.. get your camera off of AUTO... it shows an ISO speed rating of 3/6 (?), F8, 1/500, Auto WB.  Exif also shows that IS was OFF..and you were in Manual Focus.

Use aperture priority, set your ISO to 100 or 400 (or other, depending on the light.. as low as possible to still get a decent shutter speed. F8 would be fine at the distances. Turn on the IS.. unless you were using tripod. Use Auto Focus... it probably will focus better than you can.

Also assuming that you shot this with a lens that probably isn't at it's best when shot at the end of it's zoom range. Lack of contrast.. and probably visible CA when you zoom 100% in post.

Tell us more about how you shot this


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## sidigirl (Jun 23, 2012)

I was asked to get some shots of the jurniors cycling team while racing at Portland International Raceway in broad daylight. I haven't been using a tri pod, but am considering getting one. I want to convey the speed the riders are moving as a team.


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## chuasam (Jun 23, 2012)

a tripod would be useless for this shot. To convey a sense of speed, let some motion blur creep in.


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## fjrabon (Jun 23, 2012)

chuasam said:


> a tripod would be useless for this shot. To convey a sense of speed, let some motion blur creep in.



actually tripods are good if you want motion blur without camera shake blur.  Or if you're going to do a pan, so the camera follows the riders, and blurs the background.

Being closer would definitely help, as it's fairly obvious that this was not only shot at a relatively large focal length, but was also then cropped on top of that. If you shot closer, your pictures would be sharper, you'd have less noise and you'd probably have better color and contrast.  

I don't mind using manual focus on action shots like this, but you have to 'pre-focus' in those cases.  Ie get your focus right before the bikers ever get there (probably using auto focus), like absolutely perfect, (if you used auto focus to get the focus first, then switch to manual or just lock your focus using your focus lock button) and then when they come into the frame you can shoot in an instant.  

Compositionally it would probably be better if you had lined up so that the middle rider was perfectly in the middle of the frame and you were shoting perfectly perpendicular to him.  That way you get the lead runner biking off of the picture at speed and the back rider biking into the picture with speed.  It sets up a sense of dynamism, as opposed to the mostly static image we have here.


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## cgipson1 (Jun 23, 2012)

chuasam said:


> a tripod would be useless for this shot. To convey a sense of speed, let some motion blur creep in.



and that entails getting that camera out of PROGRAM / AUTO. Use TV (I think that is what it is on Canons) and set your shutter speed to various settings while doing some shots.. Start around 125 and go up from there. Vary ISO to keep your aperture somewhere about two stops smaller than whatever your lens does wide open.

Turn on your IS.. if you have it. Use the Auto Focus...


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## imagemaker46 (Jun 23, 2012)

Starting to sound like there is a very strong lack of camera knowledge and basics, especially where shooting anything that moves.  Tripod is restrictive in movement.

If you're shooting some landscapes you can start to calculate the hyper focal distance of your lens.  Or you could just pretend that you've never heard of hyperfocal distance and work on just getting the images sharp, learn how to use your camera and then take another shot at this.  You're not as far off as everyone thinks.


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## fjrabon (Jun 23, 2012)

imagemaker46 said:


> Starting to sound like there is a very strong lack of camera knowledge and basics, especially where shooting anything that moves.  Tripod is restrictive in movement.
> 
> If you're shooting some landscapes you can start to calculate the hyper focal distance of your lens.  Or you could just pretend that you've never heard of hyperfocal distance and work on just getting the images sharp, learn how to use your camera and then take another shot at this.  You're not as far off as everyone thinks.



It depends on what you want to shoot.  I've seen people at car races shooting on tripods sometimes for some shots, mostly when they were just taking pictures of every car as they took a particular turn or something like that.  Sure, in general you'd probably prefer a monopod here, but I've definitely seen tripods being used by big time photogs at races in certain circumstances


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## Tony S (Jun 23, 2012)

OK, it seems to be a common comment from me lately on action shots, but I really prefer to see action coming at me instead of going away.  It's good to see the faces instead of the south end of a nortbound rider...... unless your really into that view.


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## Sw1tchFX (Jun 23, 2012)

It would be a lot better if you weren't shooting butts.

Edit: tony beat me to it!


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## imagemaker46 (Jun 24, 2012)

I agree with Tony as well.  

I'm sure lots of people use tripods, most would be using monopods. Personally I never use a tripod and find using a monopod restrictive when shooting sports. The biggest reason for using monopods is the weight of the lens. generally anything under a 300 2.8 shouldn't require a monopod, but then it also depends on strength and the ability to hold a camera and lens.


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## fjrabon (Jun 24, 2012)

imagemaker46 said:


> I agree with Tony as well.
> 
> I'm sure lots of people use tripods, most would be using monopods. Personally I never use a tripod and find using a monopod restrictive when shooting sports. The biggest reason for using monopods is the weight of the lens. generally anything under a 300 2.8 shouldn't require a monopod, but then it also depends on strength and the ability to hold a camera and lens.



I agree with that.  The tripod comment originally came in when a commenter said that a tripod is useless if you want to get motion blur, when actually the exact opposite is true.  Tripods are great if you want lots of motion blur without the camera shake blur.  Again it really always just comes down to how you want to shoot.  Do you want to sit at a certain part of the track and wait for your shot, or do you want to move around the track and chase shots?  Only OP can really answer that.


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## ScubaDude (Jun 25, 2012)

Lots of good advice here. I'll just add: practice, practice, practice. Learn about composition and exposure (lots of good reading material here on the forum). Get a good image editing program (Corel PaintShop Pro is a good substitute for the more expensive PhotoShop) and learn it. Posting shots and asking for critiques is a great way to get ideas for improving your skill. Most important of all: have fun with your photography.


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