starting to panic a bit...

[inkjunkie]

Owner of the local drag strip talked to me about being trackside with my camera this coming year, he is after a larger Social Media presence. I normally sit in the stands. I am excited about this. Up to about a week ago I was fairly confident I was going to do well....but with the results of my latest few rounds of shooting (my dogs playing/running) I am beginning to panic some. Have a 5D Mark IV and will be using my 20-200L f/2.8 lens. Was planning on shooting  Manual at f/5.6 until it started to get dark then try shooting wide open, adjusting the ISO as need be. Couldn't sleep one night...and made the mistake of reading a few different blogs about shooting motorsports. One of them mentioned shooting in AV mode, which made 0 sense. Another blog mentioned shooting in TV, keeping the shutter speed fast enough to avoid the lens from going wide open to keep the DOF deep, if that is what you desire. Have only shot in TV a few times. Have been experimenting, thanks to my pups, with it. I think I have a basic understanding of how it works. A bit confused over it but I still have some time to iron things out. I will not be following the vehicles, I will be down track a short distance from the starting line and having the cars coming at me. Which "case" should I be using?

Any general guide lines I should follow in regards to shutter settings and ISO?

Any and all advice will be appreciated.

[cicopo]

A word of caution which may apply here (not familiar with that body). When I used Custom modes any EC changes went away EVERY time the camera went into sleep mode. I hadn't expected that & it took a while to realize it was happening.

[RobertTheFat]

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@cicopowrote:

A word of caution which may apply here (not familiar with that body). When I used Custom modes any EC changes went away EVERY time the camera went into sleep mode. I hadn't expected that & it took a while to realize it was happening.

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Yes, if you wanted a change to persist, you had to re-save the custom mode. I think some recent cameras let you specify that changes be automatically saved.

[inkjunkie]

I see I have a ton of info to learn. Track is holding a chassis certification day the beginning of April, there will also be a class on how to correctly use the "Christmas Tree". I am hoping that the tree is actually set up and vehicles are heading down track. I have an idea on how I am going to start out but will not be surprised if I am way off. I am fairly comfortable shooting in Manual so I am going to probably start there. I am planning on using my pups as models so I can try to get a basic understanding of TV mode.

One of the things I know I am going to struggle with is the sun...and shadows. As the sun sets I will be looking dead into it, if I remember right. There are also certain times of the day where no matter where I stand I will be in the shade while the starting area will be in direct sun...and vice versa. Have been studying many of the shots I took last year, from the bleachers and can't help but notice this. I was often in the shade, shooting thru a slim band of sun while the cars were in the shade. I am sure I am overthinking all of this....because that is one of the things I am good at.....which leads to the panic...

[RobertTheFat]

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@inkjunkiewrote:

I see I have a ton of info to learn. Track is holding a chassis certification day the beginning of April, there will also be a class on how to correctly use the "Christmas Tree". I am hoping that the tree is actually set up and vehicles are heading down track. I have an idea on how I am going to start out but will not be surprised if I am way off. I am fairly comfortable shooting in Manual so I am going to probably start there. I am planning on using my pups as models so I can try to get a basic understanding of TV mode.

One of the things I know I am going to struggle with is the sun...and shadows. As the sun sets I will be looking dead into it, if I remember right. There are also certain times of the day where no matter where I stand I will be in the shade while the starting area will be in direct sun...and vice versa. Have been studying many of the shots I took last year, from the bleachers and can't help but notice this. I was often in the shade, shooting thru a slim band of sun while the cars were in the shade. I am sure I am overthinking all of this....because that is one of the things I am good at.....which leads to the panic...

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In this job, are you a documentarian or a publicist? If the latter (e.g., if you don't have to produce a salable picture of every car in every race), you have fewer constraints and more freedom to exercise artistic judgement. You may even be able to make the odd lighting work in your favor; sunset can be a good time to get attractive shots. And do you have to produce your best work immediately, or will you have time to grow into the job?

In the last several years before I retired, when photography was part of my job, I was able to grow into it. I cringe now at some of my early pictures, but my clients in other departments liked them, because I was at least calling attention to what their people were doing. I don't mean to imply that I could get away with shoddy work. In some cases (Inaugurations, important award ceremonies, lectures by well-known speakers, etc.) I definitely couldn't. But I sort of knew what I was doing, and the pressure usually helped by making me a more careful worker.

I think the bottom line is to treat this as an opportunity; do the best you can; but don't expect perfection. You'll learn what works as you go and should come out fine.

[inkjunkie]

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@RobertTheFatwrote:

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@inkjunkiewrote:

I see I have a ton of info to learn. Track is holding a chassis certification day the beginning of April, there will also be a class on how to correctly use the "Christmas Tree". I am hoping that the tree is actually set up and vehicles are heading down track. I have an idea on how I am going to start out but will not be surprised if I am way off. I am fairly comfortable shooting in Manual so I am going to probably start there. I am planning on using my pups as models so I can try to get a basic understanding of TV mode.

One of the things I know I am going to struggle with is the sun...and shadows. As the sun sets I will be looking dead into it, if I remember right. There are also certain times of the day where no matter where I stand I will be in the shade while the starting area will be in direct sun...and vice versa. Have been studying many of the shots I took last year, from the bleachers and can't help but notice this. I was often in the shade, shooting thru a slim band of sun while the cars were in the shade. I am sure I am overthinking all of this....because that is one of the things I am good at.....which leads to the panic...

---

In this job, are you a documentarian or a publicist? If the latter (e.g., if you don't have to produce a salable picture of every car in every race), you have fewer constraints and more freedom to exercise artistic judgement. You hay even be able to make the odd lighting work in your favor; sunset can be a good time to get attractive shots. And do you have to produce your best work immediately, or will you have time to grow into the job?

In the last several years before I retired, when photography was part of my job, I was able to grow into it. I cringe now at some of my early pictures, but my clients in other departments liked them, because I was at least calling attention to what their people were doing. I don't mean to imply that I could get away with shoddy work. In some cases (Inaugurations, important award ceremonies, lectures by well-known speakers, etc.) I definitely couldn't. But I sort of knew what I was doing, and the pressure usually helped by making me a more careful worker.

I think the bottom line is to treat this as an opportunity; do the best you can; but don't expect perfection. You'll learn what works as you go and should come out fine.

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My images will just be for social media, least that is my intention. I am not under any contract...this is purely voluntary. I did have a couple folks contact me for specific images from last year. Last year I was shooting in auto mode, from the stands except for the last event. 

I appreciate your thoughts. The real issue is my mental health issues...and I expect far to much from myself. 

[inkjunkie]

Looks like I get another practice session of sorts. The end of March Spokane County Reacewars is hosting a DTP Racewars event. Don't know if I will be permitted trackside, hope so. 

[RobertTheFat]

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@inkjunkiewrote:

Looks like I get another practice session of sorts. The end of March Spokane County Reacewars is hosting a DTP Racewars event. Don't know if I will be permitted trackside, hope so. 

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Cite your summer job with the other track and go for the equivalent of a press pass. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[inkjunkie]

I contacted the promoter of the Racewars event, he siad being trackside would not be a problem. I was suppoed to meet up with a locl guy that does a lot of motorsports photography tonight but looks like it is not going to happen. I have been outside chasing our dogs around with the camera, just to get an understanding of how Shutter Prioirty works. I acutally used my T7i first, seems a bit more rookie friendly when it comes to learning things.

I also stood on the side of a couple different state highways, taking pictures of moving vehicles. I actually got lucky a few times and caught the passengers.

In the past my interest in photgraphy never lasted all that long, which resulted in me never getting out of the green box. But this time I am much more enthused about things. My wife laughs, when ever we take out 2 8 week old Redbone Coonhounds outside during the day I always try to bring a camera. I was organizing Lightroom last night...of the 6800 RAW images I have imported into Lightroom so far 4000 of them are of our dogs....

[TCampbell]

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@inkjunkiewrote:

I contacted the promoter of the Racewars event, he siad being trackside would not be a problem. I was suppoed to meet up with a locl guy that does a lot of motorsports photography tonight but looks like it is not going to happen. I have been outside chasing our dogs around with the camera, just to get an understanding of how Shutter Prioirty works. I acutally used my T7i first, seems a bit more rookie friendly when it comes to learning things.

I also stood on the side of a couple different state highways, taking pictures of moving vehicles. I actually got lucky a few times and caught the passengers.

In the past my interest in photgraphy never lasted all that long, which resulted in me never getting out of the green box. But this time I am much more enthused about things. My wife laughs, when ever we take out 2 8 week old Redbone Coonhounds outside during the day I always try to bring a camera. I was organizing Lightroom last night...of the 6800 RAW images I have imported into Lightroom so far 4000 of them are of our dogs....

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Yeah... but that’s how you learn.  You can “read” (and I encourage reading) but it doesn’t really cement in your head until you “do” it enough.

If you shoot randomly, you occasionally get a good or even great shot.   As the saying goes “even a blind pig occasionally finds an acorn”.  But if you shoot with a goal (instead of randomly) you start to develop a sense of what techniques help achieve the intended goal vs. which techniques aren’t helpful.

Thomas Edison tried thousands of different things in his attempt to make the light bulb.  He was once asked about all of his “failed” attempts.  His response was (paraphrasing) that they weren’t failures... that he now knows 3000 things that don’t work.

I feel as if, when it comes to learning photography, I also know thousands of things that “don’t work”.    😉

[cicopo]

Today's equipment makes it a lot easier to do what you need to do but it's still not easy BUT if it was everyone would be doing it to the point no one would think much of a great result. Learning from our mistakes never ends unless we give up trying.