Zoom, Pan, Click...
A thread in the POTN Canon Digital Photography "Motorsports" topic regarding panning sent me digging through my old scanned images looking for that one decent shot of Alain Prost's Ferrari flying down the main straight in Montreal from an otherwise horrible (photographically, for me) 1990 Canadian Grand Prix.
The weather on race day was awful, cold and wet. I remember trying to keep my camera dry from the rain pouring off the umbrellas of the people in the row ahead of us more than I remember the race. At one point, though, the rain let up and I was able to capture this shot - pretty much the only keeper of all those taken from the main grandstands across from pit lane. The scan job is pretty crappy, but it's one of those epiphany shots that made the light bulbs go off in my head: "I get it now! All I have to do is slow down the shutter speed a little, pan with the car as it passes, and click the shutter without stopping." No kidding, one might say, but I hadn't really given much thought to the matter until that time.
Alain Prost, Ferrari 641, 1990 Canadian GP
Nikon FG 35mm | Sigma 70-210mm f/4.5
With this nugget of brilliance firmly ingrained, I was able to use the panning technique to fairly good use in later years.
Mika Hakkinen, McLaren-Mercedes MP4/14, 1999 Canadian GP
Nikon FG 35mm | Sigma 70-210mm f/4.5
Ralt RT1, 2004 SVRA Zippo Vintage Grand Prix, Watkins Glen
Canon 300D | Tamron 100-300mm f/4.5-6.3 | 1/160 @ f/9 (0ev) ISO 100
Update 4/7: Well, I'll be damned - the Alain Prost shot was not my first high-speed pan capture! This earlier image turned up in my print archive from the 1989 SVRA vintage races. It was clearly an accident that it came out halfway in focus...
Lotus 22, 1989 SVRA Serengeti Vintage Cup, Watkins Glen
Nikon FG 35mm | Sigma 70-210mm f/4.5
The weather on race day was awful, cold and wet. I remember trying to keep my camera dry from the rain pouring off the umbrellas of the people in the row ahead of us more than I remember the race. At one point, though, the rain let up and I was able to capture this shot - pretty much the only keeper of all those taken from the main grandstands across from pit lane. The scan job is pretty crappy, but it's one of those epiphany shots that made the light bulbs go off in my head: "I get it now! All I have to do is slow down the shutter speed a little, pan with the car as it passes, and click the shutter without stopping." No kidding, one might say, but I hadn't really given much thought to the matter until that time.
Alain Prost, Ferrari 641, 1990 Canadian GP
Nikon FG 35mm | Sigma 70-210mm f/4.5
With this nugget of brilliance firmly ingrained, I was able to use the panning technique to fairly good use in later years.
Mika Hakkinen, McLaren-Mercedes MP4/14, 1999 Canadian GP
Nikon FG 35mm | Sigma 70-210mm f/4.5
Ralt RT1, 2004 SVRA Zippo Vintage Grand Prix, Watkins Glen
Canon 300D | Tamron 100-300mm f/4.5-6.3 | 1/160 @ f/9 (0ev) ISO 100
Update 4/7: Well, I'll be damned - the Alain Prost shot was not my first high-speed pan capture! This earlier image turned up in my print archive from the 1989 SVRA vintage races. It was clearly an accident that it came out halfway in focus...
Lotus 22, 1989 SVRA Serengeti Vintage Cup, Watkins Glen
Nikon FG 35mm | Sigma 70-210mm f/4.5
posted by Paul @ 12:18 AM
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