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Hi guys, welcome back to itsdankreviews and today I'm going to go over what I think are
the three most basic steps to shooting motor sports. I recently went to Phillip Island
with Sony and Actioncam and full disclosure, I work for Sony but am not an official spokesperson
for the company.
The first step to shooting motor sports is bringing the right gear, so here's Tony with
the 70-200mm and as you can see, he is around 20 to 30m from the track. Bringing a zoom
lens allows you to get much closer to the subject and as an example; this is the photo
you just watched him take. Depending on how far you are from the circuit, you may opt
for a variety of zoom lenses from 200, all the way up to 400 or 500mm. Keep in mind that
you may want to use a monopod for lenses past 200mm due to the weight and hand held shake.
The second fundamental step to shooting motor sports is locking focus. Consider that the
subject matter could be flying past at some 300km/hr, that's simply not enough time for
most cameras to autofocus. To start, switch to manual focus and burst shooting mode, and
focus on the part of the road that you want to shoot. Then, as your subject approaches,
pan and release the shutter at the precise point you pre-focused on. If you have ample
amounts of light, push the aperture to around f3.2 to 4.5 for bikes and anything above f5.6
for cars. This will expand your focal range so you can get the entire subject matter in
focus. If lighting is bad, you may need to raise your ISO to accommodate for the required
aperture needed to shoot your subject.
The third and final step to shooting motor sports is by far the most difficult to master.
Whilst a high shutter speed will seemingly freeze time for fast moving subjects, it has
the effect of freezing motion as well. Lowering the shutter speed and panning your subject
at the same time brings back that motion and when done right, will keep your subject matter
in focus too. Be ready to combine burst shooting, locked focus, slower shutter speeds and panning
all at the same time. Hopefully out of the hundreds of shots you'll end up taking, you
end up with some keepers. The results are well worth the effort and with a bit of practice
you can get consistent results. I prefer going handheld with this technique although you
can do it with a monopod as well. I hope you guys enjoyed the video as much
as I enjoyed making it, the photos from my trip can be found on Flickr or my Channel
Facebook, both of which are posted in the video description. Hit the middle of your
screen to subscribe and I hope to see you guys back for more! If you have any questions,
please ask them below and I'll get back to you as soon as humanly possible.
Like the video up if you enjoyed the content and I'll see you all next video!