Help with moving car pictures

[radtechtips]

I'm just wondering if any of you photography wizards could help me improve my shots of moving cars. I was practicing out front of my house on the cars that drove by. Almost all of them turned out bad. what am i doing wrong?

Camera is a Rebel Xti

I have a couple more if that helps

 

[C1]

Normally you'd just put in shutter mode and maybe set focus to "spot focus" (ie, for the speed of focus). Try shutter speed of 1/500 th (depends on light).

You probably also have built in pre-set modes such as high sensitivity, landscape, sports/action, etc. Try sports/action mode. (You'll probably see 1/800th - 1/1000 th second shutter.)

 

[radtechtips]

Sorry I mean something like this, where the car is in focus, but the background gives it the sense of motion.

 

[corkyg]

That requires panning - that keeps the car in focus and blurs the background.

 

[radtechtips]

Ya I got that from some tutorials i found, I was meaning like what settings would help keep the car in focus.

 

[corkyg]

I would try shutter priority of about1/100th and concentrate on getting a smooth pan at relatively the same rate as the moving car. You want to keep the exposure rectangle on the car center and keep it there. You might want to try a rapid sequence where the camera does the work - you just range and click once. Then pick the best one in the sequence.

 

[CuriousMike]

I would try shutter priority of about1/100th and concentrate on getting a smooth pan at relatively the same rate as the moving car. You want to keep the exposure rectangle on the car center and keep it there. You might want to try a rapid sequence where the camera does the work - you just range and click once. Then pick the best one in the sequence.

^--- What he said. You might even try 1/60th as your panning gets better. (The shutter speed is somewhat dependent on your focal length -- how much you have to zoom. The more you zoom, the faster your shutter speed will likely need to be.)
Put your camera in drive-mode (continuous shooting) so you can crank out 3-4 frames/second.

 

[estarkey7]

The way this is done is to use a lens with image stabilization that has a panning setting. Sine Canon lenses have this feature as well as Panasonic lenses and Olympus camera bodies.

With the panning feature enabled, it counteracts up and down movement, but allows side to side. Additionally, you'll want to be in shutter priority, and set your shutter speed around 1/10 of a second.

 

[Rottie]

Hey OP
Those 3 pictures look GREAT!! Keep up a good job!

 

[radtechtips]

Thanks for the tips and encouragement guys! I went out with my friend and his GTI and took a whole bunch of pictures. I think this one turned out much better!

A little fun with photoshop!

 

[Rottie]

Great job you have made it this time! Keep on practicing!