first post...critique

[IM4U2NV81]

I know this image isnt so great. The focus is off I know, I'm looking for info basically

photo information
Nikon D70s (normal mode, medium size, manual focus)
f5.6, 1/125, 300mm, 800iso

My main concern is the color balance of the photo seems off, badly. This was my first outing with my new D70s and I'm trying to figure things out still. I've used a canon rebel film SLR through my studies (I have an A.A.S. in graphic design) and just now upgraded to the digital SLR

anyway, here are my photos...
example 1:
original image, resized


example 2:
resized, color corrected, levels adjusted



location was in Donaldsonville, LA on 2-19-6. Conditions were horrible. Heavily overcast, cold, and couldnt get too close on the track so had to use 300mm zoom. I debated switching the ISO to a higher setting but didnt wanna lose what little bit of crispness (which isnt in this photo, haha) that I could achieve at an 800iso.

Please critique. Ask questions if needed and I will answer the best I can. I'm looking to learn.

[IM4U2NV81]

and for good measure...


if its inappropriate, mods feel free to remove at your will or request for me to do so

corrected


f 5.6, 1/100sec, iso200, built-in flash

[IM4U2NV81]

photo information
Nikon D70s (normal mode, medium size, manual focus)
f5.6, 1/125, 300mm, 800iso


original image, resized


example 2:
resized, color corrected, levels adjusted

other than my shutter speed being slower than my optical zoom (shouldnt shutter speed be greater than zoom, general rule?) do you see anything else that could be changed?

[birddog114]

IM4U2NV81

Welcome! Her bum and the G-string make me a good start in the early morning.

[LostDingo]

IM4U2NV81

Welcome! Her bum and the G-string make me a good start in the early morning.

Birdy - I'm going to tell on you to Tran You need to take up coffee in the morning

IM4U2NV81 - welcome and please hang around more and share some more pics! Color balance does definitely appear to be wrong, provide your settings and exposure (of the g-string) and I am sure you will have all the help you can imagine!

[IM4U2NV81]

will have to look at the information on the camera when I get back at home. Its an out of the box Nikon D70s. I will have to let you know which lenses they were when I get home to look at the info. They are both Nikon lenses, the g-string pic was the 28-80 lens, the cars used an 70-300 lens, fully zoomed (track officials wouldnt let me any closer), gloomy day.

I do believe I listed the app./shutter/zoom/flash info above. Maybe you missed it by the g-string pic, haha.




One thing I didnt do that I probably could have done that day is set the white-balance settings for the "shade" setting maybe. The day was heavily overcast and not a bit of sun all day.

[IM4U2NV81]

IM4U2NV81

Welcome! Her bum and the G-string make me a good start in the early morning.

glad I could help you out.

[Glen]

Im, I notice on both you used manual white balance, auto works under most conditions and is pretty good, maybe give that a try?

[ABG]

IM4U2NV81 (now there's a catchy name that just rolls off the tongue ),

Welcome aboard. You'll find a wealth of information here.

Firstly, yes your shutter speed should be faster than the focal length of your lens (as a rough rule of thumb when hand holding). It appears to be camera shake that's causing the softness in your image as nothing in the image is sharp.

With white balance, I normally set my camera to Auto -2, which gives pleasing results in 99% of cases. If you shoot in RAW, it's very easy to change you WB in PP in any case.

[gstark]

Hi, and welcome.

Clearly your WB is out; which 300 lens were you using - the 70-300G ?

A couple of general pointers: use manual WB, setting it on the day based upon the conditions you encounter. Try to shoot in raw, it gives you the most options for rescuing a shot should a disaster occur.

Do you have a monopod? If not, consider purchasing one and learning how to use it. In situations such as these, it will be invaluable.

Consider using manual focus and prefocussing onto a point on the circuit that you know the cars will be passing. Then it's simply a matter of releasing the shutter and timing that for when the cars go through that point.

[IM4U2NV81]

thanks for all the input,

the lens was a Nikon 70-300G with a Hoya UV filter attached
It was on a preset WB and I didnt realize (newb mistake)
I am working with the images in PS and coming out MUCH MUCH better now (Im fairly fluent in photoshop having a graphic design degree but not using it professionally)
I figured the shutter speeds were a bit low. Would you recommend a higher ISO or not? A higher ISO would allow faster speeds but would create grain.

And now for a few more cleaned up images...




still soft, but can't change that now (could unsharp mask but that only "patches" the situation)

[IM4U2NV81]

for future reference...

any pointers on setting white balance?

[gecko]

for future reference...

any pointers on setting white balance?

Welcome to the forum.

Here are some ideas:

1. Have a read of the tutorial on WB that is here on the forum. It is great.

2. Shoot RAW with auto white balance. The play with the WB setting on the computer later and see what you like.

3. Shoot RAW but experiement with the WB settings as you shoot so you develop an idea of what you like/looks good. You can always change them later - but if you ever have to shoot JPEG, I think being able to setup your WB before hand might be handy IMHO

Can't they drive straight in your part of the world (or are they all thinking of the G-string??)

Cheers
Gecko

[avkomp]

everyone has already commented on the WB being off,

wonder what mode of AF you are using??
AF-c or S

if you were in af-c and just pressed the shutter release in one go you may get OOF shots



As has been suggested, motor sports events usually have the vehicles in predicatable positions as they are constantly doing laps, so using manual focus, prefocussing and shooting when the subject comes into focus.

I believe af-c can be regarded as Shutter priority, firing whether or not the subject is focussed. when you depress the shutter release half way the camera looks for focus and continues to do so whilst held. BUT will fire as soon as the release is pushed all the way down, WHETHER FOCUSSED OR NOT.
your technique here is not to just push the shutter realease down in one action, but to press halfway down and track the subject until ready to shoot (by which time focus should have happened) pushing all the way down when it is where you want.

AF-s should fire only when focussed. can be regarded as focus priority.
you will miss shots if in AF-s and focus isnt achieved with something in the active af Sensor.

Plenty has been written about this.



Been a while since I have tried all this out but remember testing on flying birds. you cant just pick up and shoot, you need to track and acquire focus. focus usually tracks at that stage and you can keep taking in focus shots (hopefully)

edit:
whoops. just re-read the post and see manual focus.

another issue may be camera shake.
Generally, unless using a VR lens, you try to use a rule of 1 over the focal length of the lens as the slowest shutter speed to use hand held.
1/300 for 300mm lens.
Is only a rule of thumb and worth keeping mind of.



Steve

[ajo43]

Just one comment on your ISO setting.

In my view noise resulting from high ISO is ALWAYS prefereable to camera shake. At least there is a number of software packages which can help cleaning up noise and in any event I think the high ISO performance of the D70 is pretty good.

One very useful on the D70 is the Auto ISO setting. Some people hate it but if you get the hang of it and use it only when necessary it can be a photosaver.

In situations like your shots I would have set the Auto ISO to minimum shutter speeds of at least 1/125 or maybe even faster depending on your focal length (in your shots you have both camera shake and your object is moving).

I would also recommend shooting on Auto WB and shooting in RAW so you can correct later. If you don't like using raw then try Auto WB and see how the shot looks on the LCD. On a cloudy day if you just manually select cloudy that should give pretty good results.

Welcome to the forum.