settings for motocross racing?

[Big Wig]

I am going to a pro motocross race this weekend. I have a Sigma 70-200 f2.8 on the way (whooooo hooooo! LOL) and an extra 1gb memory card as well as a circular polarizer in case it's really sunny.

I think I'm pretty set for equipment and I have an idea on how to shoot motocross (I'm still happy to hear ANY tips though). What I'm mostly concerned with is camera settings. I plan to shoot in RAW and set my white balance to either auto-2, cloudy or sunny depending on the conditions and see which looks best. Should I shoot with a custom curve? I mostly shoot pics of my kids and the point and shoot curve is in my camera all the time. Is there a curve that will work well with the racing or should I adjust tone settings and others in the camera?

Thanks in advance

 

[BigBadJohn]

Hi BW, Well what you have stated sounds good to me and i also use that lens for this purpose but i dont use curves. I also use slower shutter speeds so i shoot in shutter priority with speeds from 1/160 to 1/250 or even 300 to keep some motion, white balance same auto-2.
here is a couple i took few weeks ago.
Cheers
John
BBJ









The Thought of Getting Old isn't so Scary Anymore
http://www.bbj.smugmug.com

 

[Nasixi]

I shot some F1 cars this weekend. It was my first time too, so I'll pass on what I learned. You get the best results from 1/125 to 1/320 as this gives motion blur on the wheels and when you pan. Anything higher freezes the action (which does have it's place) and often makes the object appear as if it's stuck onto the background! Panning technique is critical. I don't know how heavy your lens is, but my Sigma 50-500 weighs 1.8Kg. I wasn't able to use a monopod, but the plan was to mount the lens on the monopod and use a belt pouch to support the monopod.

I used AF-C in continous shooting mode, using RAW. If you practice panning and shooting until the buffer fills up, you should get some nice shots. I shot over 500 frames in one day. Out of this I have a dozen or so pictures I'm really pleased with and 150 average ones (plus loads of unusable ones!)

If you want to see some examples of the effects different shutter speeds have, see my F1 post here http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=14194570

Simon

 

[Big Wig]

John, your pics look awesome! I especially like the 2nd shot!

You don't use curves? What are your in-camera settings? I'm not sure what to do. I saw a post recently where someone used very specific in-camera settings, no curve and no post processing - the images looked great. I'd love to get my pictures as good as possible before I process... maybe if I'm lucky I'll just have to batch convert them to jpegs!

 

[Big Wig]

Thank you for the tips Simon! I love your F1 pictures!

 

[Meesh]

2 six-packs and lots of sunscreen ought to do it!
Have a good time Mr. Make me spend my MONEY! !

--
'If it's worth doing, it's worth doing it right.'

 

[Nasixi]

Thanks - I'm pretty happy considering it's my first attempt.

I don't use any custom curves, as I always shoot RAW and then open in Nikon Capture, before importing to Photoshop. Most of my pics are as they are, straight out of the camera with a little USM applied in Photoshop. On some I've done some levels tweaking to brighten them up a bit, as it was a cloudy day and the colours were a little muted.

My own philosophy is I'd rather apply a curve after I've taken the shot, as no two shots are going to be the same, so how do you know if the in-camera curve will enhance the image, or ruin it? That said, there are far more knowledgable people on this forum who can give you the full lowdown on curves!

One of the few curves I've seen that I like is Velvia, because images look more saturated to me when using it, but it's all about personal choice.

Simon

 

[Nasixi]

I forgot to add, I shoot auto WB+2 and find that a majority of the time my d70 gets it right. The only time it really gets it wrong is when I'm doing studio work with radio-triggered flashes. However, as I shoot RAW and use Nikon Capture, it's a simple matter to change the WB to whatever you want (useful for when you forget to change your WB setting from tungsten to flash say!).

Simon

 

[shahard]

I notice that different lenses behave differently.

As for the races - I have more experience with supermoto, but I also did some indoor freestyle motocross. basically, if the lighting situation is good you can shoot manual outdoors after having carfully selected the exposure using some known colors (for example, trees) and the histogram. This way, you don't get many changes in exposure due to reflections from the bikes, etc.



I use mainly shutter speeds of 125-200, in order to get more impression from mud sprays, such as this (not bikes, but loads of mud):



Try to get as low and as close as you can. I would also try to use the kit lens from very close.

Also, don't forget to take a flash with you. It's great for shadow-filling even when the subject isn't that close. Just take some spare batteries since daylight fill flash from far away just eats at them.

You can see some of my freestyle pics here:
http://photobucket.com/albums/v450/shahard/Freestyle%20Motocross/

--
Miracles we do. The impossible may take a little bit longer.

 

[Big Wig]

Hey Meesh! The MANY six packs will be after the races, when the bikes are parked at the hotel and we're ready to whoop it up for the night! I'm bringing my CP 5200 and I'll pass it around so all the guys (including myself) can snap shots all weekend... we ought to get some funny snapshots!

To everyone: Meesh is a good bud of mine and I just talked him into buying a D50. Also, a few friends and I (I wish Meesh was going) are riding our motorcycles to New Berlin, New York this weekend to watch Ricky Carmichael, Chad Reed, Kevin Windham and James Stewart rip it up on the motocross track at Unadilla farm! I can't wait! I REALLY hope to get some good pictures of my heros!

 

[Big Wig]

Thanks Simon!

Auto WB +2 huh? Seems like most use -2. I shoot RAW also so I can fix WB later... I just don't know what camera settings to use when shooting. How do you turn off the custom curve if it's loaded into the camera already?

Thanks again

 

[Big Wig]

thank you shahard,

Your pics are great! Thank you for the tips.

 

[BigBadJohn]

BW i dont use the curves thing as i find everything fine as it is. I use spot metering, i always shoot RAW and always check histogram every few pics or so or i move to a different spot. Single area focus. Shutter mode and well processing i just adjust any dark pics in Nikon capture then batch process the lot.
Cheers Hope it goes well.
John
BBJ

--
The Thought of Getting Old isn't so Scary Anymore
http://www.bbj.smugmug.com

 

[Nasixi]

I saw a bunch of posts that mentioned people use Auto WB -2 and thought it was odd that I'd set mine to +2. I think that last year I complained that my pictures had a distinct orange/yellow cast and someone suggested using +2. Most folks find the D70 a little cold, so they use -2 to warm the images up.

Not sure how you disable curves, sorry.

Simon