Motorycle Racing - Isle of Man TT

[samwise]

Playing around with my Olympus SP-550UZ at the TT races this year, took a lot of shots (for me anyway, )

I'm not overly happy with the quality of the Olympus lens, especially at the full extent of the 18x optical zoom, and when blown up large, but here's a few.











Only a few came out OK - I'm still having issues on focus and panning when the bikes are doing 140-160mph about 10 feet away

Rest of my TT pics (mostly pretty rubbish!) are here - none of them have had any PP work done, either, just the JPGs straight off the card.

 

[kreuzberg]

I think these ones came out pretty good, they would be ok for producing standard sized prints. You certainly did take a lot of pictures!!

I think you did pretty well though using just a bridge camera, I especially like the one with the sidecars going through bray hill, I tried taking some of the NW200 this year but because of the poor weather only a few of them came out useable

 

[Mousse]

Only a few came out OK - I'm still having issues on focus and panning when the bikes are doing 140-160mph about 10 feet away

It looks like you're making a very common mistake alot of folks make while panning: not following through. You need to keep tracking the subject at least half a second after you've taken the shot. Also panning shots are more dramatic if the shutter is slower. If I had to guess, I'd say you're shooting 1/100 shutter. Try for 1/20 or so with fast moving subjects. Of course slower shutter makes for an even more difficult pan.

I also notice that most of your panning shots are at the curve where the drivers are speeding out of a corner. That make for a nigh impossible panning shot. Long straight away and long telephoto makes the job much easier.

 

[QuantumLo0p]

Did you see the Lady in the white dress???

Looks nice! My only suggestion would be to blur the surroundings more when panning so there is a better perception of motion of the subject. It will also draw attention to the rider/bike.

IOM TT?! That is MY mecca. Perhaps next year I may be able to stop there on my way to Poland. It would be very fun to rent a bike and stay at an inn in the country.

Did you see the Lady in the white dress???

 

[jbernie]

Don't get yourself too down, sometimes the location you are in very much limits your ability to produce much at all. Certainly for a first time you are going to learn some maybe unpleasant lessons regarding how many shots are good but at the same time, you were at least at an event where the day was relying on one shot at one moment in time. A bike race on a circuit allows for plenty of attempts.

We had the Red Bull Soapbox race here in CO last summer, they must have planned for about 3000 people or so, got 20,000 or more, the location was Red Rocks, so the track went down a relatively narrow path, you couldn't get more than 10 feet away from the competitors as they went by, could barely get any location at all, so taking photos was borderline wasteful. Oh, and because they messed up the the planning most of us walked .. no... hiked a few miles up hill to the location as they stopped running buses. After all the hardwork... end of the day... maybe 5 decent shots... maybe 2 good ones.

A tough lesson, but you came home with some good ones, try again next time and remember to enjoy the event as much as the photography