DFW'ers photographic challenge - use those £££ cameras!

Contemplates

Lemon Tree I will second that comment... EH that shot is superb! I only wish I could take shots like that! Can you tell us what your settings were for it, cos no matter how hard I try my shutter speed never seems fast enough!

Lemon Tree, I used to only P&S as well, but I've found that it helps to stop for a few secs or mins and try to imagine what you want in the shot, and what you are excluding in your framing before pressing the shutter release?

Mags_cat

Oooh....how have I missed this thread until now?

:wave:

I love snapping stuff, any stuff. I have a photostream on Flickr (it's my homepage link from here). Love to join you all, I'm just in time for the last challenge of the year, I see!

So here's my "It's Chrisssssstmmmmaaaasssss!" shot : I'm cheating *slightly* because it's an old shot I took a few years ago, but I like it so much


Happy Christmas! by Mags_cat, on Flickr

EssexHebridean

Mags Cat welcome! Lovely shot - I love the fact that you can see the happy smiling faces and the feeling of movement from the blur is fab! I'll add you to the list of participants on page 1.

Contemplates My "standard" speedway settings for after dark are flash on (full power on a 580EX speedlight) ISO400 F4 - 4.5 and shutter 1/200 or 1/250 - I have custom settings on the camera for those! That would have been with a Canon 30D and 70-200mm F2.8 lens - proably with the image stabilisation off. The flash really helps with getting things sharp although it does tend to "stop" the sense of motion a bit. Thanks for the lovely comments - I think after 5 years of taking speedway stuff that remains my favourite shot!

Good hints there on the "stopping and thinking" thing too - it pays to look round the ees of the frame as sometimes moving just a fraction includes or excludes something that changes the look of the shot totally.

Contemplates

Mags glad you've joined! That is one great photo... I'm loving the colours, and lights. It really shows how bright the fair is. The blurred faces are brilliant too, as EH says, it gives a sense of speed too. And I'm sure the others will let u off with using a stock photo this once? Though u have lots of time to shoot some more!

EH thanks for the settings advice.... I'm just going to have to keep experimenting!
How'd you go about becoming the "regular photographer"?

EssexHebridean

Contemplates wrote: »

Mags glad you've joined! That is one great photo... I'm loving the colours, and lights. It really shows how bright the fair is. The blurred faces are brilliant too, as EH says, it gives a sense of speed too. And I'm sure the others will let u off with using a stock photo this once? Though u have lots of time to shoot some more!

EH thanks for the settings advice.... I'm just going to have to keep experimenting!
How'd you go about becoming the "regular photographer"?

LOL - on that occasion it was right place, right time. I'd popped along to our local track as I was at a loose end - and had taken my camera gear intending to shoot from the outside of the track while the light was good enough. Browsing through the programme ahead of the start, I spotted a tiny little ad asking for a photographer to work on the centre green taking photos for the matchday programme and the club's use generally. After about ten minutes of umming and ahhing I popped along to the office to enquire, and promptly got introduced to a couple of people and then told to get myself out onto the centre and see how I got on! That pic I've posted above was one of the shots I got that night, in fact it was one of those nights when everything went to plan and I got some crackers, and so I was asked to go back for the rest of the season. I did enjoy it but at the time I was doing stuff for my own team, Ipswich, as well, as well as shots for OH's rugby team, and it all got a bit much - by the end of October that year I would porobably have cheerfully thrown my camera gear down a well had one been handy! As a result I decided to give the regular stuff at the local track a miss the following year. It was a great experience though - I got some stuff published in Speedway's national magazine off the back of that as well, which was quite a thrill.

Contemplates

That does sound like great experience! You really must b very good at action/ sports photography after all that practice? I'd love to see some of your other stuff from the rugby? I'm going to make a real effort to get to a few matches this year to try some action.

Well done with getting some published btw!:T

EssexHebridean

Right, well I did take my camera to Devon with me for new year....and promptly left it tucked up in its bag the whole time! I did still make the effort to take a couple of shots on the iPhone though - including this one which says "Christmas has gone" rather than it's here, I guess...



Also going back to a week or so before christmas was this one of Leadenhall Market in London, which really does scream christmas!



Anyone got any ideas for our next theme by the way?

Lemon_Tree

mmmmmmm ideas? for many this is a time of change with it being the New Year and all, so maybe change? don't have a foggiest about how we could photograph that but it's an idea.

Mags_cat

What about "New"?

Contemplates

Guys I like those ideas..... My mind is already spinning thinking of what I could do.

The arrival of the new year always makes me reflect on the events of the previous year, so my suggestion is 'Reflection'. That's definitely open for interpretation!