Hello everyone.

Just got a quick question.

How can I get the Zoom effect?? I have the canon 400D and I cant seem to get that effect. I tried to slow down the shutter speed but that just made the image whiter:confused:
I tried this through the front windscreen when my friend was driving.


Also. I have managed to get some really nice motion car shots with my other camera. (where the front/side of the car is sharp but the background is blured) but when I tried to do this with my canon, everything is sharp. even at 70mph.

any advice??

post an example pic of what you are trying to achieve

you need to keep the shutter speed low to around 1/125 (Shutter priority) for the crisp car/blurred background.

This sort of stuff?

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/Lathafummi/Donny%20North%202007/Cars%20Time%20Attack/DonnyNorth1491.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/Lathafummi/Donny%20North%202007/Cars%20Time%20Attack/TimeAttackSilverstone852.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/Lathafummi/Donny%20North%202007/Cars%20Time%20Attack/DonnyNorth1328.jpg

Or this Sort?

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/Lathafummi/Time%20Attack/TimeAttackSilverstone656.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/Lathafummi/BTCC%2006/Donington%20Park/btcc09.jpg

Kind of like these for motion shots.



Which setting would be best for these?? bearing in mind I wont be shooting in the evening, more like noon where it's bright. would I be best using M?? Would I need to set the IOS to highest?? Sorry about these questions. I am just a noob.

and I really want to learn to shoot this. This is what I was talking about 'Zoom effect'
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/ilghap/87241544-L.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/ilghap/_JL22389.jpg

my answer still stands ;)

all those shots were achieved with panning and a longer exposure than is necessary to freeze the action - open the shutter for longer and the moving objects will be blurry, ie; what you're after.

stick your camera in shutter priority and set the speed to 1/125 of a second. then you just need to practise panning (keeping the fast car in frame) whilst you take the shot.

basically for the "zoom" effect using Tv mode take a longer shutter speed and twist the zoom either to zoom in or out depending on the effect you want, whilst the shutter is open
should give you something like http://www.shortcourses.com/choosing/lenses/zoom-celtics.jpg

For the zoom effect you're looking for, key is keeping the camera steady, the mag shots you see will usually be done with the camera mounted, a long-ish exposure and the car not actually running to avoid vibration (pushed slowly).

Doing it on the road while driving requires a shorter exposure for the same effect but will be shakier although this can look good too if you get it right.


Try this:
Get in the car with the camera, set it on manual focus and focus on something about 15-20 feet in front of the bonnet (get the driver to stand out front).
Set off on your route, take the shots along the way, trying various shutter speeds but keeping the camera as steady as you can. Depending on light and speed, you'll get different results. Use trial and error, find what works.
Post results here :D

The other motion shots you've shown are car to car (or long rig) and trickier and more dangerous!

If you want to look at mounts, check out B Haig.
If you want more info on taking good car shots, check out this one:
Car Photography Tutorial (http://www.mattwatkinson.com/tutorial/)

Panning has been done on here a few times, quick search should turn up loads.


And just being pedantic - on panning type shots, it's the stationary that are blurry, not the moving ones ;)

Good luck!

Thanks for the replies everyone.

ChefDude, Changing the shutter speed was the first thing I had done. For the zoom effect I have set the camera on M, I took some photos whilst my friend was driving. I tried using slower shutter speeds but the end results looks like I'd over exposed the picture, giving it a 'white washed effect'. As for the motion shot, when I set the shutter speed (also on M) 1/125 it always stays on F5.6 is this a problem? My friends' white car was all white (over exposed again), you could not see the panel lines and the background was still sharp:wonder:

HankScorpio, thanks for answering my questions. I noticed that everytime I post you anwser me in great detail which is v. helpful. Although as I am a noob I still don't fully understand. Which mode would you recommend for the zoom effect? P?,TV?,AV?,M? I noticed the P mode auto adjust the F numbers? would this help?
I understand that a slower shutter speed will allow me to take a photo with a blurry background, but how do I do this without over exposing the picture?

Thanks
Chi

Thanks for the replies everyone.

ChefDude, Changing the shutter speed was the first thing I had done. For the zoom effect I have set the camera on M, I took some photos whilst my friend was driving. I tried using slower shutter speeds but the end results looks like I'd over exposed the picture, giving it a 'white washed effect'. As for the motion shot, when I set the shutter speed (also on M) 1/125 it always stays on F5.6 is this a problem? My friends' white car was all white (over exposed again), you could not see the panel lines and the background was still sharp:wonder:

HankScorpio, thanks for answering my questions. I noticed that everytime I post you anwser me in great detail which is v. helpful. Although as I am a noob I still don't fully understand. Which mode would you recommend for the zoom effect? P?,TV?,AV?,M? I noticed the P mode auto adjust the F numbers? would this help?
I understand that a slower shutter speed will allow me to take a photo with a blurry background, but how do I do this without over exposing the picture?

Thanks
Chi

With the camera set to ' M ' ( Manual ) you will need to set everything, Shutter speed, F Number and ISO according to the conditions at the time. This is not the best Mode to use until you fully understand how the camera works as you can set it perfect then the sun can go behind a cloud or you enter a shodowed area and the setting will need to be changed.

The best mode for YOU to use to achieve what you want is the ' TV ' Mode.
On this mode you choose the shutter speed you want i.e. 1/125 and the camera will do the rest for you.
:thumb:

Hope that clears it up a little for you.

On a Nikon, I'd go for P mode personally (I think the Canon one is the same but I'm sure someone will correct if I'm wrong) as this will allow you to adjust aperture or shutter speed while keeping the exposure constant. It won't let you get out of the exposure zone so you can try loads of settings but you'll never over/under expose the results. On Tv mode the camera will assume you know what you want and will adjust accordingly but won't stop you over/under exposing.
I think P is an underrated setting and many people jump from auto to tv/av/s/a modes too readily. I know a few people who have SLR's that come out at family events, on auto, and then just live in a drawer as people get frustrated because they don't get the results they are expecting on the "I'm a photographer" setting.

This web page illustrates the relationship between aperture and shutter speed and how you can get the same exposure with different combos. It's the one website that made things click for me when I turned the dial off auto!

Understanding Exposure - SimCam - Film and Digital Camera Simulator - Photonhead.com (http://www.photonhead.com/simcam/shutteraperture.php)

So get out and take some and when you start looking at them, see if you can get the program you look at them with to display the exif, you'll then be able to see what gives the effect you want, what works, what doesn't.

And post results!

(I'm guilty of not posting in ages but I haven't used mine in anger for about 6 months, starting a new job on monday so hopefully will get some time back to get out and about again.)