At 23:05 3/13/02, Mike Veglia wrote:
Great post John! Not sure which I enjoy more, your photographs or your
incredibly informative posts. I'll re-read this most recent one a few
times to let it all soak in.
Thank you!
Just make certain you read the *second* one with the working links!
In racing photography I try to concentrate on visualizing split second
slices in time. I try to set myself up first, of course, for good
background, focus, exposure, etc. but once the cars start flying past it
all becomes too fast to think about anything except seeing and
anticipating that fleeting moment and catching it at exactly the right
time with the shutter release--allthewhile hoping that the basics
attended to before things got hectic are okay (and often leaning heavily
on the OM's exceptional OTF AE metering).
Indeed, you are visualizing. Some of it is in advance (choosing position
for perspective and making equipment presets), some of it is knowing what
will most likely happen next based on your racing knowledge (anticipating),
and the rest, as you mention, is the "split second" timing to get the
decisive moment. Your finger must push the shutter release *before* what
you desire in the photograph actually happens. It's your experience that
has made it very efficient. Now it occurs "automagically" without having
to consciously think about each minute step in the process.
I would bet dollars to donuts:
When you first started it was much more difficult trying to consciously
think about many factors simultaneously in a very dynamic
environment. After gaining experience with determination and persistence
it became much easier, including the physical skills for timing the
"decisive moment." If you have kept some of your initial work, go back
through and compare it to your most recent.
I guess what I am saying is that for differing types of photography
there are different types of visualization. Seeing and visualizing what
I am getting on film instantly as I get it, and knowing I got it (or
not) most of the time, is key for me.
YES! And I would guess it's quite rewarding too.
I find this challenging and exciting. When it works right I have very few
tosses and don't have to edit upwards of a thousand frames after an event
like those who blast way with 7-10fps motor drives.
Work out the elapsed time between frames and how far racing vehicles travel
at 10fps. A vehicle moving 100 MPH travels 15 feet in 100ms; at 150 MPH
it's 20+ feet. More than enough distance to "blow" a composition. It's a
shotgun approach and not nearly as successful compared to those with
"decisive moment" skills (far more accurate than 100ms with practice). You
already know it's why they're editing so many more frames than you are. It
takes that many for them to get *something* usable and the usable pile may
not include what they really wanted! IMO you have a better chance of success.
I've made blunders (The Bad), sometimes enormous ones (The Ugly). I don't
show them to anyone (OK, my wife sees many of them, but that's it)!
Your racing photography is *not* something I could simply go out and
perform this weekend. I *know* I would have to work at it for some time to
experiment with tools and practice by doing it for some time to develop the
necessary skills (strategic positioning, anticipating when *good*
photographs will occur soon enough to react, timing shots, etc.). There
are aspects of your work I admire, such as a sense of motion conveyed
through "panning" and using just the right shutter speeds to show wheel
rotation blur while keeping the rest of the vehicle tack sharp. Although
understanding these concepts may be relatively easy, doing them effectively
is *not* easy.
-- John
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