Enough's Enough

PaulSands · 24 May 2004, 09:01 (Ref:980926)

OK people I need some help...I either got incredibly bad in the space of 4 weeks or there's something amiss
I had another waste of time yesterday at Mallory. Now I was begining to think that just maybe I was a bit rubbish but then I got to reviewing some of my more static shots and came to the conclusion that I'm either the worst photographer that lived or there is something wrong with either the settings I'm usiong or the camera itself
If some of you giys could look at this image...not the most difficult of shots and then look at the settings and please please offer some advice otherwise there'll be a Canon for sale immininetly and I'll get the pipe and slippers and just stick with Motors TV for my entertainment

Image http://www.paulsands.org/IMG_1855.JPG

Image File Information
File Name
IMG_1855.JPG
Camera Model Name
Canon EOS 10D
Shooting Date/Time
23/05/2004 11:53:52
Shooting Mode
Shutter Speed Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed )
1/750
Av( Aperture Value )
5.6
Metering Mode
Evaluative
Exposure Compensation
0
ISO Speed
100
Lens
28.0 - 135.0 mm
Focal Length
57.0 mm
Image Size
3072x2048
Image Quality
Normal
Flash
Off
White Balance
Auto
AF Mode
AI Focus AF
Parameters
Contrast Normal
Sharpness Normal
Color saturation Normal
Color tone Normal
Color Space
sRGB
File Size
1052KB
File Number
218-1855
Custom Function
C.Fn:01-0
C.Fn:02-0
C.Fn:03-0
C.Fn:04-0
C.Fn:05-0
C.Fn:06-0
C.Fn:07-0
C.Fn:08-0
C.Fn:09-0
C.Fn:10-0
C.Fn:11-0
C.Fn:12-0
C.Fn:13-0
C.Fn:14-0
C.Fn:15-0
C.Fn:16-0
C.Fn:17-0
Drive Mode
Continuous shooting

neil_davidson2 · 24 May 2004, 12:29 (Ref:981220)

You forgot to stop panning, turned through 180 degrees and ended up facing the infield before you pressed the shutter?

What is it that you're not happy about on the shot Paul? It's not the most exciting I've seen from you in terms of composition, but looking through the rest of your shots from yesterday there's some excellent stuff there as usual.

**Aysedasi** · 24 May 2004, 12:46 (Ref:981256)

I don't follow at all. Looks OK to me.......

**Tim Falce** · 24 May 2004, 12:47 (Ref:981257)

Have you tried doing anything with it in Photoshop or similar?
I would have the camera set on "fine" image quality and not normal. Also try a slower shutter speed and smaller apeture to get more depth of field in it as most of it looks out of focus especialy ice cream girl and that is where the eye is drawn to (mine goes straight to the icecream not the girl). Oh and hte picture isnt square in the frame. IMHO
BTW the ontrack pictures look good.

**Aysedasi** · 24 May 2004, 12:48 (Ref:981262)

Having said that, why did you shoot at such a high speed with the lens fairly well open - looks as though there was quoite a bit of light about? If you wanted it, you could have gone for more depth of field with slower shutter and closing the lens up a bit.....

**Aysedasi** · 24 May 2004, 12:49 (Ref:981264)

snap......

JohnMiller · 24 May 2004, 13:01 (Ref:981283)

Results look fine to me Paul, as ever. If you'd leant out any further at Gerards you would have fallen onto the track... Ditto the hairpin in the Mono race.

Mind you I went off trying to take the Lake Esses flat out for you in practice and you missed it (particularly impessive when the grass caught fire I thought) and then retired right in front of you with a locked up back end in the Mono race and you seem to have missed that too...

neil_davidson2 · 24 May 2004, 13:07 (Ref:981289)

Quote:

Originally posted by falcemob
most of it looks out of focus

Be interesting to know whether you'd selected a specific focusing point or were letting the camera use all 7 zones to make it's own mind up.

I didn't notice it was out of focus - must get my specs fixed!

**Tim Falce** · 24 May 2004, 14:00 (Ref:981346)

Quote:

Originally posted by neil_davidson2

I didn't notice it was out of focus - must get my specs fixed!

Maybe I should put mine on

stefan · 24 May 2004, 14:00 (Ref:981347)

It looks like you were falling over as you were taking the shot. The horizon is wonky and there is definate motion blur on the right hand edges of the bright objects - like the sticker on the wheely bin and the writing on the ice cream van. Additionally you have a wide open aperture - making more stuff out of focus and all the parameter settings turned to normal(which gives a softer imager than most people are used to when using other digital cameras).

Compositionally you need to decide what the photo's about. Is it about the marshalls and the ice creams? In which case crop in tighter and get rid of/blur out everything else.

Kelvin · 24 May 2004, 15:12 (Ref:981423)

On close inspection it certainly lacks a 'crispness' almost soft focus.
Was/is the lens clean?
If you tweak the contast in photoshop does that help?

Kelvin.

KC · 24 May 2004, 15:21 (Ref:981431)

I agree with Kelvin. As my browser opened the file it was full size and the image definitely lacked sharpness, especially for the quality of the camera. What brand lens are you using? Is it a Canon or aftermarket? I have a Tamron 28-135mm on my Rebel film camera and thought it was pretty good until I borrowed a Canon zoom lens and the sharpness was immediately noticeable. The Tamron is a decent lens, especially for the price, but it did not compare at all to the twice the price Canon lens.

Other than the left tilted horizon, that's the only thing I see wrong with the image.

stefan · 24 May 2004, 15:34 (Ref:981446)

I'm pretty certain that it's not the lens - it's mainly camera shake coupled with a small dof and an unsharpened image.

Liam34 · 24 May 2004, 15:40 (Ref:981455)

Might it be the camera has focused on the two lads with their backs turned walking away? The small dof would put everything else out of focus then.

It's a digital camera, so taking photo's is free. Go snap the cars on a busy street, and play with the settings until you start to get shots your happy with. That way you don't miss anything if it doesn't work.

PaulSands · 24 May 2004, 15:58 (Ref:981472)

Its the crispness thats the issue...brand new uv filter on lens definitely clean...shots I took of Jamie Morrow post race also fuzzy and soft...as for the action shots those on my site are about the oonly ones I deemed salvagable from about 1000

stefan · 24 May 2004, 16:32 (Ref:981508)

Can you post another image for us to look at - perhaps we'll be able to see if it's the same thing every time.

PaulSands · 24 May 2004, 17:19 (Ref:981564)

I was pretty sure I wasn't moving and at that shutter speed it shouldnt be making that much difference

PaulSands · 24 May 2004, 17:25 (Ref:981572)

Heres the one of Jamie Morrow
http://www.paulsands.org/IMG_2010.JPG

stefan · 24 May 2004, 17:41 (Ref:981586)

No motion blur on that one. Look at the exclamation mark on the back of the ice cream van. It might be worth doing some tests with a tripod to see if there's something more sinister going on.

Bear in mind that if you're at the limits of a lenses range (fully out or in) you can lose a bit of quality - likewise when you're at the f-stop limits.

This image will sharpen up nicely with a bit of unsharp mask in photoshop. If you're not keen on doing a lot of post processing then turn up the in camera sharpening, contrast and saturation and you'll end up with punchier images out of the camera - (but you won't be able to undo it if it does it too much).

PaulSands · 24 May 2004, 17:42 (Ref:981589)

stefan any suggestions on settings so as to retain an element of post processing control?

stefan · 24 May 2004, 17:49 (Ref:981597)

It's pretty much personal taste. Some people are very fussy and want to spend an hour on every image - others want to spend as little as possible. Point and shoot cameras often produce what look like very vivid and eyecatching images because all of the in camera settings are up quite high but with a dslr we can switch all that off - but it can mean that the initial image is a bit bland - but it will have captured more information.

Perhaps try it with the in camera stuff turned up a bit and if there's a particuar shot that you think you might want to tweak shoot a raw or un-treated copy too (not much use for moving subjects of course).

blackfalcon · 24 May 2004, 17:50 (Ref:981600)

I had a few shots like this at the British Superbikes in Mondello this weekend. After a good think i'm blaming it on the autofocus point. The camera was set to focus on all points rather than to one. The AF was going mental on the grid when the light was coming from the riders brollies. I switched to manual focus at the time, and it was easier to achieve focus, but it was wracking my head all afternoon.
I'm back to single point focus but will have to wait until saturday to see if i'm right.

PaulSands · 24 May 2004, 18:45 (Ref:981686)

That focus on all points sucks cos it doesnt it selects a few and like you say flits all over the shop...one more weekend then I have a few off. I've decided that trying to incorporate Le Mans into the family holiday may be pushing my luck just a little too far so I'll practice on more sedate things for a few weeks then pick it all up again at Montlhery

Thimk I may take my HP point and shoot as back up at Silverstone for any static shots

KC · 24 May 2004, 19:09 (Ref:981722)

One thing you will find with almost any camera, autofocus systems will sometimes hunt at f5.6 and smaller apertures. This according to my Canon manual. Granted, there was plenty of ambient light in your image to allow the camera to overcome the smaller aperture, however it may be an issue with the lens. Try this, shoot an image with AF on and then shoot the same image by manual focus and see if there is any difference. At the least this will eliminate AF as an issue in image sharpness. Shoot the same image with and without your Skylight filter to eliminate it as an issue. Try shooting an image in P mode (full automatic setting) and then with your listed settings above and see how that works. For images like the one above I usually let the camera work out the exposure and aperture, it knows more than I do. I will usually go to Shutter Priority when I shoot action and check the camera's auto fstop setting to make sure eveything is cool.

PaulSands · 24 May 2004, 19:12 (Ref:981730)

I use the shutter priority option and let the cam work out exposure and aperture...adjusting if something appears obvioulsy too dark or light

Thanks for everybody's help and advice, I do appreciate it...group hug