action shots at night.

[jonahjohnson]

I just got into photography about four months ago.
i want to photograph motocross and all the events are at night under flood lights. i have sony A100 and i cant figure out the right settings to put it on to capture a motorcycle going quite fast with flood lights all around, the pictures i get out of it are either really dark and the light looks even more bright, or the motorcycle i try getting a picture of is blurred across the entire picture.

I do not have a tripod or a seperate flash, just the camera and a 18 to 70mm lens and a 75 to 300mm using both i cant get anymore than one luckyshot.

thanks for all the help in advance!

[jonahjohnson]

Oh and to understand what i mean alittle bit better about the pictures comming out really dark, ih ave a blog set up with the pictures i have taken over the past four months,

precisionaimphotography.blogspot.com/


any feedback on them would mean the world to me.

[jonahjohnson]

heh wow I've seen posts from other people saying the community on this site is crap
and wow it really is!
no help at all, im surprised.

[skeuos]

Jonah,
You post a question at the beginning of the workweek, and then insult the forum when you don't have a response within 2 days. Not exactly the best way to ingratiate yourself. I was planning on responding, so I'll do it anyways.

This is a realm of photography that I have no expertise in, but I'll offer what I can. You give the length of your lenses, but not the apertures. Generally, for stopping action in low light, you'll need a fast lens, (and a long one if you're not right up close). Something with a maximal aperture of 2.8 would be good - but also expensive. Judging by the shots you have up, a flash won't help you, and you'll need the longer lens. A monopod would be useful to give you stability while maintaining mobility.

You don't mention any of the settings you've used, so I'm just going to have to give general suggestions. To stop action, I suggest shutter priority (Tv) setting to make sure you have a fast enough exposure. How fast will be determined by the speed of your subject. However, you may want to try full manual settings if the camera keeps choosing the aperture based off the bg lights and not your subject. Are you shooting burst mode or single exposure?

Don't worry about the sky being completely dark or the lights being blown - focus more on getting the exposure right for the biker. In fact - if possible - it would be best to keep the lights out of the frame. Are you using a lens hood? Some glare is inevitable because of those lights, but a hood could help cut down a bit. Use the highest ISO you can without getting too much noise. But noise can be somewhat removed in photoshop (or similar software) while significant motion blur can't.

The bottom line is to keep trying. Once you have settings that seem to work, make a note of them. I imagine the light conditions from night to night will remain pretty similar, so you could use similar settings each time.

Most of us prefer to keep to the photo contest page when we're on the site rather than the forums. Some of your sample shots don't look bad; why don't you upload them there? Make sure to include your exif data, and you have a better chance of getting suggestions.

Hope this helps.

steve

[jonahjohnson]

Well steve, thank you so much for the help,
being new to photography i never even thought about the lenses being fast or anything, now that i know what im actually dealing with,
and about the settings i just about tried everything.
i even tried asking some of the photographers out on the field, but they had better set ups and there settings didnt help me out, but i tried every setting i could think of, i had to keep my shutter somewhat fast so i could capture the rider, and i would try aperture on everysetting there was.

the specs on the lens i was using are

Aperture (Max.) : f/4.5 - 5.6

Aperture (Min.) : f/28 - 32

Aspheric Elements : no aspheric

Blades : 7 aperture blades

Distance Encoder : Yes

Filter Diameter : 55 mm

Focal Length : APS: 112.5



i just cant figure it out, it seams even when i set the shutter to, say 250 and the rider is in the air, it takes the picture with say a shutter of 5, my grandfather has been a photographer for well over 40 years and even he couldnt quite figure what out what the right settings are.


thanks again steve!
and sorry about complaining theres an event comming up and this is the third forum i joined trying to figure this out, the other two i got responses within five minutes but it was in some other language, so i was just getting kind of down about the whole situation, thanks for taking the time to reply to my post even though i was acting up about it!

[Rrdjserv]

Jonah-
I don't do much night shooting myself.

Steve's advice is good. First you will need a fast lens, probably a f/2.8 would work. You will also need to set the ISO to 400 or possibly 800. A tripod might help but if you set the IS on you can probably do without it. Try using manual focus. That will eliminate the camera attempting to lock on focus. Shoot in burst mode.

It's difficult to shoot good photos without good light.
Good luck.
--Rick

PS- I suggest that you rent a lens and try it first before dropping $1000.

[THughes]

You're up against two of the most challenging factors photographers must face: low light and high-speed action. I would probably shoot at 3200 ISO at 1/750 sec. or faster and let that dictate my aperture.

[KHedquist]

Jonah,

Glad to see that you have joined. I think if you give us all a chance you will find we aren't so bad.

Steve and Rick gave you excellent advice. There is really no substitute for a fast lens to accomplish your goals. A f4.5 lens is very slow for this type of event. A high ISO will be your friend plus you can clean up some of the noise in your post processing. Good luck and keep experimenting.

Join in on the contest page. You will find that it is very helpful and fun too.

Cheers,

Kevin

[jeffrisk]

Thanks for sharing with us! Those are cool!