its all wrong!

[ranchermom]

This is my first attempt at an action shot. I happened by a field being sprayed on my way home. I'm really disappointed with most of the shots, but this was one of the ok ones. What did I do wrong?

Camera Nikon D60
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture f/10.0
Focal Length 200 mm
Focal Length 201.6 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

[lputman]

What is that you don't like about it? It looks good to me.

[RLucas]

Originally Posted by lputman

What is that you don't like about it? It looks good to me.

Same here. Were you going for the field to be blurred, like a panning shot? If so, you need to slow the shutter speed down.

[ranchermom]

It felt blurry all over to me. Thanks though, I really had no idea what i was doing with these shots! I was panning, the other photos have crisper backgrounds though.

[RLucas]

When you pan, your subject should be sharp and in focus, with the background/foreground more blurry. It gives it a sense of movement.

[sk66]

I'm guessing that the reason yo are disappointed is that whatever drew you to stop and take the pictures is not well conveyed by the results.

When I've seen the crop dusters it's been speed in close proximity to terrain and the near acrobatics...
In one aspect, your shutter speed is too fast...it comes close to freezing everything (not enough blur, even the prop is nearly frozen) to convey speed.
The crop is too tight...not enough sense of proximity to terrain/hazards... (could almost be a distant shot of a plane over the horizon)
Technically, it is fine...it just fails to convey the feeling you experienced...

[ranchermom]

More shots on my flickr page.

airplane - a set on Flickr

I really appreciate y'alls input!

[IABoomer]

If the set you have on Flickr are all crops, then you're cropping the plane right into the middle of the shot which gives it no room to move and leaves the viewer "stuck".

If that's they way they're framed in camera, then you want to work on your in-camera composition by creating some negative space for the subject. Otherwise, the shots feel very constrained.

As was suggested above, if you want to convey some movement, then study panning, which involves lengthening the time the shutter is open and following the motion of the subject.

I think you're on the right track, though.