My 11-year old Dare Devil

[SusanH1970]

Here is a picture I took of my 11 year old son, Joey, on his quad, doing a minor jump. The walkway he's jumping over has just enough of a little ramp for him to catch a little air, when he's going fast enough - and he was going pretty fast here!

I would specifically like to know your thoughts on:

1. Focus on the subject while panning
2. Composition
3. Lighting and color
4. Should the background be more blurred? Does it convey movement? Was my shutter speed too fast?

Anything else you'd like to point out is welcome, too!

By the way, this is hand-held, no tripod, but I was squatting down with my elbows braced on my knees, tucked in fairly tight to keep the camera more or less steady.

EXIF:

Camera: Canon 450D
Lens: Sigma 70-300
Shot in Shutter Priority mode
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 76 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off


Large version can be seen here, if a larger version helps you critique.

[Jim Bryant]

Susan,
I. Did a great job on the focus..It's pretty sharp with just the right amount of background blur, which makes the subject stand out even more.
2. I like the way you gave him room to travel to the right.
3. Looks as if it was shot on a cloudy monochrome type afternoon, which, made the subject pop out even more. This is good as it keeps my eye from traveling around the photograph.
4. If you want to convey more movement, you might want to try a slower shutter speed, such as 125 and pan and tract to right as he passes in front of you lens. Glad you were sitting down while taking the photo..low angels are good, lets you see more face underneath the helmet.
Everything looks fine........great job

[SusanH1970]

Jim, thank you so much. I was wondering about going a bit slower with the shutter speed for exactly the reason you mentioned. I have some others that I took with a slower speed, but this one had the best composition and focus. More for me to practice!

[SandeeWig]

Nice job on this one, Susan! I agree with Jim, he really pops in this picture, especially with the colors of his shorts, helmet and quad against the autumn browns behind him. The focus looks great. Good idea holding your arms in tight while panning.

Since you mention he was going pretty fast, I think a slightly slower shutter speed would have helped convey that a bit more. Makes it harder to track him and get him in as sharp of focus as you have him here, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't take too many tries for you to nail it.

Here's a recent panning shot I took of my son being pushed on his trike by his father, just to give your exif something to compare to.

Settings were SS: 1/15, f11, focal length: 70mm, ISO: 100. Taken w/ the Tamron 70-300.

Somewhere in the middle of our settings - given the speed of your subject compared to mine - might convey slightly more motion in the background.

Just my $0.02 for next time. This is no doubt an excellent panning shot!!

[Vinam]

Oh boy, I can really rip into your photo here in critique !! you better put your seatbelt on !!

First things first ... why is that quad white and blue and not FERARI RED ?? just kidding lol

Overall it's a good action photo, well lit and the subject is well framed. I know you just got that lense and since I don;t have it, I can not say if 75m is within the " sweet spot " ,, but it is slightly out of focus ( the Yamaha text on the seat shows a slight blur ), not enough to disrupt my attention. that could be due to your posture and bracing and not using your tripod ! ( did you take a full breath and let out halfway before snapping ? ) As I said, the focus is NOT distracting to the view) it's a minor point ( but you wanted honest )

Since your on the side you have split second to get him, perhaps less of a angle , maybe moving to closer to 45 degrees to his approach might help the lense lock on faster and also might put more attention on Joey eather then the quad.Your shutter speed might have been a little too high, very little BG blur. I don't think at your angle of view you would get a really blurred BG anyway.

Composition on these type shots seem more journalistic then artsy, you pick a good spot and it happens, you record it.. it's more the action and event then the set up .. I know why I'm looking, the kid is airborne on the quad and you caught the action in mid air. so great job ( shooting from more head on might not have shown all the air under the tires so maybe you made a good choice )

shooting mode ? AI focus while paning really helps alot, I was having trouble with the model airplanes and switched shooting modes after remembering lol this is one of about 20 shots of the model taking off, notice it still just slightly out of focus, but not too bad,



keep in mind Susan I was not kidding when I said I filled up an almost empty 4gig mem card shooting those planes... you really have to adjust as you go.. so having just a few attempts I think you did excellent. Those guys on the pro football sidelines and basketball games have tens of thousands of pan shots under thier belt and the very best lenses' , so don't lose heart, you just have a project to work on

[SusanH1970]

Vin: (Smack self in forehead)

Duh!!!! AI focus!!!!!!

I KNEW I forgot something!

Aimee: Good points, I love the blur you got!



Next time: slower shutter speed, and AI focus. Lesson learned. Thank you!!!!!!!!!

[Vinam]

and a can of red spray paint !
Very different type of shooting for you, it's easy to feel like your starting over, especially when trying more advanced stuff like this.. I was feeling pretty dang good getting a few keepers of the planes and I KNOW you are gonna surpass me soon in pannin.

can see a B&W conversion with Joey making a funny face while jumping over dad's sports car in a few months

Keep at it.. Panning Birds flying will make your head spin ! but it's great practice !

/hugs

Vin

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by Vinam

and a can of red spray paint !
Very different type of shooting for you, it's easy to feel like your starting over, especially when trying more advanced stuff like this.. I was feeling pretty dang good getting a few keepers of the planes and I KNOW you are gonna surpass me soon in pannin.

can see a B&W conversion with Joey making a funny face while jumping over dad's sports car in a few months

Keep at it.. Panning Birds flying will make your head spin ! but it's great practice !

/hugs

Vin

Actually, I've done a lot of stuff like this before...my first critique post was here back in January, again of a quad in motion shot. I've just been concentrating more on portraits.

I've been trying to get birds, but they haven't been cooperative. Time will tell. Thank you so much for your words of wisdom, you are a good friend to have that won't mince words when it comes to critique. Smoooooooch!

[autofocus]

Susan, I think your composition, lighting and focus is OK, but I'm not sure if it conveys that sense of motion that you were looking for. While standing at right angles to the subject a shutter speed of 1/200 sec is just fast enough to freeze action. I would try a slower shutter speed for panning, say 1/30 sec, and remember, panning is like a golf swing...set yourself up so that you start the pan before the subject comes into your field of view, and follow through with your pan after the shot is fired. It's a tricky process, and you may have to do several in order to get one right, but when you do you'll know it. I'm sure you won't have to twist Joey's arm to try a few more shots..lol

[SusanH1970]

Thank you, Vinnie. Wise words as always! Nah, I don't think it'll be too much trouble to get Joey to show off again.