Racehorse

[Paul Gruyters]

I do a lot of this with my V Lux. I thought it was time to get some opinions. Specifically how the image appears on others monitors. Any other criticisms welcome.

Regards,
Paul.

[robsteve]

Paul:

The colours look fine. The background is a bit distracting. If you can, use a wider aperture and a longer focal lengh to get the background further out of focus. I am not familiar with a Vlux, so I don't know if you can zoom to a longer focal length and shoot wide open.

[jmr]

Paul,

nice image, looks good on my Mac.

Do you have any at a slower shutter speed, panned with the action? It would offer a similar effect to that suggested by Rob.

[andybarton]

Colours look spot on here too. Beautiful rendering on the neck and flank.

[elansprint72]

Paul,
Impressive shot. Do you use auto-focus in this situation, or pre-focus manually? I'm using V-Lux 1 to shoot racing cars and at first was using manual; I've found that there is so little lag that auto works fine 98/100 times.

Please post some more.

[Artichoke]

perfectly timed & exposed
Leland Stanford's challenge was not quite met with this, but you come close

[Paul Gruyters]

Thank you all for your comments. I'm glad it shows well on your monitors.

Rob and John. I'll have a go at your suggestions. I'm aware of this shortcoming but didn't think it was that noticeable.

Thanks Andy.

Pete, I use autofocus as the horses do not come past in a uniform distance range.

Arthur, what is Leland Stanford's challenge?

Regards,
Paul.

[Paul Gruyters]

I've just googled Leland Stanford's challenge. I thought it might be this. I've seen some great examples. Here is one I took from the same day. The depth of field is shallower, but not enough to blur the signage to the extent required. At least that's what I think.

Regs,
Paul

[elansprint72]

Another impressive shot!
I'm heartened to see such good results form the V-Lux auto-focus; beats squinting through a rangefinder and getting it wrong!
You have excellent colours here too.

[Paul Gruyters]

Thank you Pete,

I had a look at your photos. You are into horse power of a different kind. Good work.

I have begun a LUG.

Will take me a while to get it right.

Thanks again,

Regs,
Paul.

[rob_x2004]

Paul, hope this doesnt offend. Really it isnt my cup of tea but all I am saying is you have a digital camera so you might as well consider the options available. I actually prefer the unedited, but that just means my editing isnt up to speed, but I think exploring is worth considering. I tried some that are almost indistinguishable from the unedited except for very subtle background blur. This one is over the top. Your files seem really quite stunning, so you obviously have the VLux well and truly sorted.

Regards

..... Copy of 3.jpg

[jmr]

Paul,

another winner!

I don't find your backgrounds are too distracting at all - it's just that there are other moods you might try for. Thanks for posting.

[elansprint72]

Couple of observations here on the difference between taking pan shots of cars/bikes and horses/greyhounds; if you chose about 1/125th with the machines, you get great background blur and good rotary blur in the wheels, with practice you can get the "body" perfectly sharp; with the animals at 1/125th, you tend to lose the legs and also the amimals bob up and down a bit, so the "body" loses sharpness too.
I'm by no means an expert at shooting racing animals, in fact I tried it only once(!) but I found that my car-shooting technique simply did not work at all at the dog track; I'm guessing that perhaps 1/350th is more appropriate, but then you'll start to lose the background blur.
What sort of speeds do you use Paul?

Look forward to seeing your LUG gallery and thanks for the kind comment.

[Paul Gruyters]

Originally Posted by rob_x2004

Paul, hope this doesnt offend. Really it isnt my cup of tea but all I am saying is you have a digital camera so you might as well consider the options available. I actually prefer the unedited, but that just means my editing isnt up to speed, but I think exploring is worth considering. I tried some that are almost indistinguishable from the unedited except for very subtle background blur. This one is over the top. Your files seem really quite stunning, so you obviously have the VLux well and truly sorted.

Regards

..... Attachment 30167

No offence at all. I like what you've done. It is over the top as you say. For those who know about horseracing, this one is not going fast enough for that sort of blur. The effect is great though. Can I ask the method you used. As for having the V Lux sorted. Well lets say we're working on it.

Thanks,
Paul.

[Paul Gruyters]

Originally Posted by elansprint72

Couple of observations here on the difference between taking pan shots of cars/bikes and horses/greyhounds; if you chose about 1/125th with the machines, you get great background blur and good rotary blur in the wheels, with practice you can get the "body" perfectly sharp; with the animals at 1/125th, you tend to lose the legs and also the amimals bob up and down a bit, so the "body" loses sharpness too.
I'm by no means an expert at shooting racing animals, in fact I tried it only once(!) but I found that my car-shooting technique simply did not work at all at the dog track; I'm guessing that perhaps 1/350th is more appropriate, but then you'll start to lose the background blur.
What sort of speeds do you use Paul?

Look forward to seeing your LUG gallery and thanks for the kind comment.

If you were trying to shoot geyhounds I'd start with 1000/1!

As for my horses I range from 500 to 250. Maybe this is where I need to become braver.

Regs,
PJG.

[Paul Gruyters]

Originally Posted by jmr

Paul,

another winner!

I don't find your backgrounds are too distracting at all - it's just that there are other moods you might try for. Thanks for posting.

I love the work you've done with the C Lux 1.

Regs,
Paul.

[elansprint72]

Originally Posted by Paul Gruyters

If you were trying to shoot geyhounds I'd start with 1000/1!

As for my horses I range from 500 to 250. Maybe this is where I need to become braver.

Regs,
PJG.

Dogs!

wrt becoming braver- my advice to students ref motor-racing shots is to go out and practice on the traffic; see just how slow with shutter speed you can go before you lose it. In the film days I used to do this without a film loaded, get to know the feel of your shutter release. Like you I'm learning with the V-Lux1; the release timing is different from the FZ-30 I used last year, despite the spec on paper!