2014, Day 349 - You've got a fast car

Not really though, this old double-decker bus isn't going anywhere any time soon but it is all cool and beat up.  Makes me think of the double-decker busses in Davis that still run regularly even though spare parts are largely unavailable and have to be made by a talented local mechanic.

Fuji X-E2, Fujinon 35/f1.4R
35mm, f1.4, 1/280 sec @ 200 ISO

2011, Day 231 - Seesaw

The photo of the silver Subaru is one of the best wide angle pans I have from yesterday's racing.  The problem is that if you are continuously focusing on a single point, let's say the door mirror, from a relatively short distance both the front and back of the car are going to be out of focus because they are not moving in the same manner the mirror.  Think of the car as a board and the focus point as a axis, like a seesaw.  Both ends of the board can and will move while the point at the axis, our door mirror, are stationary relative to either end. This is the problem with wide angle panning...

To issue is illustrated fairly well in the photo of the black Lotus (how sinister).

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
35mm, f16, 1/60 sec @ 200 ISO

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
35mm, f16, 1/60 sec @ 200 ISO

2011, Day 230 - Doppler effect

Nnnnnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  That was my morning, spent with my friend Rinda at Portland International Raceway taking pictures of racing.  As a bit of a car nut it was fun seeing what people were driving.  There were a lot of cars from Lotus, a Ford GT40, some insane Subarus, a couple older Porsches and even Godzilla (a trio of Nissan GT-Rs).  This was a fantastic opportunity to work on my panning skills and there were some fun photos then with a wide angle lens while panning.  The problem with panning using a short lens is that you have an incredibly small area in focus and the rest blurs as it moves in space while you track that single point.

Below is the Ford GT40 taken with a telephoto lens.  I like the slightly gritty look and the blur of the background thus it is my featured image today.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II
135mm, f16, 1/60 sec @ 200 ISO