So one of the things I went into this year's Vintage Grand Prix hoping to accomplish is some panning shots. Basically, you keep one of the cars in the same spot within the view finder as you track along with the car as it moves. Doing this produces a blurred background with a sharp in focus car. The blurred background generally will have a streaked appearance, giving the sense of speed and motion. It is much easier said (and typed) than done!

I took probably at least 200 photos, and only got a couple that were worth keeping - and even those are a bit blurry and probably should be deleted... but for a first attempt, I figured they were good enough. And in one case, I used a sepia tone treatment to give it an even more vintage look (and to hide some flaws).

Technical Details: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, 1/10 at f/22. ISO 100. 2011 Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, Pittsburgh, PA. Raw conversion and sepia tone conversion in Photoshop CS5 (mouseover for original).

Obviously, unless all of the cars are moving at the exact same speed, only one will be in focus. In this case, I was focusing on the red 71 car. If you look closely at the 71 on the door, you'll see it is a bit blurred, and other parts of the car are not as crisp as I would have liked. This either means I panned too quickly, too slowly, and/or moved the camera up/down.

I think I chose a poor location to try this... as the cars would enter the turn, they would change speeds - making it much more difficult to pan at the right speed. It also produced a rather cluttered and confusing background.

But all in all, I still like the shot - despite its flaws, it was a good learning experience, it has a fun feel too it, and I enjoyed capturing it.

- Bill

Ok! As promised, we'll take a break from the spiders and bugs for a bit and check out some classic cars. Like last year I took a trip to the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. Hopefully this year's shots meet your approval...

Technical Details: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM at 289mm, 1/320 at f/6.4. ISO 100. 2011 Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, Pittsburgh, PA. Raw conversion and cropped in Photoshop CS5 (mouseover for original)

Why This Photo: I took shots from this vantage point last year too, and I really liked the way you could get multiple cars lined up in the shot. It obviously requires a little luck and patience and good timing.

What Works: The relatively shallow DoF allows for the main car to be in focus while the others are blurred. Additionally, the placement of the cars provides balance to the shot, while the curve of the road produces a pleasing smooth line to lead the viewer's eyes through the scene.

What Doesn't Work: Obviously, in the original, the over-exposed pavement at the foreground was very distracting. It really served no purpose, but as you can see, was very easy to eliminate. The exposure through the shade of the trees on that section of road is always a little tough. Additionally, the front tire of the red car is breaking the edge of the frame, and probably would have been better suited had it been given a little space there.

Stay tuned as I have a bunch of shots to share from the races and the car show... plus, in a rare twist for me, you'll see a bit more post processing - including some B&W and Sepia.

- Bill

Well, after a power outage right when I was coming home from work that threw off my schedule for a bit, I'm now sitting on the sofa, relaxing and listening to the first preseason Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game. If you know me, you know hockey is something very important to me - both watching and playing it.

The return of the hockey season is something I've been looking forward to since May 12, 2010. It was big enough that it inspired me as to what to post this evening.

So I looked through my old photos, and I found a set of photos I took three years ago to the day. Oddly enough, it was also a preseason game against the Detroit Redwings.

These shots were taken at the Mellon Arena (which I will always know as the Civic Arena), and I managed to sneak in my Rebel XT with the Canon EF 80-200mm lens attached. Technically, the Civic Arena had a policy that lenses had to be no longer than three inches in length. And unfortunately, the Consol Energy Center has a policy that prohibits all cameras with interchangeable lenses.

As a result, tight photos from a fan's seat might be harder and harder to get. So you just might end up having to crop photos down to get nicer shots. Which is exactly what we'll look at today...

Technical Data: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, Canon EF 80-200mm f/4.5-5.6 II at 100mm, 1/200 sec at f/5. ISO 400. Cropped in post production. Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh, PA

Technical Data: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, Canon EF 80-200mm f/4.5-5.6 II at 100mm, 1/320 sec at f/5. ISO 400. Cropped in post production. Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh, PA

Technical Data: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, Canon EF 80-200mm f/4.5-5.6 II at 100mm, 1/200 sec at f/5. ISO 400. Cropped in post production. Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh, PA

If you mouseover the images, it should load the original, giving you an idea of how much the cropping cleaned up the final product. I probably could have used some effort to remove more distracting elements from the second and third images, but I was just doing a quick crop on these images.

So remember - even if you don't have that super-long telephoto, or you just want to leave your original composition a bit loose so you don't leave out important elements by cropping too closely on your actual shot - especially when shooting quick moving action, you can always go back later and crop things down a bit to get that close shot you're looking for.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think. What is your opinion of cropping in camera versus in post production.

Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to listen to the rest of the game... GO PENS!

- Bill

Well, since this is still my favorite shot of the whole set, I figured I should give this one a bit more time...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM at 500mm, 1/510 sec at f/6.4. OS Mode 1. ISO 200. No post production. 2010 Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix Car Show, Pittsburgh, PA.

Why This Photo: Like I've said in the previous posts, I was out this day trying a new photography. At this point, I was standing at the top of a curvy hill and then a sharp right turn. I was working on tracking moving subjects.

What Works: I like the close zoom on this shot, capturing the look of concentration on the driver's face. The reflections and shine on the car, and the nicely blurred background. Like some of the other shots I shared previously, I think this one also captures a sense of the action of the race.

What Doesn't Work: There are basically two things I wish were different about this photo - first, I don't mind the car not being entirely in the shot, but I wish that at least a portion of the rear wheel was in the shot to give it a little balance (perhaps I should try cropping in from the right to remove the rear suspension). The second is that the depth of field is a bit shallow so that the driver's face is slightly blurred.

All-in-all, even with its flaws, this is still my favorite shot from this set. It doesn't come close to being a prize winning photo, but considering it has gotten me into thinking about other styles of photography, there's more value in it than just a single photo. But I still like it...

While we're at it, I guess I will share some of those other photos that I feel are a bit flat and lack that feel of action to them:

Feel free to comment on any or all of the shots today.

- Bill

No - you're not seeing double.

I managed to capture these almost exactly identical images of two different racers, which is quite impressive (at least to me) when you consider that I was shooting handheld for a good portion of the day. The shots were taken only five seconds apart, but if you look very closely at the background, you'll see the shots are slightly different.

Normally, I would have recommended using a tripod shooting at such a long zoom length (439mm), but my Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM has that lovely little Optical Stabilization feature, so I was able to shoot by hand.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM at 439mm, 1/1020 and 1/790 sec (respectively) at f/6.4. ISO 200. No post production. 2010 Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, Pittsburgh, PA.

I think I'll pass on doing my normal full critique of these two - mostly I'm just liking how cool these two photos turned out. Even though some of the cars are cut off in both photos, I still like the composition of the shots - I think it helps to give the sense of motion like the previous shot. Feel free to post your own critiques in the comments if you like.

Fun stuff.

- Bill

Well, as promised, I've finally uploaded new photos after getting my home internet connection fixed (talk about a fiasco and a half!). I have some really good photos, but I am going to try and run through them in order.

Which takes us back about a month to the 2010 Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. I posted a teaser back then, and I have a few more to share.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM at 370mm, 1/1020 sec at f/6.4. ISO 200. No post production. 2010 Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, Pittsburgh, PA.

Why This Photo: I sometimes try my hand at new styles of photography. This is one of those times - just stepping out of my comfort zone.

What Works: The best thing about this photo is the lean that the racecar has from hitting this turn. I feel it gives the photo a sense of the action. Most of the other shots I took that day seem too static.

What Doesn't Work: I'm not thrilled with the shadow from the tree right in front of the car - it is a bit distracting. Focus might be a tad off too.

There's more from this set, so tune in again soon for more. In the meantime, drop me a line and let me know what you think of these car photos.

- Bill

As I'm sure you've discovered by now, my favorite type of photography is macro wildlife, but something I try from time to time is to step outside of my comfort zone. So this weekend, I did just that and tried something new...

Unfortunately, Verizon has been utterly useless in fixing an issue I've had with our DSL at home for over two weeks now. So until I get a real working internet connection at home, you'll have to wait to see more.

- Bill