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hey guys,

a few friends want me take some shots of their motorbikes for them this week, and looking for advice to ensure decent results...

i'll probably be shooting at night, doing both static and action shots.

eqip is:

D70,
12-24 wide,
18-70 kit,
70-300 tamron f4-5.6.

i'm thinking of shutter priority for a moving bike? would 1/350 be enough? (if enough light that is)

also, no speedlight, just built-in flash.

look forward to your help

Night and action sucks, unless youre planning to do it in a tunnel??

I'm tending to use manual and have a couple of test shots to get similar metering for panning, been finding more consistent results.

Mostly i'll go around 1/60-1/250 for panning and motion.

You'll probably want f2.8 though at night..

thanks, kyle..

dont have my f2.8 just yet, but wish i did that VR would be handy...

the tamron's kinda slow and i guess i'd need some decent light using this. i dont want to go past ISO 400/500 really, hope the flash will help out, but a speedlight would be the proper way

Static shots - use a tripod and all 3 lenses for wide angle down to close up macro shots of the various shiny bits and pieces of each bike. Make sure the environment looks decent as well, not just a crappy carpark with cars in the background.

As for action shots, dial the iso up to 800 and even drop the shutter speed to around 1/60 or less (depending on how good you are with panning) and set the flash to rear-sync.

Get your mate to go past you fairly slow (say 20 km/h) on the bike and pan the camera to follow him. You should be able to get a decent exposure with the background lights in a trail and the flash should get the bike and rider nicely. Use a nice straight bit of road or if you want to be fancy, go to a roundabout and try it

A properly exposed shot shouldn't give you much troubles at iso800.

Indeed a clean background/surrounding does wonders for good auto images

One example i have...http://static.flickr.com/119/312736389_a39e98b210_o.jpg

will do, Piro. I'll give it a shot...cheers.

really nice shot there, kyle

If you need a bit of length and vr, you can try out my 24-120...

sadly, i dont have a 70-200 just yet..

thanks heaps for the offer, kyle, but i wouldn't dare borrow another mans lens

i don't even like bumming a smoke

appreciate it though..

it's not a mega important shoot really, but i'd like to give them a few decent prints from it, and it will be a good test for me and hopefully a confidence booster if all goes well...

James,

I've had a look at your site and you have a very creative eye for composition. Just have confidence you'll pull the shots off and enjoy the shoot.

thanks, piro...

i just set the shoot up for wednesday, so no turning back...

i'll let ya know how it goes