Mark: Now I see what you mean about wanting it to blur. It is still a cool shot and I really like the angle. That slightly crooked angle there. I think I'll print out your response so I can take it in more and learn from what you described. Thanks for that. I agree on the ratings, can't learn anything if they don't tell you anything, so it is nice when people do comment. Lisa
Hi, Lisa. We're all here to learn and, for me at least, a rating with no comment doesn't tell me a thing. What's wrong or right about a picture? The lighting? The composition? Colors? Technical things? You just like (or hate) all pictures of racing cars or dogs or whatever? Who can say when there's no comment? In this case, the one rating I received so far isn't particularly bad or good, so I suppose that should minimize my frustration, but even so I'd like to know more than just a number.
I see there's a number of posts in the Suggestion Box forum about this and some reasonable proposals.
Anyway... You're right, a faster shutter speed would have frozen it better but in this case I was going for the blur. What's interesting with shots of fast-moving things with relatively slow shutter speeds is that, because the angle changes during the shot, it's possible to get one small part of the image sharp while the rest blurs. Getting the driver sharp in an open wheel car is an especially fun thing to try. In this case, semi-success: the driver is fairly sharp, though not as sharp as the red "L" on the sidepod.
But your comment on sharpness is so much more useful to me than if you had just given it a numerical rating.
I hope you keep posting; I enjoy seeing your pictures and share with you the desire to learn how to improve.
Mark: yes, it is frusterating when people rate and don't comment. I think maybe you are like me, I like to learn how to improve and with a low rating and no comment, I simply feel like I have been "slammed" and not given advice. I take it too personally and am too anxious to learn sometimes. You, however, look like you have already learned alot, based on your photos. This one is very good. I wonder if a faster shutter speed could help to capture the car in a more sharper image? But I know very little (right now) about all of this and am continuing to learn (which I have a lot to learn!)
Perhaps "scorn" is too strong a word and I meant it rather tongue-in-cheek (and I've certainly rated and not commented, too), but it can be a tad frustrating at times.
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