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2 Pro Speed Racer - Long Exposure/Moving object

Infiniticubed

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I decided to try a new technique (for me). I worked on trying a long exposure on a moving object. For this try a buddy of mine drove his car across a parking lot. It was a ton of fun but for me it was really challenging. Between monitoring flight path (avoid collisions), matching the car's speed/direction exactly, and taking the image (when you click the "shutter" button the image freezes) it really challenged my multitasking skills. Out of MANY tries, I was only able to get one shot that I would say "Nailed It". It's not perfect, but I'm happy enough with it. :)Speed Racer.jpg
 
Nice one, that car is nice and sharp and that's hard enough with a stills camera let alone a drone.
Next time try with more in the background to show off the motion blur, that car park is rather featureless so doesn't show off your skill to the best advantage.
 
Nice one, that car is nice and sharp and that's hard enough with a stills camera let alone a drone.
Next time try with more in the background to show off the motion blur, that car park is rather featureless so doesn't show off your skill to the best advantage.
Thanks! I agree that the background was not ideal, but this was more of a "training" session. I had never done it so we went somewhere empty to try over and over without having to worry about people. The background wasn't under consideration. This was the only shot that worked out of close to 40 attempts. Next time definitely plan to make it more of an intersting shot. Thanks again!
 
In this particular composition, why don’t you active track the car parallel to direction of travel? Also, get closer to the subject, which will shorten depth of focus and generate more blur in background. This tracking with motion blur would work with any variety of compositions, so try other more interesting locales. It would be nice if the software allowed for a shutter time lapse without using hyperlapse function.
 
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In this particular composition, why don’t you active track the car parallel to direction of travel? Also, get closer to the subject, which will shorten depth of focus and generate more blur in background. This tracking with motion blur would work with any variety of compositions, so try other more interesting locales. It would be nice if the software allowed for a shutter time lapse without using hyperlapse function.
I've only had the drone for about a month, so I'm still learning. I was not aware you could use active track for stills, I guess I thought it was only for video. Active track would definitely have helped make it easier! I attempted closer to the subject, but when flying manually (not aware of active track use), it was much harder to get the subject in focus as matching the speed requires much better precision the closer you are. Further away you have much more wiggle room. As far as interesting locals, in this instance, it was more of an learning experiment rather than aiming for something to sell or hang on the wall. I was more interested in the technique than anything else, but I definitely plan to play with it further in other much more interesting locations. Thanks for the feedback and tips!
 
try using video and then do a frame grab. These can be surprising good images and a lot easier than trying to grab that perfect still image.
 
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try using video and then do a frame grab. These can be surprising good images and a lot easier than trying to grab tat perfect still image.
I will have to give that a try sometime. I would guess they won't be raw images, be depending on the need that might work out just fine. It's definitely worth a try! Thanks!
 
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I've only had the drone for about a month, so I'm still learning. I was not aware you could use active track for stills, I guess I thought it was only for video. Active track would definitely have helped make it easier! I attempted closer to the subject, but when flying manually (not aware of active track use), it was much harder to get the subject in focus as matching the speed requires much better precision the closer you are. Further away you have much more wiggle room. As far as interesting locals, in this instance, it was more of an learning experiment rather than aiming for something to sell or hang on the wall. I was more interested in the technique than anything else, but I definitely plan to play with it further in other much more interesting locations. Thanks for the feedback and tips!
Ya know, I’ve never thought to take a photo in Active Track, but photo/video function is independent of the drone navigation, with the exception of Panos, Quick Shots and Hyperlapse.

theoretically, you could export still frames from video (at lower resolution), capturing background motion blur with a lower shutter speed, but I’d bet the car wouldn’t be very sharp. Although, the car wouldn’t have to travel as fast to achieve background blur.
 
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Ya know, I’ve never thought to take a photo in Active Track, but photo/video function is independent of the drone navigation, with the exception of Panos, Quick Shots and Hyperlapse.

theoretically, you could export still frames from video (at lower resolution), capturing background motion blur with a lower shutter speed, but I’d bet the car wouldn’t be very sharp. Although, the car wouldn’t have to travel as fast to achieve background blur.
I've been looking around and it appears that you can do stills with active track, so I'm definitely goign to try it. I'd prefer raw fils for stills, so that would be ideal for me. I'll definitely try stills from video at some point too as it's nice to have options.
 
I've been looking around and it appears that you can do stills with active track, so I'm definitely goign to try it. I'd prefer raw fils for stills, so that would be ideal for me. I'll definitely try stills from video at some point too as it's nice to have options.
Experiment with shutter speeds and rate of travel for the vehicle. It would be good to know what shutter speeds work best for vehicles traveling at different speeds in instances where you’re capturing a car you’re not directing.
 
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Or you can blur the autos and get light streaks at night. Check this one on the forum:
 
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