Shooting Racing
Discussion
Helping a friend at the track over next few weekends and thought it a good opportunity to practice shooting racing. There will be a mix of fast and slow so will be good to try get as much as possible.
I've done it previously but the biggest issue I had across most of the pictures were that they were not very sharp. I am okay with doing action shots of people however I struggle with motion blurr and capturing the action.
Using Nikon D300, with 2 lenses, Sigma 18-300 and a 17-50.
Any tips or things to read would be greatly appreciated.
I've done it previously but the biggest issue I had across most of the pictures were that they were not very sharp. I am okay with doing action shots of people however I struggle with motion blurr and capturing the action.
Using Nikon D300, with 2 lenses, Sigma 18-300 and a 17-50.
Any tips or things to read would be greatly appreciated.
For motion blur...
Around 1/160 shutter speed is usually a good place to start. AF-C on, VR off (for most lenses), pan with the car movement and follow through.
If you're having trouble getting the car sharp then try a bit faster shutter, if you aren't getting enough motion blur then try a bit slower shutter - the ideal shutter speed varies with car speed and focal length/distance etc.
Its reasonably simple but does take practice to get good at it.
Around 1/160 shutter speed is usually a good place to start. AF-C on, VR off (for most lenses), pan with the car movement and follow through.
If you're having trouble getting the car sharp then try a bit faster shutter, if you aren't getting enough motion blur then try a bit slower shutter - the ideal shutter speed varies with car speed and focal length/distance etc.
Its reasonably simple but does take practice to get good at it.
That's pretty much it - use shutter priority automatic exposure. For maximum b/g blur pick the slowest shutter speed that will keep the car sharp. I'd use the central focus point as it's convenient and cross-type (I think). Do make sure you get the right focus system; they can be complicated and you might find it focusing on something else...
You'll get the cleanest results if you shoot the car when it's side on. If it's at an angle you'll tend to get one end sharp and the other blurred (which you may or may not like).
You'll get the cleanest results if you shoot the car when it's side on. If it's at an angle you'll tend to get one end sharp and the other blurred (which you may or may not like).
Edited by Simpo Two on Friday 25th June 13:51
Obviously you want something in focus but you can get some nice effects and capture the essence of speed without the need for pin-sharpness so get creative on that.
As above, you need to play around with shutter speed and aperture to get something you like. One will trade off with the other - a high shutter speed = sharpness but little impression of speed. Low shutter = great impression of speed but difficult to get sharp.
Cars heading into, through and out of a corner will be slower so afford a little more scope.
If you do go for the pin sharp, high shutter speed, try to get the car when it's on the edge; leaning over, running on the rims out of a corner, sliding...etc.
Try to shoot as low down as you can - personally, I don't like shots of racing cars looking down on them. Shot from roughly the same level as to the driver's eye can give some quite pleasing results.
Composition wise, you want to leave a little space in the frame to give the car more space in front of it than behind ... so that it looks as though the car is driving 'into' the frame' rather than away from it.
When panning, try not to push the whole camera down when you press the shutter - easy to do and not know you've done it - and keep panning after you've fired the shutter. And don't forget that a race car is either accelerating or braking. Never cruising. So you panning will not be a constant speed.
And shoot RAW. Motor Racing happens quickly and by the time you've figured out the best settings, the race will be over. Get a sweet spot on exposure then concentrate on composition. Shooting RAW will mean you have way more options in edit (pulling out shadows, pushing back highlights, etc).
And don't forget P&Ps.... Pits and People. There's a lot more to shoot at a race meet beyond what's happening on track!
HTH - Have fun
As above, you need to play around with shutter speed and aperture to get something you like. One will trade off with the other - a high shutter speed = sharpness but little impression of speed. Low shutter = great impression of speed but difficult to get sharp.
Cars heading into, through and out of a corner will be slower so afford a little more scope.
If you do go for the pin sharp, high shutter speed, try to get the car when it's on the edge; leaning over, running on the rims out of a corner, sliding...etc.
Try to shoot as low down as you can - personally, I don't like shots of racing cars looking down on them. Shot from roughly the same level as to the driver's eye can give some quite pleasing results.
Composition wise, you want to leave a little space in the frame to give the car more space in front of it than behind ... so that it looks as though the car is driving 'into' the frame' rather than away from it.
When panning, try not to push the whole camera down when you press the shutter - easy to do and not know you've done it - and keep panning after you've fired the shutter. And don't forget that a race car is either accelerating or braking. Never cruising. So you panning will not be a constant speed.
And shoot RAW. Motor Racing happens quickly and by the time you've figured out the best settings, the race will be over. Get a sweet spot on exposure then concentrate on composition. Shooting RAW will mean you have way more options in edit (pulling out shadows, pushing back highlights, etc).
And don't forget P&Ps.... Pits and People. There's a lot more to shoot at a race meet beyond what's happening on track!
HTH - Have fun
StevieBee said:
And shoot RAW. Motor Racing happens quickly and by the time you've figured out the best settings, the race will be over. Get a sweet spot on exposure then concentrate on composition. Shooting RAW will mean you have way more options in edit (pulling out shadows, pushing back highlights, etc).
I go the other way on this, motorsport is one of the only times I generally don't shoot RAW, apart from occasional exceptions with really tricky light that I know has potential for great images but will need more dynamic range in editing.I guess it depends on the camera, but JPG gives a much larger buffer for rapid-fire shooting when something dramatic happens in front of you and you want to just keep shooting as it unfolds. I prefer the smaller file sizes of JPG to work with when shooting hundreds or even thousands of shots over a weekend. Yes there is some loss of dynamic range and white balance control for editing, but the exposure metering is normally good enough not to be an issue.
Another setting to check with Nikons (I don't know about the OP's D300 but its been the case with my D7200 and previous D7000) if the buffer is lagging when it shouldn't be - there is an 'auto distortion control' setting that for some reason dramatically reduces the rapid fire buffer.
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