How do you take Drag Racing shots at night ??

[D_I_A_B_L_O]

Basically my question is how ??

We are heading up to flame and thunder at the end of the month and obviously part of the attraction is racing at night, enabling exhaust flames to be seen etc, I have a Canon 450D and am very new to the DSLR game. I can see a problem with trying to take photos of drag racing at night due to the lack of light before the run and then more during it. Whats the best way of acheiving decent shots, all the hints and tips will be greatly received

[GetCarter]

Hi D_I_A_B_L_O

I'm sure the Canon crew will be here to help shortly.

BTW : How do you find the Passat?

[D_I_A_B_L_O]

The Passat is not too bad at all, something went wrong with the turbo though and a new one was required. VW took the pleasure of relieving me of £90 for the diagnosis and then wanted a further £1800 for a new turbo and fitting, personally I thought that was rather steep so bought the turbo myself for £650 and a friend fited it for me. Having the 6th gear on it is awesome for long journeys and there are 4 12V sockets which are always coming in handy. Comfortable ride, plenty of space, cant really fault it massively, its not as nice as an Aston though !!

[GazR33]

I attempted this about 4 years ago - was very difficult, at the time I had the EOS 300D.

First thing I would say is if you're going for the whole day, try to keep your batteries warm - i've been a few times to Flame and Thunder and battery life has been poor, rightly or wrongly i'm blaming the really cold weather lol.

Secondly, try to get a grandstand seat - when I was taking my pics I was against the barrier on the pits side of the track and even then it was jam packed with people and could only really take pics of the far lane. If you do get a grandstand seat, it doesn't always pay to sit at the front - although i've never tried it, I think sitting at the back would give a better view and you can stand up with no fear of being in anyone's way (try that at the front and the marshalls come and tell you to sit down - quite rightly to be honest)

I will hold my hand up now and say that I really don't know a lot about low light level photography, but what I did was to put the iso up as high as I could (I was using a 70-200mm F2.8 IS L series lens) - that was the only way I could think at the time of getting a decent shutter speed. Also, manual focus - autofocus really will struggle a lot in those light conditions.

The top fuel dragsters / funny cars might not put in a full run due to track conditions - if it's damp for example - but they normally give a lot of flames on the launch, so be ready for that - you can often hear the change of engine note when they are ready to go, so that's also a good clue.

I haven't made up my mind if i'm going this year or not - after the last couple of years i've been a little disappointed with it, so may give it a miss this time around.

Drag racing at night is absolutely brilliant though.

[Jag-D]

Might see ya there

[nick_bbb]

The bunny ears look great at night



All I can offer is wide open lens and high ISO, but I'm sure you knew that. I normally pan at 1/125 from the bank.

[Furyous]

Its tricky at best.
No af for starters - in my case at least.
As Nick said, wide open and around 1/125 usually works.

This is about my best :




Fireworks meet last year got rained out, hope its better this year.

[jon-]

Ask if you can set up a few brollies on the run and trigger them remotely

[Skodaku]

...............and multiple exposures then dump any that don't cut it. The joys of digital. At least you can trial & error without spending money. However, as an earlier post mentioned; spare battery(s) would be a good idea and keep 'em warm.