Brendan Hughes

We might go to see the Rally of Portugal (no longer WRC) this weekend, if all goes well. Haven't done action photography before, or even been to a rally before!, so any tips? We have a Nikon F65 SLR (good beginners' camera, I'd say) with a 28-300 zoom. Not wonderful at photography, but have been trying to play with motorwind, shutter and aperture speeds while in Thailand.

Film speeds, where to stand, prefocussing, panning, sports mode, etc... All advice gratefully received!

Thanks

Brendan

Diablo

Most important piece of advice.

Don't get run over because you are concentrating on getting the right shot.

Not as daft as it sounds

D

Brendan Hughes

I'd... sort...of... hoped... I'd... work.. that.. out....

Speaking from painful experience D?

Toerag

Insides of corners allow you to not get covered in dust and stones.
Inside left handers allow you to see the drivers best.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Depending on where you stand, you'll nedd a shutter speed of at least 1/250 sec, more if you choose a fast section. Try to pan with the car, and if poss, take a few shots of each car, and print up the best one(s).
Aperture is not so important, but remember that a VERY wide aperture, (less than, say F4), could lead to the rear of a car being out of focus while the front is in focus Try to photograph in good light, bright sunlight obviously best to give a good combination of high shutter speed, and small aperture.
Remember that panning will blur the background and give more of an image of speed.
Alcazar

Stephen Read

Put film in the camera!

Speaking as someone who witnessed one of the greatest overtaking manouevers ever (Senna passing Wendlinger through the craner curves at Donnington from the Old Hairpin) though the viewfinder of an SLR with no film in it I can tell you that it hurts.

Or else, go digital!

Still I have been out without my smartmedia before too! Doh!

BOB.T

The sports setting on my Cannon is a bit pants I think. As mentioned above, you can end up with one bit of the car in focus and another bit blurry. The ones that are in focus properly are just that, everything in focus, wheels and everything.

After speaking with Weasel 555 I now use aperture priorty and try to use F8, this seems to give good results with all of the car in focus yet some movement on the wheels and background

Another tip is to check which way the wind is blowing so you don't get filled with dust Oh and try to get the best footing you can....and trace the course cars through the camera to get an idea of what the cars will look like... frame size n stuff...and... pick a spot where you want to take your pic, pre focus on it ready for when the car comes

That should do it, phew!

Have a search through the gallery and you'll find some of my pics

Crush

Just echoing what Bob said

I like to find a spot that looks a bit dramatic. Focusing on the spot till the car comes is a good tip. Also, try to take a few shots of the same car. Zooming right into the **** pit always makes for a good photo

I use a 400 speed film for motorsports, but Saturday was the 1st time I've tried photographing a rally, so I'll soon see how I done when I get the photos back

Diablo

LOL almost

Had a 205 literally disintegrate right in front of me.

I'm standing there taking pictures when my mate pulls me out the way...

OK serious points.

Wide aperture = shallow depth of field, but high shutter speeds. You get nice non blurry shots, but focus issues due to lack of depth of field.

But then, you might want that..LOL..

Panning shots are better with shallow depth of field so the background is blurred and out of focus - if you know what I mean. That way, the panning effect is more effective, for me at least.

I'd get a monopod (excellent for panning) and try with a lower shutter speed for action shots.

BOB, the problem with most sports settings is that it cranks up the shutter speed and widens the aperture - hence the focus problems you've had.

Lower shutter speeds make for more dynamic shots of the mud and stones being displaced as well.

Basically run through the spectrum. take some with varying shutter speeds and aperture settings.

D

BOB.T

Hmm, I'd like to rattle through all the settings but it seems a bit pointless cos I can't remember what settings I used It gets a tad expensive too

I have a monopod, generally I like it cos I can't keep steady but for rallying it's a bit...erm, less than ideal due to uneven ground and hills n stuff I do use it where I can though It does look like you know what you're doing though which makes people get out of your way

frisby

go digital, then you can instantly preview your shots, experiment with settings, and it costs you a big fat zero in development costs!!!!

regards

stuart

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Lots of help & advice on photographing motorsports with an SLR here.

Any other questions, ask away

A.

paulr

Best tip imo,(using manual focus).........and use fuji 800asa for a good aperture and decent shutter speeds.As long as you only enlarge to 7x5 it should be spot on.

BOB.T

www.7dayshop.com do the Fuji film mentioned above for less than 2 squids a roll, you'll pay a fiver in a shop One thing to bear in mind though is that it'll take (funnily enough) 7 days to arrive

I've been quoted, in a good way, tremendous!

Pete Croney

If taking panning shots, I find the results much better if I hold the camera at arms length, rather to my eye. The pan is smoother and you don't under/over shoot the pan so easily. Always use manual focus and prefocus to where you intend to press the shutter.

You can also see normally so will spot something coming flying towards you.

Crush

Well I got them back, and the results are ****

from 108, there are about 8 really good ones, the rest are crap. I used Kodak film (400), but I might try Fuji next time. I've been dissapointed by Kodak before My crappy skills are also to blame, cars not in the middle of the print, half of cars, blurred cars.

I'll post a couple up later

Toerag

If you're using digital you need good light otherwise the exposure time is too long and everything gets blurred. I've got some pics from the german rally last summer, I'll try to post them up at lunchtime.

mattstant

DONT go digital unless you have bottomless pockets because you will need the very best kit at 2000 plus

Canon is my weapon of choice as theyre USM lenses are ideal for motorsport most medium priced Cannons have a focus follow setting which is very impressive and aslong as youre subjest is in the centre of the frame it will remain in focus not matter how fast the subject (ie raly car is coming towards you.
They also have a neat trick of predictive focusing where it will work out where the subject will be based on speed and time when the shutter goes up.

paulr

Personally i find Kodak crap.The colours are poor imo.

Brendan Hughes

Well thanks for all the help. I've added to Faves for the future.


...erm, but for the present I just found out the rally is not where I thought it was, but about 3hrs further to drive each way, which in my motorised biscuit tin puts it comprehensively out of my reach to nip up for a Saturday


Suppose I should just nip down the local dual carriageway to try some of the techniques out to prepare for next time