Motorsport photography can be difficult, it takes a lot of time and practise to start coming away with some really good images you can be happy with. I have been photographing motorsport, mainly Cadwell Park as it is only a 5 minute drive from my house in Louth, for a few years and have built up some information that could help you improve your images if your’e new to it! There are no magic camera settings to use to get great images, but all of the stuff below is a good starting point for you to work from and find what works for you.
I will be covering :
Panning
Shutter speed
Aperture
Focus
Off the track
Editing
Random tips
Panning has to be my favorite type of image to capture on the track, it freezes the car while the surroundings are blurred, forcing the car to be the main focus of the image. With a wide angle lens it can show the surroundings without them being distracting, you could tell the car is passing the finish line at Cadwell Park without the focus being taken from the car. It is also a challenge which makes it even better when you see one image come out just right.
The first thing to do when trying a panning image is to drop the shutter speed, there is no set speed to try as it all depends on focal length and what speed the car/bike is doing. Cadwell park is in most places quite fast, so a the only thing to think about is focal length. A good starting point is to set your shutter to 50% faster than your focal length, for example 100mm = 150th of a second shutter speed, or 18mm = 30th of a second. For this i will use shutter priority and keep the iso to 100 and let the aperture set itself. Sometimes if it is very bright you can use an ND filter or polarizer to cut out some of the light to keep the aperture down and the image as sharp as you can.
The next thing to do is to head to a part of a track, try going on a free track day, the cars still use the track the same but you will be almost alone and can move around as you please with no crowds. Once you find a part you are happy with, making sure its a part where the light is even and the car wont be passing in and out of shadows, this should stop the images coming out under or over exposed as the camera struggles to change settings as fast as you can move it. Now just spend a few moments watching the racing, watching where they enter the corner, how fast they are going, do they accelerate hard at a point on the corner as this might be hard to follow so you want the photo before this point or after.
I use back button focus, if i know where on the track i am going to fire the shutter i will pre focus, and then not touch the focus button again, that way the auto focus cant accidentally fix onto a tree or marshal as you follow the car or hunt and focus on nothing. It is also very useful for all other types of photography, i definitely recommend.
Now you have the settings and are happy with your place, move smoothly and start taking some photos ! Keep checking the photos back, if you are capturing sharp cars, try dropping the shutter some more and get even blurrier backgrounds, if you are struggling, up the speed a bit as you get used to it. Even now i will take 50 photos on a corner and come away with maybe only 5 good ones so don’t worry if your’e deleting waaaaaay more than you are keeping.
Have a look through some of my examples, including one to show how ALOT of my photos come out ! They range from 17mm at half a second up to around 200mm at 80th of a second. My favorite of all is the half second shutter shot with the car tiny in the frame, its something i have been after for a while and just looks crazy!
Not every image has to be slow a shutter panning shot! Sometimes you need to capture some action from the front of back of the cars, where a slow shutter wouldn’t capture anything good. In this instance i would keep the shutter up but not above around 400th or the wheels freeze and they car looks parked, not an interesting look for a sports car! I find these shots are boring if it is just a track day, they only really look interesting if it is a big race with famous people, but it is still good to practise for when you attend a big event! I will drop a few examples below. These images would play a vital role as part of a small album from a big race such as MOTO GP, some of these, some panning and some pit images would make a good collection. It could be a good way to show rivals on a big race too such as the Mini shot with a Mazda chasing him down !
I think it helps if you have a keen interest in the mechanics and pit lane side of motorsport too. I often walk around the open pits during events to photograph the cars close up, people working on them or the teams just relaxing. If you are putting a collection of images together from the day, an off track photo really fits in well and helps show the feel of a day. This is best at big events, i think they kind of expect it and its much more interesting, they have a full team of mechanics and pit lorries but its good practise to try on track days. I like to use a mix of long lens to snipe some shots or get wide and close and personal, they both give a different feel. Try to focus on details that make the car stand out, something out of the ordinary, or something particular to that car. Also try to grab some images of people working on the cars, close ups of the hands, wide shots of the team all working on different parts.
Once im done with the days shooting i will go through my photos, on my Nikon, i will lock the photos i want to keep, and delete the rest in the menu. I then import all my photos into Lightroom. I edit a photo very basically, and create a preset and apply this to all similar photos, if the light changed i would have to edit the photo separately. Once i have applied the preset, i go through and delete any images that are technically crap or just a bit boring. I will then go through and spend hours tweaking each photo after the preset deleting more as i go. I can import 250 photos and end up with only 30 at the end so don’t worry if you’re deleting a lot !
Now its time to share your images !!! I post all of my photos on Flickr, its a way of people seeing them but also another place my photos are backed up if my laptop and external hard drive both died! My other main place is Facebook and Instagram. When i post on Instagram i make sure i # lots of stuff, and add location and a tag of where it was taken, that way a lot of the drivers on the track day will have a really good chance of seeing them and they will often ask for the images and share them crediting you, i am fine with this as i gain a handful of followers each time which is nice and gets my images seen.
TOP TIPS IN QUICK !
Charge your batteries !
Go to a track day
Keep the shutter speed down
Keep the ISO down
Use a polarizer on bright days
Continuous autofocus with back button
Be smooth
Keep moving while its quiet to find good spots around the track
Try different lenses, go super wide and close, shoot super zoom too
Leave room around and in front of the car in the photo
Head to the pits
Photograph the people too
Share your favorites
Just enjoy the track action
I am excited to be heading to Santapod drag strip this weekend for the European drag finals where i can hopefully put all of this into practice and get some new different photos to share. It is not something i have photographed before and the cars move incredibly fast so panning might be a challenge! I will be shooting a lot of pit lane and detail stuff, the work they do on these off track is very interesting and should make for some great photos. I will be posting next week covering my new images, what happened and any tips i picked up on shooting a t a drag event! I might even try make a short video with my new gimbal i’ve not used yet !
If you enjoyed this weeks post or found it helpful leave a like or comment below, share with your friends and if you have any further questions leave a comment and i can try my best to answer!