Inspiration wanted for NIGHT Rally photography

T

Talkiet

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Neil
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This year the Otago Classic rally with a field of BDAs, Porsches, Datsuns and some other lovely machinery will have three night stages and while I'm pretty comfortable shooting during the day or even in dingy conditions, I'm flummoxed as to what to do at night.

I know it's possible but I'm after inspiration - a google search for "night rally photography" throws up lots of shots of Obama :) and generally doesn't provide much help.

Inspiration and hints very very welcome. My kit is Canon 1 series and 2.8 lenses and I have a couple of flashes plus radio triggers.

Cheers - Neil G
www.nzsnaps.com
 
Havnet a huge amount of experience as my inital effrts were with compact cameras, which of course didnt work. Most recent (and succesful) attempt was with a single hot shoe flash (YN 560) on full power, camera set to 1/160 hand held, ISO 500, f6.3. Worked well, but would have preferred a 2nd flash to balance the lighting, although there wasn't really anything wrong with the amount of light from the 1 YN560.
 
Have shot a bit of rallying in the dark winter evenings, i'll usually shoot wide open, with flash of ettl and you can go pretty slow with the shutter speed as the flash will freeze the action
 
5469264166_214c21b18e.jpg


My attempt at rally Sweden :)

Although it was in the service park
 
Talkiet said:
I like it - it's one of the effects I was after... Thanks for posting. Is this on your Flickr to see the exif etc?

Cheers - N
Click to expand...

It is.... EXIF data:

Camera Nikon D300
Exposure 0.1 sec (1/10)
Aperture f/6.3
Focal Length 24 mm
ISO Speed 1000
Exposure Bias +4/3 EV
Flash No Flash
 
There are a few things to try as opposed to the obvious thing of just firing the flash on TTL at the car (which freezes everything and you just get startled looking drivers visible).

Try manual exposure to try and get the car detail in (as opposed to just the headlights), manual flash power, just a little amount of flash and fire it on the rear shutter.

Alternatively, stick a wireless flash or two on the other side of the track, wait until the car is masking the flashes and try sihloetting the car - I didn't get round to trying this last time but its definitely on the list.

Make sure that you have a torch with you so you don't blunder around in the ditches/undergrowth when trying to set it all up.
 
desantnik said:
There are a few things to try as opposed to the obvious thing of just firing the flash on TTL at the car (which freezes everything and you just get startled looking drivers visible).

Try manual exposure to try and get the car detail in (as opposed to just the headlights), manual flash power, just a little amount of flash and fire it on the rear shutter.

Alternatively, stick a wireless flash or two on the other side of the track, wait until the car is masking the flashes and try sihloetting the car - I didn't get round to trying this last time but its definitely on the list.

Make sure that you have a torch with you so you don't blunder around in the ditches/undergrowth when trying to set it all up.
Click to expand...

nice ideas... I especially like the wireless flash and silhouette idea, sounds very cool :clap:
 
Nice capture... but that has to be dangerous, that flash looks mighty bright and could imagine being blinded by that it a tight right 90.......... followed shortly by fire and death, but at least the guy got a good picture :)
 
Apologies - this is a repaste of a post you might see elsewhere - but I thought it polite to post in the forums where I got some good pointers...

Well, the event was last weekend and I have now sorted and processed the images. Due to time constraints I only got the chance to shoot one night stage - there was no service between stages and little time to drive between them. It made for a relaxed shot at the whole field though.

I consciously decided I didn't want to just bung the flash on the camera and get nice crisp shots, so here's some of the shots I was reasonably happy with...

1248655013_rhtHD-M.jpg


1248659255_MwqTM-M.jpg


1248662429_2LyAV-M.jpg

A couple of others from the weekend...

I particularly like the blue, green, white lines of the sky, hill and road... (This is Ari Vatanen BY The Way)

1248604356_7MQDA-M.jpg


This was on a street stage, and is part of a full sequence...

1248620614_7pTsx-M.jpg


Love the Sky here...

1248683903_F3i6D-M.jpg


Full gallery at: http://www.nzsnaps.com/Motorsport/Rallying/2011-Otago-Classic-Rally/16576127_pHXyF

Cheers - Neil G
 
WOW!

Simply WOW!

Those are just f'ing awesome!
 
Dynax22 said:
Brilliant, number 5 shows some real impact! Did he roll it? :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kinds words everyone! I must say I was very happy with the results...

The green WRX didn't roll - The 9 part sequence begins here. http://www.nzsnaps.com/Motorsport/Rallying/2011-Otago-Classic-Rally/16576127_pHXyF#1248620706_csiF5

He managed to finish the stage with the wheel lying underneath the car flat (in the horizontal plane!) and the team repaired it overnight so he was able to come out and ploay the next day!

Cheers - N
 
You should post these photos to a thread in the motorsport photo section - I think more people need to see these as they are really, really great.
 
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