Motor Racing Setup

LewisHall

LewisHall

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Hey as some of you may know Brands Hatch as just started again and am going to the British touring cars on the 29th it will be my first time with my dslr and tripod. I didn't know if anyone could recommend a particular setup I will be staying at same corner most of the day as you get a brilliant view and is open so better to take pictures. I didn't know if there was like a particular shutter speed etc so I could just set the camera up on the tripod leave it there and when the cars come round just click away. Appreciate any help thankyou!
 
In short the answer is no. Even staying at the same corner all day will mean the angle of the sun (if there is any) will move. What sort of shots are you wanting to take? panning shots usually mean a slower shutter speed and you are likely to find panning harder on a tripod. "Action" shots are likely to need a faster shutter speed. All will depend on the light. Again we don't know what lens(s) you are using. So I would suggest you take the camera and "play"

One thing I would say is enjoy the day and don't spend to much time looking through the viewfinder and end up missing out on the racing.
 
To be blunt, your question sounds like 'I've bought some gear and found a spot, all I need from you guys are the settings and I can leave the camera to it'.

It's about as far away from the reality of photography as it's possible to get.

A tripod is rarely useful for moving subjects, to get a moving car sharp you'll have to pan, this is a technique some people pick up quickly and others never quite grasp. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
 
Thanks tbh i never usually use a tripod i just wasnt sure if it would be easier, but clearly not lol. we go pretty much every single weekend anyway so hopefully can just keep playing about with it till i find the approriate shutter speed etc.
 
Great, but with the caveat 'there's no such thing as the 'appropriate' shutter speed' it varies due to the look you want and the speed of the vehicles.

If you use too fast a SS on a moving car, you can freeze the movement completely, which a novice might think is the way to get a 'sharp' photo. But it makes the car look stationary, to show movement and drama takes a bit more thought. I've never shot cars track racing, but my 'starting' shutter speed with Rally cars is 1/200, clearly I go slower for panning (and often use a monopod).

The other thing about staying on one place is, you'll get bored looking at your pictures, you'll want a mix of wide shots, 3/4 shots, head on shots, side on shots, as mentioned above the light will change too.
 
Phil V said:
Great, but with the caveat 'there's no such thing as the 'appropriate' shutter speed' it varies due to the look you want and the speed of the vehicles.

If you use too fast a SS on a moving car, you can freeze the movement completely, which a novice might think is the way to get a 'sharp' photo. But it makes the car look stationary, to show movement and drama takes a bit more thought. I've never shot cars track racing, but my 'starting' shutter speed with Rally cars is 1/200, clearly I go slower for panning (and often use a monopod).

The other thing about staying on one place is, you'll get bored looking at your pictures, you'll want a mix of wide shots, 3/4 shots, head on shots, side on shots, as mentioned above the light will change too.
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Yeah by appropriate I mean what I think looks best as before when I went I was just using a bridge camera on auto so will play about with it and see what sort of shots I like best. I'm going to try and give a few different corners etc a go too so I have a variety of images
 
what looks best is really a relative term for whatever the situation may be.

Sometimes a slow speed is needed sometimes a fast speed.

These two for example when i shoot the 750MC BMW's, the first is 1/1250th and captures all the flex in the markers and dirt in the air, the other is 1/40th and captures the motion blur, neither would work well for the other shot and its relative to what I wanted to achieve.



 
I'll start by saying that I've no experience of motor racing photography so feel free to ignore what I say.

Firstly, I recommend that you look through a few BTCC pics and write down what you like or don't like about them. Once you start to build an understanding of what works then you'll be much better placed to get the shots you are happy with rather than firing off all day and ending up with average results.
In term of shutter speed, if you are shooting side on then the 'golden rule' (which I've just made up) is to make sure you've got motion in the wheels. Others have already mentioned this and it will become obvious if you look through other shots.

From a personal perspective, I don't like taking pictures which are the same as everyone else. In the end, what's the point of all your effort if you aren't creating anything different. Ask yourself, why will anyone want to look at your pictures when there are going to be a lot of pros capturing the action? (Totally ignoring the fact you might just want to learn more and have fun).
All the pro's and any idiot with a camera (no offence intended) will be able to stand trackside and get each car passing. While these are great shots and you should definitely invest time in learning how to shoot them, you should try to get a few shots capturing the 'moments' which others might miss. For example, if/when a car goes off there is lots of drama on track to shoot, however who is capturing the crowd/marshal's reactions?

P.S. Try to blag your way onto the start grid for some photo opportunities or spend time near the team trucks in the pits if you want to document the drivers and behind the scenes action.
 
+5dB said:
I'll start by saying that I've no experience of motor racing...
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Same here. The only reason I'm posting is that I was intrigued by your user name of +5db and wondered what the relevance was. +3dB or +6dB would be more logical but perhaps you have a good reason!


Steve.
 
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Steve Smith said:
Same here. The only reason I'm poisting is that I was intrigued by your user name of +5db...

Steve.
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As part of my work I commonly use BS 4142 which states that +5 dB is of marginal significance. i.e. unlikely to cause complaint. Most of my forum posts are/will be of marginal significance and unlikely to cause complaint. :)
 
Hey Lewis. Don't stay in one spot. That's a big mistake. All your shots will be the same. Move around the track as much as you can and look for undulations and crests so you can get a variation of angles.

As for SS, what ever suits the place you're stood and the kind of shot you want to capture will all dictate that. Practice makes perfect mate and don't take a shot the spend 5 minutes looking at it. Take a load and look at them at home. Make sure you have a load of memory too.
 
minnnt said:
Hey Lewis. Don't stay in one spot. That's a big mistake. All your shots will be the same. Move around the track as much as you can and look for undulations and crests so you can get a variation of angles.

As for SS, what ever suits the place you're stood and the kind of shot you want to capture will all dictate that. Practice makes perfect mate and don't take a shot the spend 5 minutes looking at it. Take a load and look at them at home. Make sure you have a load of memory too.
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Yeah mate gonna try all different as like I say first time with the new camera and lens etc so gonna move about abit try get some of the straights,bends etc hopefully will all go well! Got a 64gb memory card too so should be fine there hopefully lol. Hoping the weathers alright the weekend lol so if I'm right I want to try get blurr background shots for the straights which I'll start at like 1/60ish? And for bend where there are coming head on or behind a SS of like 1/400 upwards? Cheers mate
 
Just shoot a range of shutter speeds all over the track. It's very much trial and error. You wait and see how many you throw in the bin. Haha.

Panning is a great technique to try, it's suprisingly easy tbh. I use single point AF-C in aperture priority mode.

Like I said, don't get obsessed with shooting at full stretch and filling the whole frame with one car and no surroundings. A few are good, but take in some of the scenery too and compose your shots well.

Ad don't get gear envy... some serious togs at these events.
 
it is as above, make sure various points for different shots, around donnington takes a fair while to walk to where I want to be but it allows for those different shots as mentioned above, if you are side on a straight you won't get a gravel trap shot for example.

at brands you can get some great shots with some of the hill sections
 
minnnt said:
Just shoot a range of shutter speeds all over the track. It's very much trial and error. You wait and see how many you throw in the bin. Haha.

Panning is a great technique to try, it's suprisingly easy tbh. I use single point AF-C in aperture priority mode.

Like I said, don't get obsessed with shooting at full stretch and filling the whole frame with one car and no surroundings. A few are good, but take in some of the scenery too and compose your shots well.

Ad don't get gear envy... some serious togs at these events.
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What's single point AF-C mate
 
minnnt said:
Single point is 1 focus point and af-c is continuous auto focus... basically as you focus on the subject and you pan with it the camera should hold the subject in focus.

Youtube is your friend. ;)
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okay mate so what happens with shutter speed etc when you do that then? is there anything in particular im best to type into youtube to find it? cheers mate
 
OK. Brands Hatch Indy is a small 1.4 mile circuit. It will be busy. Leave tripod at home, unless you're shooting video, you'll just get in peoples way and it will get inserted into some orifice by other spectators. If you're going for photography reasons, then don't sit in one location all day, but move around the circuit and experiment otherwise you'll end up with thousands of shots that look the same - plus the sun moves around during the day and renders parts of the circuit less suitable than others for photography. If you're going for the racing and social side, then set up camp in one location and stay put.

There will be a public pit walk on the Sunday race day, plus opportunities behind the pits for candid shots plus podium ceremony, plus the chance to pan through the trees (or people) in certain areas. Depending on the weather you could employ and the type of photo you are looking for you could employ shutter speeds from 1/15 to 1/1000 .
 
It won't have any effect on shutter speed. That will be determined by either the camera or yourself dependent upon which kind of shot you're aiming for.

Here is a shot at 1/80 of a second at f4 which was in a forest so lighting was an issue...



With this shot, i had to stop the aperture down a fair bit to f14 to get a useable kind of panning speed due to it being one of the sunniest days of the year (and swelteringly hot!!)



I believe Sunday has been forecast to be a good day so you may need to stop your lens down alot coupled with iso 100 to achieve a slow enough shutter. For non panning shots such as cars cresting hills etc then use a faster shutter speed.

Most of all, don't forget to enjoy the racing!!
 
minnnt said:
Single point is 1 focus point and af-c is continuous auto focus... basically as you focus on the subject and you pan with it the camera should hold the subject in focus.

Youtube is your friend. ;)
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Right I'm here now and having a problem!! Haha got it on shutter priority but it keeps changing the aperture too so it won't let me do a slow shutter speed to get the blurred effect etc I'm sure it's something stupid but can someone help please!!
 
shutter priority is where you set the shutter speed and the camera adjusts the aperture and possibly the ISO to suit. So turn down the shutter speed and lower the iso until you get the shutter speed you want.

If you want shutter speed to be fixed by you and the aperture to stay constant you need to be in full manual mode, but if the conditions change you need to adjust accordingly.
 
If there is a lot of light about (like bright sunshine) then even at a low ISO (like 100) and a relatively slowish shutter speed (say 1/200) then you will be still be shooting around F11.
Even with a longish lens (say 400mm) you are not going those super nice soft out of focus backgrounds of cars racing, especially if you are not super close to them.

If you want "nice" blurry backgrounds, make sure you have a "clean" background and use panning techniques.

#1 Clean background and panning at 1/125




#2 Not so clean background and panning at 1/100
 
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Had a bit of a fail as i forgot to charge my battery so after a couple of hours it died :( rookie mistake lol (wont make that mistake again) but heres the best out of the lot.. Ps as you might see i like the BM's















Sorry didnt realise i put them on here so small
 
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Generally your SS is too high, only 2 of those cars appear to be moving.
 
Good work Lewis. For a first timsr you've done well. The shot of Nick Foster's BM is great! I also like the letterbox crop on the Porsche. Looks like you're high up though so either go higher so you're looking down on them or lower so you're level with them. Or crouch down and shoot throught the trees. Also try some wider shots with the car in one corner of the frame.

Be careful with the vignette in PP too as you've caught the back of the BMW in #6 with it. Colours look really good though.

If you're going back today then make sure you try a slower shutter.

Have fun!!
 
I always used to stand at Graham hill at brands when I used to play with my bridge can. The biggest problem was the damn tanoy posts, seemed like there was one every couple of metres. Good work lewis. You coming down to thruxton for the btcc or bsb?
 
minnnt said:
Good work Lewis. For a first timsr you've done well. The shot of Nick Foster's BM is great! I also like the letterbox crop on the Porsche. Looks like you're high up though so either go higher so you're looking down on them or lower so you're level with them. Or crouch down and shoot throught the trees. Also try some wider shots with the car in one corner of the frame.

Be careful with the vignette in PP too as you've caught the back of the BMW in #6 with it. Colours look really good though.

If you're going back today then make sure you try a slower shutter.

Have fun!!
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Thanks mate, no not going back today and literally none of them was coming out good at all on SS and I tried fast and slow SS but just weren't having it I must have been doing something wrong, so I ended up taking them on AP which obviously isn't the best for these type shots. Going back on the 12th for the truck racing so will hopefully get some better shots then and more time to play about (with a fully charged battery)
 
Raptor Mike said:
I always used to stand at Graham hill at brands when I used to play with my bridge can. The biggest problem was the damn tanoy posts, seemed like there was one every couple of metres. Good work lewis. You coming down to thruxton for the btcc or bsb?
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Yeah the tanoy posts can be a pain in the arse lol most of the shots where down by Druids and we're quite a few people there so was hard to pan etc with trees around too but will have to just keep trying lol and probably not tbh mate me and my mate normally just go Brands as we get in free as he knows the blokes down there but think we're gonna take a track to lydden hill in May for something abit different!
 
If you stand at Graham hill you can get them on that bend and the next and out of the first bend as well as you can see straight across to it. I never bothered togging at druids cos it was always packed and the fence gets in the way. Those track side toggers got it easy lol
 
minnnt said:
The trucks will be mint mate, a little slower too. I shoot in aperture priority pretty much all the time tbh.
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So how do you get the backgrounds blurred still then mate? I was panning and some came out still and some backgrounds blurry but all the best results was with it on AP and AF-C
 
Technique. A slower shutter speed and a constant pan that follows the car. You need the focus to lock onto the car and you need to keep up with the car for it to be sharp. Choose your backgrounds wisely also... a background with signs and barriers is pants so if you can get around the track, find a background that is track or grass.
 
LewisHall said:
So how do you get the backgrounds blurred still then mate? I was panning and some came out still and some backgrounds blurry but all the best results was with it on AP and AF-C
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That's the lack of understanding, it makes no difference if you shoot M P AV or TV, the actual shutter speed and aperture are what change the picture.
A SS of 1/2000 will be too fast in any mode, you can stick to TV and set 1/200 or you can use AV and keep altering the aperture to get your 1/200 or you can use M. But the relevant bit is the 1/200 or whatever SS gives you the amount of movement you need.
 
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