Seeking advice on night motorsport flash photography

Brian P

Brian P

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Hi,

I am planning to visit the Roger Albert Clark Rally. As some of the stages will be ran in the dark I thought I would have a go at some night photography. This is something new to me, having only used the flash indoors. I would appreciate some guidance on both camera and flash settings.

I have a Canon 40D, an EX430 Mk2, and 24-105 F4 & 70-200 F4 lenses.

Can I use TV mode and similar speeds as I use for daylight motorsport? Should I set the flash to 2nd curtain sync (?), let the flash sort it's self out or something else?

As you can tell, I'm a total knob, sorry noob when it comes to this kind of thing, so any help/advice will be very gratefully received.
 
I am sure someone more knowlegeable than me will come along....

Flash only has a relatively short range so if you are talking about using flash for moving cars I don't think its an easy task because of the range. the problem is that the light from the flash falls off rapidy with distance.[have a read up on here and elsewhere on the 'inverse square rule!]

If you were on one of the XC rally things where people get very close then it may be a goer but even then you will need a lot of power. The flash will freeze the action ok but how well illuminated your subject will be is another issue. The first/second curtain sync is whether the flash fires at the beginning or end of the exposure, again there is wealth of info on here if you search.

My advice would be to learn how to use your flash in less demanding circumstances, experiment in the back garden in the light/twilight/dark and see what you can achieve! Maybe try it out on a road with a friend driving a car past on a dark night....

Good luck!


Brian P said:
Hi,

I am planning to visit the Roger Albert Clark Rally. As some of the stages will be ran in the dark I thought I would have a go at some night photography. This is something new to me, having only used the flash indoors. I would appreciate some guidance on both camera and flash settings.

I have a Canon 40D, an EX430 Mk2, and 24-105 F4 & 70-200 F4 lenses.

Can I use TV mode and similar speeds as I use for daylight motorsport? Should I set the flash to 2nd curtain sync (?), let the flash sort it's self out or something else?

As you can tell, I'm a total knob, sorry noob when it comes to this kind of thing, so any help/advice will be very gratefully received.
Click to expand...
 
2nd curtain should see you good. Play about with ISOs to at least give you some chance of getting any ambient in the exposure and to help you stretch those flash batteries a bit further.

Like Duncan says, you need to work out how much distance you're getting from the flash, as that will dictate A) what is lit, and B) the look you'll be going for.

I'd say that one tip may be to shoot somewhere there is some roadside detail (bushes, trees, spectators, signage etc) that will show up in shot and give the cars some context instead of them just being floating in blackness :)
 
Thanks Duncan.F and specialman for your advice. I will have a play about as you suggest and see what I can learn.
 
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