Motocross advice please

Chaz Photos

Chaz Photos

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Chaz
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Motocross advice please
Hi I have been invited to a motocross this weekend I will be signed in as a photographer and have a HighVis jacket given me, to go onto the track.
Can anyone please give me any pointers and advice please?
Thank you
 
Shooting into corners, oppertunity for a lot of dirt and dust pick up as they feed the power on. Some tilted angles can work well. Id go for shutters of 1/160th of faster to get good dirt in the air.

Look for the biggest jump, usually get riders adjusting their feet, removing tear offs or show boating which makes for interest.

Look for high vantage points so you can focus on the rider in the foreground and have the track and other riders in the background, adds a little more to the shot.

Check which way the wind is blowing, the dust can get everywhere without you noticing.

The starts are good fun, from infront, behind and side on as the gate drops some nice angles to be found.

If your doing it for fun and not as work, play with the shutter, try some slow pans and get creative, anyone can shoot on 1/300th of a second all day.

Would also google, or search on flickr for the track you are going to, learn the circuit layout and find the best spots, from other peoples photos. Hope it goes well.
 
Chaz Photos said:
thank what about lens i will have two bodies
Click to expand...

As your inside the track, probably a 70-200mm or something similar, maybe something shorter. Take a long lens just incase, but it will depend on the track and photographic locations and what lenses you have. Personally, shutter speeds, start off with say 1/320-250 sec and work down until your comfortable with your pan technique (smooth) and quality of shot, as you'll have lots of opportunity to get shots as well as play with the camera settings.

There is alot of mud and dust depending on the conditions, lens changes probably not advisable, take a lens cloth, and/or lens cover to limited dust getting into the lens.
 
1. Safety. These guys shift and can go out of shape very quickly. Make sure you've got an escape route in the event that they decide to choose a new course. If you're at a bit where the tracks passing you in both directions choose your position carefully.

2. locations. outside of corners, inside of corners, jumps, they're all good. Try to get clean backgrounds and preferably not just sky. Roost is good.

3. Candids. Plenty of opportunities for non racing shots in the pits. Immediately after a race is good, you get the exhaustion and different emotions coming out.

4. Technique. I'd probably start off using a shutter speed of 1/500, maybe faster, say 1/640. You'll still see motion in the wheels at that sort of speeds. Panning is a real hit or a miss, you've not only got lateral motion but vertical as well due to the bumpy tracks. Panned jump shots are a bit more predictable ironically.

5. Lenses. Even without a press pass it's unusual to need anything more than 200mm. My "standard" lens is the 70-200, occasionally with the 1.4X convertor, but it's more fun to go wide ;) Anything down to 10mm can work but you'll be so close I probably wouldn't recommend it for your first time out :nono:
 
Depends what you want out of it... the 100-400 could be just about right as you can keep one lens on all day, which will be a benefit given the amount of muck you will get covered in.

Don't be scared of the muck though, it all wipes off in the end. Keep a lens hood on and remember to turn away if it really flies at you (holeshot corners will be mega dirty!)

Watch your backgrounds as there is a lot of camper vans etc etc always around, try to keep these out of it. Use DOF to create some lovely variety of shots.

Head on is probably preferred, get some eye contact and faces. Rear shots can work... sometimes... with a very nice composition of leading lines or advertising or pit boards. Side on pans.... leave those for the tarmac racing!

Don't be too tempted to concentrate on jumps, try and look for some good deep dirt digging corners too.

Always watch out for the sun - don't shoot into it!

Oh and unless you are feeling really specially creative, keep your shutter speeds high (sorry to disagree with the above posters, but 1/500 or 1/640 is where its at, the skill is in framing the shot and picking the place, don't imagine its just point and hose!). Watch out at this time of year for tree covered areas though, unless you have a camera capable of ISO6400 you will find it too dark to keep the shutter speed up.
 
the dirt being thrown up :)
 
Why don't shoot into the sun? I only added the point so you think about it because its all too easy to get too excited at MX and forget to check that general photography point!

KIPAX... yes, slow shutter is AFAIK the exception not the norm in MX shots. This is more like athletics or even football than tarmac racing - think of it like that.
 
Often at such events the weather can be against you. Would fill-flash be possible?

Also you may get some good candids in the preparation (pit) area.

Rob
 
Yeah flash is possible and I do use it. Just be aware that it really, really freezes the action *if* it hits the target.

You need to think a fair bit about flash as I discovered - watch the distances and watch out for the fact that if you exceed your cameras sync speed, the mode the flash goes into is seriously less powerful and drops the range right down...
 
Not much to add, except that when using lower speed panning of a rider/bike over rough ground, the most difficult part to get sharp is the rider's head, as it moves around the most, unlike on road bikes. So concentrate focus and panning movement towards the head for best results.

However, for panned shots of riders in the air, you are better off than with anything on a track, as the overall movement is smooth and predictable. Get a clean background and great results are easy.

Some of my stuff here, with Exif info.
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=117124&highlight=hawkstone
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=1885097#post1885097

Ed
 
Chaz Photos said:
Thans Dod I have a 10-20 as well did think about that one but might be a bit close to them.
by the way what is Roost?
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Be careful not to get sucked in using the WA very easy to get closer than you intend.

The low shots work too ,find a nice slow corner ,9 times out of 10 riders stick to the inside line .

look forward to seeing results :thumbs:
 
Just thought I'd say in the current Digital Camera magazine theres a 6 page guide to shooting motocross in there.
 
mxfun said:
Be careful not to get sucked in using the WA very easy to get closer than you intend.

The low shots work too ,find a nice slow corner ,9 times out of 10 riders stick to the inside line .
Click to expand...

Good advice there I can only agree with fully :thumbs:
 
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