Motorsport advice required

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Summerleft

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Attempting my first track day well the photographing of one next weekend

only thing is I only have a max 150mm lens, will I struggle?

Also any tips on getting good shots?


thanks in advance
 
When you say you have a 150mm lens, what camera body are you using.

For example the Olympus series use 2x crop, which makes your 150mm lens equivalent to a 300mm lens, which I'd say is good enough for most track work.
 
Don't think of it as a disadvantage necessarily. It will depend a lot on the location but quite often motorsport shots are seriously lacking in CONTEXT.

You can wade through masses of pictures of cars, bikes, W.H.Y. every one pin sharp, tightly cropped with no wasted space in the frame and unless there is something dynamic happening, a locked wheel, wheelie, particularly good panning technique etc. they can just look flat and boring. Even an armfull of opposite lock can be misconstrued as a tight low speed corner if there is no context to show where the car is going.

Here are some examples from my own attempts:
http://www.photoboxgallery.com/Motorwind/5386782

Shot 7 in this gallery looks awfull if tightly cropped. Without the kerbs you can't even tell the Anglia is on opposite lock drifting through the bends, he could just be joining from the left.
The tight crop on 17 only works because the cars in the background show the story.
Have you ever seen anything more boring than 2 and 3 apart from maybe no. 12?

If you find you're a little short on focal length, try to find a spot where the landscape makes the picture and the cars add the point of interest. Use the extra space to add something to the picture that builds on the theme. The pit lane, crowds in the stands, marshal post etc. Things that show it's a track shot not just some empty stretch of public highway.

I hope this helps you. Have fun.
 
I would agree strongly with the point above. My personal favourite motorsports shots are ones which not only show the car/bike but show it in the context of the event.

Take for example these rally shots of mine:

This shot although it is a tight crop of a car you can see the dust being thrown up from the wheels as well as the yellow corner marker. included at the front left of the car.

Kris Meeke at the Kilarney Rally of the Lakes. Click for larger view

This shot from Galway showing the massive crowds that had attended to see Marcus Gronholm take on the leading Irish compeditor Eugiene Donnelly. Quite often with rally shots im trying to hide the crowd and show just the car on an empty road, with Galway since the crowds were so massive I decided to try and feature them as much as possible so I focused on the guy in the red jacket videoing the rally. The picture is darkly framed by very oof leaves as i shot this through a tree into the light using the leaves as cover for the harsh light giving a semi silhouette of the car and people.

Patrick Elliot, Galway International Rally. Click for larger view

With rallying its a little different in that they are held on public roads so there tends to be a lot more things in closer proximetry to the cars but a good thing to make use of is the curbs and any elevation changes there is in the track.

This shot of a super7 powersliding out of a chicane I tiled the camera around so the curb ran flat so you could see the car pushing out wide towards the curb, I was quite lucky in that the driver was consistently powersliding out of this chicane for me during the race :D

Aghadowey Circuit. Click for larger view

The best thing you can do is just go out and have some fun taking pictures of the event, If you find your AF struggling try focusing on a particular point and then taking pictures of the cars as they pass that point.

As for being short on focal length, that isnt nessecarily a disadvantage.
This was shot at 70mm.
_MG_0593.jpg

Sebastian Loeb, Donegal International 2007
 
Thanks Mole,
sitting here at work I was struggling to find any examples from the few motorsport shots I have online.
Your shots show exactly the point I was trying to make.
 
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