night racing tutorial

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stewie m

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looking for one one that covers as much info as poss serched on google but cant find any thing dose any one no any good sites or links

thanx
 
Depends what lens you're using, that's 1st limiting factor, you'll need a fast lens, minimum f2.8 2nd limiting factor is you camera, the 450D ain't great at higher ISO which you'll need to keep the shutter speeds at a reasonable speed to capture the action. You could use a flash and use delayed flash, but it depends what available light you have and how close you can get to the action.
 
stewie m said:
I have a sigma 150-500
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That's ok for daytime shooting, but low light / night Motorsport photograph, forget it, f6.3 no chance especially on a 450D
 
What sort of lens should I look at that are a resnerble price
 
stewie m said:
What sort of lens should I look at that are a resnerble price
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Sorry that I'm being harsh, but low light action photography is at the extremes of camera capabilities. You need a camera that can handle decent high ISO above 1600 and a fast lens more likely a prime, but minimum of f2.8

It also depends what you're shooting, what available light you have (flood lighting) and whether you have any obstructions in the way and how close you are to the action.

It answer to you question without knowing where you going to shoot the Motorsport event and whether your on the inside or outside of the fence can make a significant difference in what to recommend.
 
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We really need to know where you are shooting... which event?
 
The Le Mans 24 hour went last year didn't get on with night photos at all I'm not a pro so I can only afford fairly entry level equitment all the stuff I do is for my own pleasure
 
stewie m said:
The Le Mans 24 hour went last year didn't get on with night photos at all I'm not a pro so I can only afford fairly entry level equitment all the stuff I do is for my own pleasure
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Most of us are in that boat, took me a long time to save up from the lens I currently have.

A couple of threads on Le Mans, but it seem that you're better off taking the beer rather than the camera.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=421916&highlight=Mans

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=466227&highlight=Mans

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=416587&highlight=Mans
 
Taking photos at Le Mans ain't to bad it's taking them at night wouldn't mind doin more night photos other then Le Mans was wondering about the canon 60d but if my sigma isn't up to it what would be a good lens to look at
 
Best option in my opinion would be to rent some fast glass from someone like lenses for hire. Something like a 70-200 2.8

Even then though you'll need a body that can handle high ISO
 
Best advice is ask, having not been to Le Mans, not sure what focal length is needed, especially if there's safety fencing, but hiring a lens is probably a very good idea, it's not that expensive.
 
As said above really you need to accept the limitations of your kit and work with that as even hiring gear for the weekend will be fairly expensive :shrug:

Case in point:

1D4 for 7 Days @ £220.00
5D2 for 7 Days @ £165.00
7D for 7 Days @ £155.00

FROM dvcamerahire.co.uk

Lens options for 7 day hires FROM http://www.lensesforhire.co.uk/

300/2.8IS @ £169
200/2IS @ £231
70-200/2.8IS @ £87

Now not saying that you have to hire any combination of the above but doing so will help your chances, and you don't have to have a week hire if your travel will allow you to get it back sooner ;) you maybe able to find a location were you can say get a good angle that a 50/1.8 could come into play with reasonable lighting and panning get the photo

I'd be tempted to go with the suggestion of taking a load of beer for the night time and just enjoying the event :thumbs:

You could also go for tripod and get some long exposure/light trails with the kit you've got but owning both the 450 and the 150-500 so but not a chance IMO the cars will have gone by the time you've locked on focus and completed an exposure not evening panning will be an option
 
I'm off to Le Mans myself Stevie, Taking my 600D and hired an The 70-200 F4 IS II (I think).

I expect the night shots to be hard work but that's not to say there aren't hundreds of other opportunities to get good shots. Remember, a million other people have a photo of a car on a racetrack, see what creative angles and scene's you can set. One I'm aiming for is sunrise/sunset on one of the long straights regardless of if there's a car in shot or not.

Good luck!
 
I have to disagree with many of the comments here, kit should never be a limiting factor, in my opinion that's a very negative attitude to have. There are ways and means of shooting anything regardless of the kit you have. I've shot a few 24hr races with equipment that would seemingly be laughed out of the circuit (Micro 4/3s, for example), whilst the results were not spectacular, I was pleased with them and a number were picked up by teams/drivers etc.

In many ways the basics are no different to normal shooting, it's just more challenging.

- Find the brightest areas you can, anywhere with spot lights, buildings nearby with plenty of ambient light etc, anything to make life that little bit easier.

- Nail your panning technique, this is critical in my opinion (no quick easy fix to that though!), a smooth steady pan at slow shutter speeds can open up much darker areas to you, or buy you a lot of extra time whilst the sun is setting/rising etc.

- Be creative, just experiment, it's a highly unusual situation to be shooting in, so just try stuff, it's amazing all the different patterns and abstracts you can get during the night.

- Try manual focus if you haven't already, it's not as difficult as it seems and it will reduce the workload of your camera/lens significantly. If I'm parallel to the track I tend to focus on the far white line marking the edge of the track, then you just need to pan and fire.

You really need to work with whatever light you can find, one of my favourite things is to keep an eye out for cars following others closely, the headlights throw enough light out to illuminate the car ahead...


Silverstone Britcar 24hr 2011 by Harry_S, on Flickr

That was taken with a Panasonic G3 and 45mm 1.8 (through a fence), but most of the shots later in the set below were taken with a 100-300mm f4-5.6, which on a 3 generations old M4/3 body is hardly the quickest (or brightest) of lens.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/harry_s/sets/72157607412120603/

If you're looking to spend a bit I think a 50mm 1.8 (less than £100) would be a far better investment than hiring a lens, should get some lovely night shots of all sorts of things with one of those.
 
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