Rally photography at night

Eric Mc · 3 Feb 2008

Later this month I'll be going to the Rally Sunseeker in Bournemouth. Getting shots on the stages on Saturday will be no problem as I do quite a bit of motor sport photography but Friday is going to pose a challenge I've not come across before.

On Friday night there are two special stages starting in the gardens in Bournemouth and going out along the promenade to Boscome. The first cars will be on stage at 7pm so obviously it's going to be dark.......not a condition I've ever tried shooting motor sport in before:shrug:

Any suggestions as to camera settings etc would be much appreciated

dazzajl · 3 Feb 2008

I do quite a bit of motor sport photography

Is that why we never see you in the bloomin thing anymore? :razz:

As for the shots. Do you not have a "rally car at night on the promenade" mode.?

mullrallyesport · 3 Feb 2008

I would say from my experience on the tour of mull rally and rac rally it is something that is not easy to do. Do you have a flashgun?

You can find my efforts here http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=35638&highlight=tour+mull+rally

Also this from RAC:

I will look up setting just now and post them up for you.

mullrallyesport · 3 Feb 2008

Tour of Mull shots are either shutter speed 1/125th or 1/160th at f/4 with various levels of flash.

RAC pictures were all shot at shutter speed 1/160th and f/6.3 with various levels of flash.

Hope this helps

Gareth_R · 3 Feb 2008

Use a flash. Manual exposure using settings above as a starting point - review results on screen and adjust accordingly if required.

Eric Mc · 3 Feb 2008

dazzajl said:
As for the shots. Do you not have a "rally car at night on the promenade" mode.?

Nope.....just checked and I've only got a "rally car at dusk on gravel" mode

Life must be very easy for you 1D users with all your special modes:razz:

Thanks Ross that'll give me a starting point

dazzajl · 3 Feb 2008

you 1D users with all your special modes

Actually, I'm pretty sure we only have two modes. Normal and wannabe.

....and it didn't go unnoticed that you ignored the other slight in my post.

As for the flash, I've got a lighthouse on a stick metz thing you're welcome to use if you want. It probably recycles fast enough to get one shot of the car passing and another as the diver instantly bins it with burnt out retinas.

Eric Mc · 3 Feb 2008

dazzajl said:
....and it didn't go unnoticed that you ignored the other slight in my post.

Damn...I was hoping you wouldn't notice :lol:

FBG's not turned a wheel in anger for too long now mate....but with a bit of luck this year will be a bit better for her

Thanks for the offer of the light house chap

My sigma cycles quite fast...and if thats not enough I'll just stand in their way and slow them down a bit :lol:

mole2k · 4 Feb 2008

Night stuff is quite different from usual, I would either go flow low iso lit by external flashes or else high iso no flash stuff depending on quite how dark it is.