Shooting Heat Haze?

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niki265

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Any tips please folks? I've tried a few times to capture the heat haze from various car's engines, but never seem to get what I'm looking for. Not a fab pic here, but hopefully gives an idea. I'd like to get the cars in the background seen through the heat haze of the first car or two:
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q73/niki265/Brittany 2008/IMG_2860es.jpg

The prob is that I can see the heat haze with my eyes, but can't get the camera to capture it...... I've tried focussing on a point in the distance behind the car as well as focussing over the engine cover where the heat haze is emanating from (these are all mid-engined).

Perhaps it's because there is insufficient heat haze? I'm only talking about standard road car engines, not race cars and I have probably left them too long to cool?

Any pointers etc appreciated. Camera is a 40D with kit 17-85 IS lens. TIA.
 
Interesting question.

Part of the problem is that you are looking at a dynamic image, a moving image if you like. You see the heat haze as because the light must be constantly refracted through the moving air as it rises.

The camera is capturing a snapshot through the moving air, which at 1/250 th sec is not moving.

Have you seen other images that capture the effect? You might need a long exposure (with filters - very strong ones ones), but it may just come out as not in focus, tricky ...
 
although this is perfectly fine in the transport section i'm going to move it, as i think you can get more help elsewhere.. some of the landscape photographers might even be able to help.
 
Im not sure you would be able to get it off of road cars. I dont think they run hot enough/have enough vents to get the shear amount of volume of it you would need. You might be able to get some at racing events such as F1/GP2 but you would probably have to get quite close.

Regards, James
 
its a really interesting question though..
i'm wondering if background has anything to do with it too

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i guess it also depends on your line of site.. for example you see more of a heat haze from a road when you get lower down and further away.
 
Thanks for the comments folks (and sorry 'bout the wide pic).

Excellent pics as usual Gary. I'll have a play about, next time we're out on a run.... we've just come back from some spirited alpine driving with chums, and you can usually see a fair bit of heat from the engine covers which should be capturable (is that even a word!). I think I've been leaving it too long before getting the camera out, first priority is usually the nearest hedge :)
 
Regardless of your depth of field, what ever you have as your focal point, 2/3rds in front and a 1/3rd behind will be in focus. Not sure if that helps.
 
Someone asked about this a while back. He / she was off to America and wanted one of those classic mid-West long and windy road type pics with heat haze coming off the ground. You'll have to search for the thread, if you have the inclination, but I seem to remember that the general consensus was this - if you can see the haze in the viewfinder, then you'll get it in the capture. If not, then not.
 
I've gradually built up my equipment over 3 or 4 years, and I've noticed that heat haze has become more prominent when the equipment I have has improved. That may seem obvious I guess, but as the level of detail I've been able to capture has increased, the little details such as heat haze have become apparent in my photos.

I've also found, that if anything it's more apparent when it's blurred out. So by focusing on a car in the foreground, for example, the car in the background's heat haze (or the general haze on a hot day) becomes more apparent, if that makes any sense. Not sure how you can apply that to a shot of an individual car, but it works well for motorsport.

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It was about 3 degrees on this particular day, so the haze is all down to the Porsche...

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