Questions about shooting Racing

[eric_hansen1]

This is my first time posting here, and I have become a big fan

of this site and I really feel it has improved my photography. A

friend of mine drives a race car and has asked me to take

pictures for him at his race next weekend.

 

I will be shooting with a Canon EOS 3 with a Sigma 70-200 f/2.8

(and I have the 2x extender if necessary), but my biggest

question is what sort of film I need to use to get a fast enough

shutter speed, and what sort of shutter speed do I need to get for

a car that is going about 90mph?

 

My expertise is in Portraits, and wildlife photography, so this is a

whole new adventure for me. I don't generally shoot with

anything above 160 ISO, so what speed do I really need. Also

what high speed film tends to be less grainy when blown up?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in Advance,

 

Eric Hansen

[jp_and_ap_the_glass_eye]

You might look at -

http://www.pbase.com/cameras/canon/ef_75300_4is

 

Lots of club racing photos seem to show up there. This should give you an idea about shutter speed/aperture/ISO/focal length. There are even one or two good photos.

[eric_hansen1]

Thanks for the site, it give me a few ideas, but I'm afraid for the

most part I will be limited by the race track we will be at. I'm

more worried about film than anything. I guess what I really want

to know is this

 

From anybody that has experience with this, or something

similar.

 

1) What film do you recommend? (I'm used to very low ISO, and

unfortunately I don't have enough time to test a bunch of film out)

 

2) How about the enlargement ability? What enlarges the best?

[lex_jenkins]

Day or night? If daytime, shoot any daytime film you like. I'd use a good 400 film like Fuji Provia 400 slide film or Fuji NPH color negative film.

 

If nighttime, given that you don't have time to determine the color temperature of the track lights, which will affect the results when using slide film more so than with color negative film, your best bet may be to shoot either Fuji NPZ or Fuji Superia X-tra 800. Both are ISO 800 which are forgiving of color temperature variables.

 

NPZ has finer grain. Superia X-tra 800 is slightly more forgiving of underexposure. Either can be pushed if you can find a lab capable of doing push processing.

[jp_and_ap_the_glass_eye]

A good 400 speed daylight negative film would be Kodak 400UC. Great colors, good scanning characteristics. Poor for portraits. Great for racecars. And its cheap! $12.00/3 pack of 36shot rolls at Walmart.

[allgone]

You want to make sure your cars have a sense of motion and don't look parked on the pavement, so shutter speed is fairly important. Try a little bracketing. I shot this race last month at various shutter speeds from 1/80-1/250th. Be ready to switch to a faster shutter though if you see an accident coming your way.<div></div>

[mdcarma]

What kind of racing? Drag? Roundy-round? Road course? Street course? If you'll be shooting from the grandstand that will be different than shooting from a corner, or the pits. My first attempt was with prefocusing and waiting for the cars to show...but...4 feet away, no barrier, and 180mph out of an F1 car didn't work as well as I wanted, but after the first cars went past common sense prevailed and I left that sidewalk.<div></div>

[jay_hector]

The lowest ISO, finest-grained film you can use. Velvia 50 as most racing is in bright daylight. When cars are coming/going you want to shoot wide-open to blur the background <a href="http://www.jaypix.com/pix/villb01.jpg"> example </a> , which gives you high shutter-speeds. For side-views, panning at various shutter-speeds will give you varying background blur. This was at 125th as the F1 car was doing about 140mph <a href="http://www.jaypix.com/pix/ros.jpg"> example </a> . Don't forget experimenting as it pays-off sometimes <a href="http://www.jaypix.com/pix/bss.jpg"> example </a> . All examples are K64.

[jim mucklin]

Eric, When you say enlargement,how big? I have had good results with 160,200 and 400. If you want to go poster, 160 and slower. Like Lex stated it's different when the lights come on. I never didn't like the 200 but for the promoshots with the flag under the lights with flash they made nice 8x10's. Pick your brand of film and learn to work with it, it's fast paced but try to jot down notes if you can on your settings for next time.If it's just his car try the Kodak 400 either NC or even the VC(vivid color)and look for the sun and positon the car out of the shadows, you'll do fine. Experiment with panning, go manual, see what your camera says in the p or A mode, then try one or two stops less on the shutter, pivot at the hips and follow the car, you'll get those blured backround and the car will be in focus.

It's a lot of fun but if your in the infield try closing the eye you have in the viewfinder and open the other one that way you can see the flying parts coming your way. Do a search for Rick Steiger, he was helpful when I started.

Sorry for the rant, be safe out there, it's dangerous.

[fred_sickler]

Stay with the low ISO films you've been using. As Jessica Hill, Jay Hector and Jim Mucklin have stated above, a lower ISO will give you the best results and preserve the sense of motion you need for racing shots. Before I switched to digital my films of choice were Fuji Velvia (ISO 50), Agfa RSX (ISO 100) and Kodak Ektachrome Professional (ISO 200). Now with digital I rarely stray above ISO 200 and even in the gloom and rain of last week's SVRA event at Road America I was still shooting at ISO 200. (For examples go to www.vintagevelocity.com)

[lssphoto]

I use the same EOS 3 with a Sigma 70 to 200 2.8 at night at a dirt track. The 550EX flash with fuji 800 speed film. I have four shots here in the photo gallery from the dirt track I shot at last year, I am at a new trak this year with a lot less lighting and my shots are not as nice so I gess I will have to bump the flash to +1 stop.

check out my web site www.keithdickson.com

[witolda_maruszewska]

I last used film to shoot racing back in early 2003. Most of what I used was ISO 400, though in really good, consistent light (rare here in the UK) I did use slower films. ISO 400 is good for motorsports because it helps you keep the shutter speed up while retaining a realistic aperture and gives you that extra little bit of latitude if the light keeps on changing, assuming you are shooting in daylight. I tended to use print films before switching to digital, Fuji Superia Reala was my choice, and with a good lab to process it, the results were excellent. A4 enlargements were fine with this emulsion.

 

Digital is slightly different as the medium is a touch more sensitive for a given ISO rating than the equivalent film. In contrast, I try and use the lowest possible ISO I need to maintain my shutter speed for the task in hand while also keeping a realistic aperture. But then again, digital is like having a bag with an infinite selection of films in it?

 

Either way, shooting racing is all about shutter speed.

 

If you are taking images of cars coming directly towards you i.e. head on or front three-quarter shots, then you will want to be working with shutter speeds of around 1/400 or 1/500 or so. That way you will be able to eliminate any blur / shake caused by up-and-down movement of the car as it clips a kerb or lifts a wheel, say, but still retain enough to show movement on the wheels of the car so that it does not appear static. The same applies for rear-on shots.

 

On the other hand if you are taking images of cars coming across you, then you do want to show the effect of the speed. This is done by a technique called panning, which entails tracking the car with your camera as it crosses you and operating the shutter when the car is just about sideways on to you; you ideally will want to use a shutter speed of between 1/160 to 1/250 depending on how fast the car is at the point at which you are shooting. As you are using film, you do not want to waste money by binning frames so you are better off sticking to a higher shutter speed. You will get a far better hit rate and not lose so many shots through camera shake. When panning, pick up the car early, rotate your body smoothly, work the shutter and follow through. Smoothness in the body rotation is the key to this technique as is a good firm stance.

 

The shutter speeds Ive given here are a good rule of thumb with which to start. You will find that the AI Servo auto-focus mode on your EOS 3 will work quite well to track the cars both when shooting head on and panning. If the light is consistent, I will quite happily leave the camera in Tv mode, but if things keep changing I switch to manual and then tweak the exposure as needed.

 

Other than track action shots, dont forget the pit-and-paddock goings on as there are plenty of interesting things to photograph. Your portrait and wildlife skills will be useful here as sometimes you have to lurk to get the shot you want.

 

If you have a monopod, take it along with you as you will find it handy and you will most definitely be shooting with the extender attached to your lens, particularly if you want to fill the frame with the action when it is coming towards you. Shoot with a slightly shorter focal length than you think you will need as it is easier to crop when printing than discovering that you have cut off the front and rear of the cars by trying to fill the frame too much. This is important to keep in mind with film as you still have to pay for wasted frames.

 

Last of all, stay safe. Things happen very quickly at a race circuit when things go wrong, so ALWAYS, ALWAYS make sure you have an escape route.

 

Feel free to look at my portfolio here on photo.net and on my website (www.post14.f9.co.uk) to give you some ideas and a feel for what can be achieved. If you have any questions, dont hesitate to ask. Hope this helps. ;-)

[mark newcombe www.mcnphoto]

Yep low ISO is great until the clouds and rain comes then you'll need to look for 800press or the like take a mixture and enjoy yourself.<div></div>