Photographing cars

mitsugirly · Apr 8, 2009

We went to the track on Sunday and my friend was wanting me to take pictures of his race car.

Here are a few I took.

I was really happy that I was able to capture his time and his car in this photo. However, I wish there was a way to make it a little more appealing.

I was trying to get some shots going down the track. I really want to learn how to do this properly. I remember reading something about setting the speed to how fast they are going or something like that...but there's no way for me to tell how fast he was going to go...so I tried. I also remember reading something about panning?? maybe?? Does anyone have any good links/sites that show you how to do this?

mitsugirly · Apr 8, 2009

Almost forgot...I tried an HDR of his car too. I'm not sure I like it as much as he did. :lol:

It was starting to get cloudy and the rain was on it's way so the sun had went down and it was getting windy.

zandman · Apr 9, 2009

what i do on panning is i turn it on manual focus, follow the car, speed must me 120 or less, depends on the light and how "panned" you want it.
like every other image, getting the car in focus is important.

mitsugirly · Apr 9, 2009

So you have it on manual and when you say you follow the car, you are talking about standing in a position and just following the car as it comes to you and past you right? I was up in the stands far away shooting this with my 300mm lens. Would it have still worked being that far away? What shutter speed do you put it on? Is that the part that you try to put the speed at how fast the car is going?

I guess I wouldn't have been able to do that with this car because he was at 140. :lol:

twozero · Apr 9, 2009

zandman said:
what i do on panning is i turn it on manual focus, follow the car, speed must me 120 or less, depends on the light and how "panned" you want it.
like every other image, getting the car in focus is important.

that is pretty much it. the only thing i prefer to do differently is put the camera in Continuous or AI-Servo mode. as long as there is some contrast between the moving subject and the background, your camera shouldn't have any trouble keeping focus while the car is moving.

zandman · Apr 10, 2009

if it was going 140mph, and you are standing far away with a zoom lens, that wouldn't be much of a diff. actually it'll be easier.

and the 120 speed or less that i said was your shutter speed, not the speed of the car, sorry. lol.

i'm no pro but the reason why i said that is for your background to be in a "moving" effect. its hard to explain. same idea with the zooming effect. "leaving the background behind".

i have a panning shot somewhere in this website..

joeymas · Apr 10, 2009

You can do this with auto focus as well. Point the camera where you are going to snap your shot and press the shutter half way to set your focus. Then still holding your shutter, pan with the car and snap when it reaches your planned position.