photographing motorbikes

KaO12343 · May 6, 2013

hi there everyone

im off to visit my father in the next coupple months and his asked me to get some action shot of him riding on his harley, not just in a straight line but of him going around corners over taking cars that sort of thing.
iv never taking acton/sporting phots before and was wanting some advice/ tips on how to go about it.
i have a nikon D5100 and thourgh on putting it in sporting mode for most of the pictures but then my dad went on to say he wants me to take these photos while in a car behind him? to my knowlege you have to have the camera conected to a tripod with little movement as possible to get a good clear picture... then i was thinking of maby doing a time lapse of him riding around (obvioulsy wont be in a car to do this) to get better pictures...
any advice/tips suggestion would be agreat.
i would alse like to add the i only have a 18-55 & 55-300mm lens

Patrice · May 6, 2013

There are car rigs you can get to securely mount your camera outside your car and then you could run a live feed to a display inside. Then remotely control your camera safely from inside your car while someone else is driving.

You could take photos through the windshield while a friend drives your car. this would not likely give you top quality images.

You could hang out the window with your camera strap around your neck and snap away while a friend drives your car. This is not very safe.

You could go get a small multifunction camera, i.e.: Hero GoPro, mounted on the hood and set to take photos at preprogrammed intervals.

jeph · May 6, 2013

Find a horseshoe-ey corner that you can get about 30 yards away with your 55-300 closer to the 300 end shutter speed 1/400 ish and take some panning shots will likely take you 5-10 passes if you haven't panned before. After a few passes you will be able to figure out how he goes through the corner (when he breaks and where he accelerates) and you will be able to keep him in the frame where you want him. The next shot takes a bit more planning. Find a mini-van or station wagon with a driver. Go out to a country road, open the rear hatch so that you can lay on your stomach and shoot him out of the back at about 1/125 ish depending on how fast y'all are comfortable going. Good luck and have fun! Also, tripod not necessary. in a car it will just transmit the vibration of the car to the camera. You have to hand hold to dampen them out.