Motor Sport Photography - Road Racing - Page 6 - Shooting

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Trackside Shooting.

  • Select a viewpont from where you want to shoot.
  • Rule #1 - If there is only one car in view always track it.
  • Rule #2 - If there are two cars close together then track them - usually overides rule #1
  • Camera set up as page 5 - Action or panning etc.
  • Always make sure you have plenty of spare battery power and space on your memory card - at least enough to cover the finish of the race.
  • Be prepared for anything. If possible shoot with both eyes open and listen for anything unusual.
  • Keep an eye on the flag marshalls they can give an indication of action - Like waving a blue flag madly.
  • Standard - front on 3/4 views are easy and can be booring.
  • Anticpate peaks in action.
  • Look for unusual events.
  • Look for interesting compositions.
  • If you can see the drivers face that is even better.
  • Keep an eye open for interesting scenes off the track - they will happen.
  • When panning I tend to shoot a burst of three, while tracking the car smoothly and following through expect a lot of failures while perfecting it.
  • Think safety - Motor racing is dangerous.

 

Some Examples:

(1) Viewpoints.

Oran Park - The low viewpoint makes the picture dynamic as having two cars in the picture.Seeing the drivers faces and eyes helps as well. Shows up a lot better as larger version in my flickr stream.

This only 2-3 minutes walk away from the previous picture. Pretty booring

(2) Anticipate peaks in action.

2-3 minutes walk away from the previous shot .

Eastern Creek Turn2