Racing Photos - DPChallenge Forums

03/19/2006 12:01:12 PM · #1

yesterday I took the chance to take some photos at a local race track and thought I'd share. I got the chance to play with a new telephoto lens and I really like it. Any thoughts or critics will be appreciated. I took 216 and edited about 85 of them and uploaded some for drivers to see.

//mattmo.zoto.com/galleries/pevely31606/

Message edited by author 2006-03-19 12:05:14.

fotomann_forever

03/19/2006 12:24:37 PM · #2

Really good racing shot. Love how you captured the car at it's most "powerful" moment bowing up out of the corner . :-)

Word of advice, don't change lenses too often at the track as dust is EVERYWHERE. :-)

fotomann_forever

03/19/2006 12:26:03 PM · #3

BTW, ther is quite bit of money to be made selling the shots to the drivers. Locally, I can easily make $300-400 a week.

03/19/2006 12:29:59 PM · #4

Hey there,

Check my portfolio and you'll see a few of the racing shots I have done. Racing is a challenge to shoot because the action is fast, lighting varies a ton, and the backgrounds can be ugly or boring at times.

I've found the ones of mine that I like the best I either shot from an odd angle to get a different perspective or lighting or I cropped in some unusual way such that what is left is just the essence of the scene.

Once you get the ability to capture the cars clearly down (panning as you shoot and using multi shot capability), then you can play more w/ the scenes to get something more interesting. A pro race photographer I know also recommended slowing your shutter speed a tad in order to get some blur to the wheels. If you shoot w/ fast enough shutter to freeze the action, the car looks like it is parked on track. Blur the wheels slightly and the sense of motion goes way up.

I like your posted shot, if it were me, I would probably crop out a lot of the dirt/fence/wall and focus in on the car or enough of the car to get the feeling across.

EDIT - I meant to insert this one:

As an example of doing something different w/ lighting. This was shot as the sun was going down on a corner where the cars are decelerating from about 140 to perhaps 80. The cars are fast enough there that they can be stopped in the image w/ enough exposure during full daylight, but when the light is this low, the only shots exposed well enough are blurred.

Knowing that would be the case and knowing this car's decals are reflective, I used flash to get the decals to pop and the result is that the all of the decals are frozen, but the rest of the image is blurred. This turn is also perfect near sundown as you can get the bright red glow of the carbon brake rotors, adding a neat effect.

Message edited by author 2006-03-19 12:36:57.

Olympus 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Zuiko Digital Zoom

03/19/2006 12:37:33 PM · #5

Originally posted by fotomann_forever:

BTW, ther is quite bit of money to be made selling the shots to the drivers. Locally, I can easily make $300-400 a week.

Funny thing about that, the track has a "track photographer" and he made sure after I posted a few of my shots that he had exclusive rights to selling photos from the track. I have been asked by several drivers to get them prints and I will, but I cant sell them. Oh well I had fun and learned alot.

MattO

MQuinn

Olympus OM-D E-M1

03/19/2006 12:48:32 PM · #6

I'm fricking Jealous of the 50-200mm ya basterd:) Nice Shots!

SDW

Canon EOS-60D

Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD Aspherical IF for Canon

03/19/2006 12:55:45 PM · #7

Originally posted by MattO:

Late Model and Open Wheel Modified, two of my favorite classes in dirt track racing as far a performance. Nice Pictures. I go to East Alabama Motor Speedway to watch dirt track racing. We use to have a great Late Model Class but being a small track I guess they just don't have the purse to pay those guy's. BTW East Alabama motor Speed way is a short track but fast with its signature 'high bank oval @18%'.

Again great pictures. That's one reason I want to get the 70-200mm f/2.8 because they race at night and the lighting is not great.

Edit: I had the degrees wrong, not 30 but 18.

Message edited by author 2006-03-19 13:02:41.

fotomann_forever

03/19/2006 12:57:49 PM · #8

Originally posted by southern_exposure:

I go to East Alabama Motor Speedway to watch dirt track racing. We use to have a great Late Model Class but being a small track I guess they just don't have the purse to pay those guy's. BTW East Alabama motor Speed way is a short track but fast with its signature 'high bank oval @30%'.

They don't run Legends do they?

SDW

Canon EOS-60D

Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD Aspherical IF for Canon

03/19/2006 01:01:22 PM · #9

Originally posted by fotomann_forever:

Originally posted by southern_exposure:

I go to East Alabama Motor Speedway to watch dirt track racing. We use to have a great Late Model Class but being a small track I guess they just don't have the purse to pay those guy's. BTW East Alabama motor Speed way is a short track but fast with its signature 'high bank oval @30%'.

They don't run Legends do they?

Heres a link to there site. A lot of info.

03/19/2006 05:48:37 PM · #10

Regarding selling shots - you likely need permission from the track and/or the series promoting the race. In some cases this is not hard to get, in others it can be near impossible (try to get permission to sell NASCAB photos!).

03/19/2006 10:03:25 PM · #11

Originally posted by cycleboy:

After talking to the track photographer via Private message I dont think either would be possible. I'll just continue to shoot for fun and for friends and that will be fine with me.

MattO

03/19/2006 11:09:06 PM · #12

That's probably an effect of it being a smaller regional event I would guess. At the larger national or international events, there is no official track photographer and you can usually manage to get some ability to sell images - though you may have to pay the series something for licensing. The next step beyond that is getting the right clearances to shoot from the hot side of the fence. I haven't been there yet, but planning to eventually.

03/20/2006 08:45:15 AM · #13

Originally posted by cycleboy:

Once you get the ability to capture the cars clearly down (panning as you shoot and using multi shot capability), then you can play more w/ the scenes to get something more interesting. A pro race photographer I know also recommended slowing your shutter speed a tad in order to get some blur to the wheels. If you shoot w/ fast enough shutter to freeze the action, the car looks like it is parked on track. Blur the wheels slightly and the sense of motion goes way up.

Thanks for the advice, my biggest problem lately has been that I have had motion blur in my photos so I went as fast as I could with the shutter to keep that from happening. I was shooting mainly for a friend and he wanted some shots of his car. I shot at 1/1250 or 1/1000 all day to get stop action. Next time I'd definately slow it down to get that and work more with panning. Its tough sometimes to see motion blur in the little LCD on this dSLR's so sometimes they look great and you get home and go krap! So I thought it best for my first time to go overboard and use stop action.

MattO