racing Archives - TimeLine Media Blog

September 2, 2014

Panning and Tracking | Tech Tuesday

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day holiday yesterday! It was a nice three day weekend, and it was nice to have a break from working on the computer. However, I did not take a break from the camera. I covered the last of the Tysons Corner Center concert series on Friday, helped a colleague cover a wedding ceremony and reception on Saturday, and Sunday was a track day!

I went out to Summit Point Raceway in Summit Point, WV to photograph cars racing in the Labor Day Double. There were lots of races throughout the warm day, and we had some rain storms come through during one of the runs.

Summit-Point-Racing-©TimeLine-Media - Panning and Tracking example — Summit-Point-Racing-©TimeLine-Media

Trying to photograph race cars as they speed by on the track is a fun photography challenge! As with all photos, I try to get as clean a background as I can. Around the track, there are areas where there are not too many tire barriers, but these are hard to avoid. What helps to clean up the background is to blur it out of focus by panning, or following the cars with the camera as it goes by.

If you have a slow enough shutter speed, only the car body will be in focus, and everything else in motion will be nicely blurred. This includes the wheels and tires on the car making a much more dynamic image. If your shutter speed is too fast, your car may be in sharp focus, but the wheels will be sharp. It may look as if the car is just sitting motionless on the track!

Set your camera’s auto focus to track subjects, then pan along with the cars as they go by and fire off the shutter as many times as the motor drive will allow. You will have a much better chance of getting at least one photo in sharp focus, with motion shown in the wheels. It takes me a few races before I really start to feel confident in getting good images. It is a fun subject to spend the day shooting!

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October 19, 2013

Personal, Photography, Technology | 0 comment

Rush

©TimeLine Media - NASCAR car in paddock with split tone

Many good photographers have written about using other art forms to improve your photography. Master painters take light and shape in combination to guide viewers eyes through their compositions, and grab their attention. Being a still photographer, I have looked at paintings as well as other photographers in trying to improve my photography. I did not consider how movies can do the same. Although they may seem similar, and may use much similar equipment, motion pictures require an entirely different mindset to execute well.

Movie Inspiration

Ron Howard, being one of the best directors currently working, recently released the movie “Rush” about two rival race car drivers that competed for the 1976 F1 Championship in auto racing. Saying that the Academy-award winning Ron Howard knows what he is doing is more than an understatement, but I came away with some thoughts about how a photographer and blogger can relate to this depiction of world class competition at a specific time.

©TimeLine Media - NASCAR car in paddock — ©TimeLine Media – NASCAR car in paddock

The filmmakers not only had the actors, decor, and cars in the movie styled for the time, but there was a hint of toning throughout that set the period for the early to mid-1970’s. It was subtle, much like the split tone effect on the photo above, but it gave an overall feel to the movie as a whole that placed them in the correct time period. It would probably have still worked without this color treatment, but it’s addition was a nice detail.

Motorsports Photos

©TimeLine Media - racer in car before race start — ©TimeLine Media – racer in car before race start

The action is the draw of the sport. It is a display of skill, speed, and determination. But there are personalities, and stories off the track. In the movie, the rival drivers have two completely different mindsets in their approach to racing. The movie shows the lifestyle of the drivers off the track mirrored their style on the track. It furthers the story, allows the viewers to make their own opinions, and it made me want to research further about their rivalry.

Happily, the filmmakers stayed true to many of the details of this time. With the blessing of many of the people that lived this piece of racing history, the story was an excellent portrayal of the best F1 racers of that time. I will have this in the back of my mind the next time I will cover a sporting event, a wedding, or any significant event for someone that is looking for photos. I would like my photos to tell a story much like this movie – both accurate to the events taking place, and compelling to view for those that were there, and those who will look back on the images in the future.

©TimeLine Media - motocross racing — ©TimeLine Media – motocross racing

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703-864-8208

September 12, 2013

Event, Photography, Sports | 0 comment

Hare Scramble Photos – Tech Thursday

©TimeLine Media - VCHSS racing, Ruckersville, VA

This was my first attempt at shooting a hare scramble. This is a motorcycle race that took place on a course through a farm changing from open fields to woods. Because it was a bright day, there was no problem finding light to photograph racers. It was plentiful out in the open which made the technique easy – auto mode would have probably worked out there! But the dust and heat was just too much to stay for the entire race. So we moved to the woods to track the racers as they followed the windy course through the trees. This made the photos much more challenging, but the results were more interesting to view!

Ruckersville, Virginia

The action was very fast and close! The course was marked out through the trees, but it was possible for spectators to get right next to the trails as the riders went by. With this opportunity, I went with the wider zoom – 24-70mm lens and found a spot as close to the trail that I could safely stay. As with all racing, panning the camera is a good idea. This means tracking with the racers with your camera and body as they go passed.

Put the camera into a continuous shooting mode so that multiple images are made as you hold down the shutter button. As you follow a moving target as is goes across you, at least a couple of the photos will keep the subject in focus while blurring the background. This does two things – it conveys the motion of the fast racing action, and it also cleans up the background by blurring any details back there.

Action Flash Photos

The other added element in the photos is the addition of flash. I zoomed out the flash head to 200mm which is the farthest that it will go. This creates a tight beam of light right out of the flash. The light was aimed right at the riders since the flash was attached to the camera. All the light falls on the riders and their colorful gear, then falls off, and becomes darker everywhere else because of the zoomed head. The flash also freezes some of the dirt coming off the tires, and usually will freeze the faces of the riders while the panning will blur much of the background. Here is a closeup of the above image:

I really like how these turned out. Not everything is in focus, and viewers can get an idea of the speed that the racers take through these courses. It takes a lot of work especially on these warm days just to finish one of these long races. I am impressed with the effort to be competitive and pass others while trying to keep upright and away from the trees!

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Posts Tagged ‘racing’

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Movie Inspiration

Motorsports Photos

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Ruckersville, Virginia

Action Flash Photos

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