Motorsport/Drifiing Photo techniques

[MarkLP]

Hi,

I'm soon going to be photographing a drift event up in Teesside, some of you may know about it. www.jdmallstars.com

It's not a paid thing at all, just want to take some reasonable pictures really, I'm actually going with the guys who run this programme so would be good to get some road trip shots and stuff.

Anyway to the point, what would be the best settings for taking shots of the cars drifting? The actual event starts and 5pm and finishes around 11pm. I know I've got to get some good ones early on really.

Would like the car to be sharp and wheels blurred in some shots and all in focus in others (maybe with the tyre smoke?)

Any tips or settings would be brilliant.

350D, 18-55mm lens and a 70-300mm

Thanks,
Mark

 

[33L]

Best bet is panning the shot. the way i do it is using servo focus (where the camera is constantly focusing) Focus on the car while its going rould the circuit. I use the camera in shutter priority mode and set it to about 1/60-1/100 depending on the speed of the car.
This should blur our anything moving. (the background and the wheels) the smoke should be relatively infocus but may a have a little bluring which i think will add to the effect.

There is someone on here that goes down for drag events and gets some really good pics.

 

[V-Spec]

<snip>

I spend most of my summer at Pod doing drag racing and some of the jap drifting stuff, makes a change and can be quite challenging.

Getting good drifting shots is a lot harder than it sounds, as the cars are moving quite slowly by traditional standards, to get the blurring effect done in camera demands very low shutter speeds, sub 1/100th. The 70-300mm lens will be perfect, although sometimes you can position yourself very close to the cars so the 18-55mm could come in handy, I sometimes stand right in the middle of the drift arena, but its good to move about.
As with most motorsports stuff, getting a good position determines really, whether you'll be able to get good shots, watch them practising beforehand, the best shots are on the long corners coming out of the straights, as thats where they tend to get the back end out the most and at higher speed which makes your job easier, some of my fave shots are when the car is going totally sideways, but its facing me and powersliding to the right, I use centrepoint AF and lock right onto the numberplace, you end up with a sideways bokeh behind the car, loads of smoke and the front wheels pointing left, and hopefully pretty sharp.


A monopod is absolutley 100% essential, as is a steady hand and good lens technique, it can also pay to use a polariser, as it allows you to see through the windscreen and get the entertaining facial expressions some of them make.
Also, thse guys love having their photos taken so make sure you get known and its pretty easy to sell a few pictures afterwards.

 

[SDK^]

Would like the car to be sharp and wheels blurred in some shots and all in focus in others (maybe with the tyre smoke?)

That is quite a big ask for your first time, especially considering it'll be dark for most of the event.

Your 70-300 has a slow aperture so you'll be forced to use slow shutter speeds anyway due to the light conditions.
If you have a flash and can get reasonably close then set a slow shutter speed (start around 1/20 and go slower) and use the flash to fire at the end of the exposure (2nd curtain) to 'freeze' the subject. This will give you the blur effect with a sharp car

 

[MarkLP]

Thankyou for the info, that sure helps a lot! I don't have a flash so I think I'll just have to see what happens on the day, atleast now I have some idea of what settings I should be using!