F1 photography
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tomorrow last day before holiday, so I'm easing down towards tomorrow evening :-D. As you might have guessed in the title I'm going to view the Formula 1 race. Next one coming up: Singapore! Any advice on taking good F1 pictures (ISO, shutterspeed, aperture, ...)? Note that it is an evening race so in short: I'll need to photograph racecars passing by at about 250kph in the dark :cool:. I'm thinking about a higher ISO (>= 1600), short shutterspeed (< 1/500 ?) and a big aperture (I can go to f/3.5). it were the cheap tickets in the standing area so I hope I still can get a good view.
V.
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Light should not be an issue, the track will be well lighted. Depending on where you are, me think probably not close at all from the track, then you will either need a very long lens (300mm+) or a wider lens to grab more of the scene; in either case, there will be a fence between you and the track; which is a bummer. If you are close to the track and want to take images of cars with a sens of speed (with blurry background), then speed should be lower and you will need to "pan" the camera to track the car. For that, you need to turn off image stabilization, and set the focus manually (unless you have a fast focusing lens); aperture between f4 and f8; to give you more depth field. One problem is that even if the cars will pass 50+ times in front of you, you will not have a lot of time to tweak and experiment the settings. To try your skills, go to a street corner and take pictures of cars passing by to test settings and motions. M.
Watched code never compiles.
...try not to let them see you. For some reason people worry when you start taking pictures of them driving past. And don't use flash. Unless you like making drivers think they didn't notice the speed camera...
Real men don't use instructions. They are only the manufacturers opinion on how to put the thing together. Manfred R. Bihy: "Looks as if OP is learning resistant."
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I would advice to avoid the flash, since the F1 are far away from you, flash is almost useless. With f3.5 you should have enough light to avoid flash. For the shutter speed, well it depends, short (500, 1000) if you want to take fixed cars on a fixed background, longer (60, 125, 250) if you want to take them on a "motion blur" background. (To achive that effect you'll need to follow the car with your camera. Take a few picture to find the right settings.) You can underexpose the picures to -1. That will enforce the "picture taken during the night" effect and allow you to stay at a good ISO level and shutter speed. Keep the ISO as lower as possible to take good quality pictures.
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Used to go the Hungarian GP, well you would, and I like to think we had it sussed. The day started with a Full Irish at the pub, then a couach to the track. We'd be track-side by about 12, this ensured good position as we had the old cheap tickets. This only left the two hours until the start of the race. Where we liked to sit, there was a good beer tent at the bottom of the slope, so we would walk down and get in the huge queue. Ever wuck fit would be four cans and wander off only to return five minutes later for some more. We'd buy two slabs and a bad of ice [required bribery, but worth it]. Back at our the beer went into a large water proof bag [bin liners] with the ice. Cold beer on tap for 15 minutes until the next beer run... In my defence there was normally a group of 15-20 guys so beer was needed. Once the race started, there where several stupid games to be played: Speedo! There is always at least one fat German in nothing but speedos walking around. When spotted the chant of "Speedo! Speedo!" is followed by other chortles. Name the Driver Harder than you might think. When you hear an engine but before the car arrives call the driver. Amazingly you are wrong most of the time, even if you cheat and try to count the cars going by until you call someone. Singin in the Rain How many people can you get to sing "Singin in the Rain" on a hot dry August afternoon? If you can't get 200, you're just not trying. For some unfathomable reason Mrs Wife is not keen on me going any more. She says I just go out, spent £200-£300 and come home pissed and sunburned. :cool:
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
I've not attended one since the Canadian GP in 1980. But earlier in the 70's and 60's I used to go to the Canadian GP and several times to the US one in Watkins Glen. We used to try to lap chart the race and I'd be screaming out the car numbers as they sped past while a buddy tried to write them all down nice and neat. It wasn't until about the third or fourth lap that things were actually legible! Early on, the Canadian GP use to alternate between two tracks, Mosport in Ontario and St. Jovite in Quebec. Since we lived in Quebec at the time, we always went up on a Wednesday night, climbed the fence and camped for the weekend and never paid a cent. It's a shame really that the cars and the events out grew those tracks. I'd love to see a modern F1 car take to Mosport now. :)
Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. [Yogi Berra] posting about Crystal Reports here is like discussing gay marriage on a catholic church’s website.[Nishant Sivakumar]
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I've not attended one since the Canadian GP in 1980. But earlier in the 70's and 60's I used to go to the Canadian GP and several times to the US one in Watkins Glen. We used to try to lap chart the race and I'd be screaming out the car numbers as they sped past while a buddy tried to write them all down nice and neat. It wasn't until about the third or fourth lap that things were actually legible! Early on, the Canadian GP use to alternate between two tracks, Mosport in Ontario and St. Jovite in Quebec. Since we lived in Quebec at the time, we always went up on a Wednesday night, climbed the fence and camped for the weekend and never paid a cent. It's a shame really that the cars and the events out grew those tracks. I'd love to see a modern F1 car take to Mosport now. :)
Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. [Yogi Berra] posting about Crystal Reports here is like discussing gay marriage on a catholic church’s website.[Nishant Sivakumar]
You were doing it wrong. :laugh: I never got past lap four knowing who was where and to be honest I didn't care. It was just a great experience.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
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Used to go the Hungarian GP, well you would, and I like to think we had it sussed. The day started with a Full Irish at the pub, then a couach to the track. We'd be track-side by about 12, this ensured good position as we had the old cheap tickets. This only left the two hours until the start of the race. Where we liked to sit, there was a good beer tent at the bottom of the slope, so we would walk down and get in the huge queue. Ever wuck fit would be four cans and wander off only to return five minutes later for some more. We'd buy two slabs and a bad of ice [required bribery, but worth it]. Back at our the beer went into a large water proof bag [bin liners] with the ice. Cold beer on tap for 15 minutes until the next beer run... In my defence there was normally a group of 15-20 guys so beer was needed. Once the race started, there where several stupid games to be played: Speedo! There is always at least one fat German in nothing but speedos walking around. When spotted the chant of "Speedo! Speedo!" is followed by other chortles. Name the Driver Harder than you might think. When you hear an engine but before the car arrives call the driver. Amazingly you are wrong most of the time, even if you cheat and try to count the cars going by until you call someone. Singin in the Rain How many people can you get to sing "Singin in the Rain" on a hot dry August afternoon? If you can't get 200, you're just not trying. For some unfathomable reason Mrs Wife is not keen on me going any more. She says I just go out, spent £200-£300 and come home pissed and sunburned. :cool:
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
Nagy Vilmos wrote:
Speedo!
There is always at least one fat German in nothing but speedos walking aroundPrächtig, Natürlich, und Organisch +5
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
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Nagy Vilmos wrote:
Speedo!
There is always at least one fat German in nothing but speedos walking aroundPrächtig, Natürlich, und Organisch +5
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
W∴ Balboos wrote:
Prächtig, Natürlich, und Organisch
X|
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
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I would advice to avoid the flash, since the F1 are far away from you, flash is almost useless. With f3.5 you should have enough light to avoid flash. For the shutter speed, well it depends, short (500, 1000) if you want to take fixed cars on a fixed background, longer (60, 125, 250) if you want to take them on a "motion blur" background. (To achive that effect you'll need to follow the car with your camera. Take a few picture to find the right settings.) You can underexpose the picures to -1. That will enforce the "picture taken during the night" effect and allow you to stay at a good ISO level and shutter speed. Keep the ISO as lower as possible to take good quality pictures.
The reason I dated my info about the flash (i.e., film days) was that I was able to use that flash (in a full power-dump of 1/2000s) to illuminate an entire 6-story building from over 70m distance. When not in manual mode (i.e., full dump), it adjusted its light output (shut down) as soon as enough light was bounced back. Surprisingly accurate. Generally, though, stop-action requires either a fast flash or rather specialized equipment. That is not to say you're wrong - but a real flash has some awesome illumination capabilities.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
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Light should not be an issue, the track will be well lighted. Depending on where you are, me think probably not close at all from the track, then you will either need a very long lens (300mm+) or a wider lens to grab more of the scene; in either case, there will be a fence between you and the track; which is a bummer. If you are close to the track and want to take images of cars with a sens of speed (with blurry background), then speed should be lower and you will need to "pan" the camera to track the car. For that, you need to turn off image stabilization, and set the focus manually (unless you have a fast focusing lens); aperture between f4 and f8; to give you more depth field. One problem is that even if the cars will pass 50+ times in front of you, you will not have a lot of time to tweak and experiment the settings. To try your skills, go to a street corner and take pictures of cars passing by to test settings and motions. M.
Watched code never compiles.
Maximilien wrote:
To try your skills, go to a street corner and take pictures of cars passing by to test settings and motions.
How well would this actually work as practice? Excepting along the autobahn I'd think you'd be practicing on cars going so much slower it would only build bad habits.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
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Maximilien wrote:
To try your skills, go to a street corner and take pictures of cars passing by to test settings and motions.
How well would this actually work as practice? Excepting along the autobahn I'd think you'd be practicing on cars going so much slower it would only build bad habits.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
On a street corner (or any part of the street) you are much closer to the cars, and the angular speed will be greater, you will need to pan more rapidly. Also you will have to focus more precisely when closer to the car, the depth of field will be a lot smaller.
Watched code never compiles.
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tomorrow last day before holiday, so I'm easing down towards tomorrow evening :-D. As you might have guessed in the title I'm going to view the Formula 1 race. Next one coming up: Singapore! Any advice on taking good F1 pictures (ISO, shutterspeed, aperture, ...)? Note that it is an evening race so in short: I'll need to photograph racecars passing by at about 250kph in the dark :cool:. I'm thinking about a higher ISO (>= 1600), short shutterspeed (< 1/500 ?) and a big aperture (I can go to f/3.5). it were the cheap tickets in the standing area so I hope I still can get a good view.
V.
I've done some shooting at a few races, including the last USGP at Indy. They don't make it easy for you, but it's possible for the average joe to get decent photos with some planning and practice. My recommendations: The track is lit for TV, so don't worry about a flash. You'll need a 300-400mm lens at least. I use a 70-200 + 1.5x converter. Set your camera to shutter priority (Tv on my Canon) and let the camera figure out aperture. To capture any sense of motion you'll want to start at 1/320 and maybe work your way down to 1/250. Set ISO to whatever you need to get at least f8. If you have the option, set autofocus to AI Servo (constant focus or sports mode) and focus sensor to a central point. Set shutter to multi-shot. Now go out and practice panning. Hold the camera steady with elbows to your chest for support. Engage focus as soon as you can see the car, and pan along smoothly as it travels through your field of vision. When the car is nearing it's closest point to you rack off two or three shots. Continue panning the whole time. If you have a monopod and they'll let you bring it in, that wouldn't be a bad thing to have. Easy as that. Bring a lot of memory cards. You will burn through many horrible shots along the way. But seriously, the cars will be way far away and moving very fast, so cut yourself some slack and enjoy the evening. The thing I loved about being AT the races instead of watching on TV is the engine noises. So loud. And all the little pops and bangs under braking and changing down gears. And back in the day the traction control, too. I've apparently still got a few galleries up from the 2009 vintage fest at Lime Rock[^] and and some various car photos, including the USGP[^].
