Top Ten Motor Sport Photography Tips

1. Get more reach

The crop factor of cameras such as the 7D gives you great telephoto reach; a fairly standard 70-300mm zoom gives an effective reach of 112-480mm, getting you nearer the motor sport action.

2. Get closer

Apart from exotic L-series lenses, most zooms won’t give ultimate sharpness at their maximum telephoto range, so try to get as close as possible to the motor sport action and stay well within the zoom limit.

3. Panning for gold

For panning shots, a smooth action is essential. Plant your feet fairly far apart and swivel from your hips rather than your shoulders, continuing the motion even after taking your shot.

4. Slow down

Motion blur in the background of motor sport panned shots really gives a sense of speed, so switch to Tv mode and reduce your shutter speed to between 1/60 sec and 1/125 sec.

5. Head on

Position yourself on the outside-edge of corners for head-on shots. There’ll be no panning involved, so use a large aperture to minimise depth of field, throwing the background out of focus.

6. Go steady

Regardless of whether your lens has image stabilisation, you can add stability by using a monopod. For panning shots, use a short length and tuck the bottom of the monopod into a bum bag.

7. Pre-focus

For cars or bikes coming towards you at a more direct angle. Switch to One-Shot or Manual focus and pre-focus on a piece of track that the vehicles will be moving into.

8. Filter the light

On bright, sunny days, slow shutter speeds or large apertures might be outside the available exposure range. A screw-in neutral density filter gives you more flexibility under very bright light.

9. Go early

The best spots around the track can get horribly crowded on race day. Going early on free practice or qualifying days gives you much more room for manoeuvre – and it’s usually cheaper to get in.

10. Catch the action

Research the circuit in advance on the internet and find out where the hotspots are, so you can maximise your chances of capturing all the excitement.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 12th, 2012 at 1:46 pm and is filed under Action. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a comment. Pinging is currently not allowed.