Mini Tip #2: Saving Money

With the “credit crunch” hitting the headlines pretty much everyday at the moment, I thought I would share my tips to help you save a few pennies…

1) Buy Second-Hand

Keep an eye on specialist second-hand stores such as www.mpbphotographic.co.uk, I currently shoot with nearly £3000 worth of equipment (two Nikon D50s, Nikon 80-200 2.8 AF-S and Nikon 300mm f4) but it actually cost me just over £1000 as it’s all second-hand. Don’t worry too much about cosmetic damage, as long as the optics are fine it’s a cheap way of shooting with equipment you can’t really afford.

2) Download the Timetable

Before you head off, download the PDF timetable, these are normally found on the official site for the Circuit in question e.g. www.silverstone.co.uk. This will give you the all important running order, so you can save yourself £5 or more on a programme, some sites will even give you the entry lists, useful if you want to tag your photos with driver/car names.

3) Go along to Test Days

If you want some all important practice, have a look for the free events that run throughout the year. There are various track days, test days, sprints and club events that are free, many of which take place at weekends.

4) Stay local

Sites such as www.racedates.com list 100s of events that you probably haven’t even heard of before. Instead of driving 150 miles to a major event, try a local Hill Climb or Autograss event. Access can often be brilliant and you may also find that the drivers/teams can be very interested in seeing your photos; a great way to build up some contacts in Motorsport.

5) Book in advance

Save yourself a few pounds and book in advance, circuits such as Castle Combe even supply a free paddock transfer with all advance tickets.

6) Try “Day One”

Major events such as the BTCC, WTCC, British F3/GT and DTM are spread over 2 days, Saturday for qualifying and Sunday for racing. It is often far cheaper to go along on the Qualifying Day and at events like British F3/GT you get a packed programme with more track time than race day that even includes an hour or more of racing towards the end of the day. Another benefit is that these days are much quieter than race days, with many events also offering free paddock transfers.

7) Spend money to save money

If you have a circuit local to you that you attend frequently, consider getting a season pass. After the initial outlay you don’t need to worry about paying again for the rest of the season. Motorsport Vision offer various levels of pass for events at their circuits (such as Brands Hatch), and independent circuits such as Castle Combe offer heavily discounted season passes (less than £100 for 14 race days)

Ideas #3: Room to Breath

It’s tempting to fill the frame with car when you have a lens capable of doing so, and the vast majority of people will jump straight to the longest end of their zoom lens as soon as they arrive at a circuit. To highlight the sense of speed you really need to give the subject room to drive into, or if you want to break the rules; room that it has driven out of. Either way it’s best not to completely fill the frame with the subject.

Frame full of car

Plenty of room to move into

Breaking the rules (occasionally)

Ideas #2: Get low

The obvious thing would be to take photos whilst stood up, so generally between 5-6ft. It’s amazing how a shift in perspective can improve a photo though, just by crouching down you can create a completely different photo, or even remove unsightly background distractions. Here are two examples from Druids Bend, Brands Hatch.

Standing up

Crouched down

 This also applies to the locations you choose around a circuit, generally spectators enjoy the action from banking so they can see as much of the circuit as possible, however as a general rule motorsport shots look better from the lowest angle you can find.

Ideas #1: Use Barriers

Armco and the various barriers around a circuit can be an annoyance and ruin a good photograph, so try and use them as part of the overall image instead. They can be particuarly useful as a framing device, and when panning they blur very well, adding to the overall sense of speed.

Shutter Priority @ 1/125

Side-on Panning

There are various methods of panning, but here are some basics to get you started, you will probably find you then adapt this to suit your own style….

 Setup

1. Set the shutter speed to 1/320 as an absolute maximum, any faster and you won’t get the blurred effect.
2. Change the focus mode to “AF-C” (also known as ‘AI_Servo’, or whichever setting on your camera will continually re-focus as you pan) if possible, this will force the camera to continually refocus, important when a car is about to pass at 80mph.
3. As a dry run track a car as it passes, find a good level of zoom so it fills the viewfinder nicely when in front of you.

Shooting

1. Track the car through the viewfinder at the earliest possible opportunity
2. Hold the shutter release down half-way to initiate focus
3. Continue to track the car with the button half-pressed, the camera will continue to refocus
4. Fully press the shutter release at the point where you want to capture the car
5. Continue to track the car in a smooth movement

The most important thing is to ‘follow through’, there should be no pause or abrupt end once you have taken the shot, continue to pan smoothly and you are more likely to get the shot.

How far do you go with the shutter speed? Well that depends entirely on how successful you are with it, here are some examples, along with a very fast shutter speed to show what happens if you took a ‘normal’ photograph of a passing car…

1/1600 - no blurring of wheels or background, very easy

1/320 - slight blurring of wheels and background, reasonably easy

1/250 – good blur in wheels and background

1/160 - great balance of difficulty/result

1/80 – completely blurred wheels and background, difficult

Mini Tip #1

When you’ve charged a battery, put an elastic band around it. That way if you have more than one battery you will always know which one is fully charged and good to go.

Preview: Goodwood Festival of Speed 2008

The Goodwood Festival of Speed takes place this weekend (Friday 11th – Sunday 13th) at the Goodwood Estate near Chichester, West Sussex.

Which Day? For photography the Friday Enthusiasts Day is ideal, most of the cars will be out on the hill but the crowds are usually smaller than at the weekend (although it’s still very very busy)…it’s also cheaper.

Ideal Lens? Whatever you’ve got, basically, although anything over 300mm is pretty pointless. There are plenty of locations along the Hillclimb where 200mm will be more than enough so a 80-200 or 70-300 would be the ideal option. Remember a shorter lens for all the static displays as well.

Must visit: The “Yump” on the rally stage, you will only need a 50mm lens (at the most) to capture the action at this popular point on the stage.

 

Focal Length: 50mm / Shutter Speed: 1/250