Rally Photography
Discussion
Well it's my first Rally event next Sunday, and i'll be taking my 400D along to get a few snaps.
THe event is the Scottish Rally - www.scottishrally.co.uk
Has anyone got any general advice? Good set-up tips?
Equipment i will be using is a standard Canon 400D with the 18-55mm Kit lens...
Any help is very much appreciated!
Cheers,
Adam
THe event is the Scottish Rally - www.scottishrally.co.uk
Has anyone got any general advice? Good set-up tips?
Equipment i will be using is a standard Canon 400D with the 18-55mm Kit lens...
Any help is very much appreciated!
Cheers,
Adam
Ooooh, good entry list
My first outing with my 400D kit was the Robin Hood stages this year. I love taking pictures at rallies, there's always something happening.
I'm no expert, but I like to move around a lot to get different angles and compositions (although this time I was rooted to the spot 'cos I only had an hour or so). Also try different shutter speeds and panning to get motion blur etc. I've never captured the classic "gravel/mud flying in perfect sharp focus" shot yet so thats on my to-do list
Oh, and put the focus into servo mode and pick the AF point manually. The servo can keep up with a rally car as it approaches (shutter half down) which was a revelation to me - I've always had to pre-focus on previous cameras.
Steve
My first outing with my 400D kit was the Robin Hood stages this year. I love taking pictures at rallies, there's always something happening.
I'm no expert, but I like to move around a lot to get different angles and compositions (although this time I was rooted to the spot 'cos I only had an hour or so). Also try different shutter speeds and panning to get motion blur etc. I've never captured the classic "gravel/mud flying in perfect sharp focus" shot yet so thats on my to-do list
Oh, and put the focus into servo mode and pick the AF point manually. The servo can keep up with a rally car as it approaches (shutter half down) which was a revelation to me - I've always had to pre-focus on previous cameras.
Steve
Edited by millband on Tuesday 26th June 00:56
millband said:
I'm no expert, but I like to move around a lot to get different angles and compositions. Also try different shutter speeds and panning to get motion blur etc. I've never captured the classic "gravel/mud flying in perfect sharp focus" shot yet so thats on my to-do list
Oh, and put the focus into servo mode and pick the AF point manually. The servo can keep up with a rally car as it approaches (shutter half down) which was a revelation to me - I've always had to pre-focus on previous cameras.
Steve
I'd agree with most of that. My settings at Goodwood (which got some nice results...will post up soon) were:-Oh, and put the focus into servo mode and pick the AF point manually. The servo can keep up with a rally car as it approaches (shutter half down) which was a revelation to me - I've always had to pre-focus on previous cameras.
Steve
- Shutter-priority, 1/160 or 1/200
- f4 - f5.6
- Focus on centre-point only
- AI Servo (rapid-fire mode!)
I pitched myself half-way around a hairpin - got the cars head-on on entry, sideways just after, side-on, then tail-on with the tail hanging out and the rocks kicked out, frozen nicely in mid-air.
But definitely move around. After a yump is always a good position, better if you can be below the road (or at least below the level of the crest...best to get sight of air under the car if you can), hairpins are great, and inside of a medium-to-fast sweeper will give you some nice panning shots. If you can get to the paddocks in-between, even better, add some 'real world' colour to the collection...
If you've the time, walk some of the stage to scope out some good spots. Oh, and maybe look at some semi-pro collections of rally shots on the web beforehand for some composition ideas.
I'm really no expert at rally photography, as Goodwood was my first taste of it, and out of all the pics I took these are the only two that really stand out to me. And as you can see, the focus on the Impreza is on the wrong spot, and the Evo is slightly blurry (at full res) so they're not that great either. Evo was at 1/320, although it would have turned out better with even faster shutter speed. The Impreza was at 1/40.
Loved it though, especially how between cars I have enough time to walk up the course and position myself exactly how I want for each car. Hence each picture will look very different. I just wish I had more than 3 hours there.
Loved it though, especially how between cars I have enough time to walk up the course and position myself exactly how I want for each car. Hence each picture will look very different. I just wish I had more than 3 hours there.
Typhon, great shots, love the Impreza, there's a real sense of speed missing in most of mine sadly - did you climb a tree for it?. How did you get the Mitsubishi from that side, could you get down onto the bank left of the jump and underneath the cars?
As for taking good shots, this was my first time and I was relatively pleased with the results http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=407143
The thing I found difficult was the lack of light, the ones that were coming towards me were taken at 1/250 and 1/320 to try and keep them sharp, and down to 1/125. Again with continuous focus.
One thing I remember reading was to try and find different view points from normal spectator pov, so climbing trees, or getting down low should offer something a little different.
As for taking good shots, this was my first time and I was relatively pleased with the results http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=407143
The thing I found difficult was the lack of light, the ones that were coming towards me were taken at 1/250 and 1/320 to try and keep them sharp, and down to 1/125. Again with continuous focus.
One thing I remember reading was to try and find different view points from normal spectator pov, so climbing trees, or getting down low should offer something a little different.
rhubarb said:
Typhon, great shots, love the Impreza, there's a real sense of speed missing in most of mine sadly - did you climb a tree for it?. How did you get the Mitsubishi from that side, could you get down onto the bank left of the jump and underneath the cars?
The Photographer tabard/vest for the rally stage allows you to walk around the forest and cross the track freely. There are no barriers. I think the safety marshal's exact words were 'yep! you're allowed to kill yourself', as he let me past.Well thanks for the advice guys.
I took 325 pictures in total over the Scruitineering and the first 2 stages. It pissed down after it!
Here are a few sample images. More will be going on my website soon, which I will post a link to later, as I have not got round to designing it yet!!!
Comments greatly appreciated - First ever outing with my 400D, first ever Rally, so it was all definitely new for me!
I took 325 pictures in total over the Scruitineering and the first 2 stages. It pissed down after it!
Here are a few sample images. More will be going on my website soon, which I will post a link to later, as I have not got round to designing it yet!!!
Comments greatly appreciated - First ever outing with my 400D, first ever Rally, so it was all definitely new for me!
Really like the two Evo's. Some of the others, composition-wise, should appeal more, but you've got those two just right.
More zoom or closer crop on the water splash would've made it better, as would a lower angle (IMHO anyway...but that'd probably have meant stepping off a cliff there...).
More zoom or closer crop on the water splash would've made it better, as would a lower angle (IMHO anyway...but that'd probably have meant stepping off a cliff there...).
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