Motorsport shots in poor light??

[jagdpanther]

Heres a little quandry I find myself at the moment:

Im attending some Rallys over the winter months and, being britain and winter, we're expecting poor weather; either wet and cold OR overcast, cold & foggy as it has been in Leeds for the past couple of days.

Here lies my problem:

Im not so bothered about the rain aspect, but if it is overcast, grey & or foggy, whats the best way to shoot motorsport in these conditions??

Obviously, when shooting static objects, we can slow the shutter speed down, but when you're trying to catch fast paced action and keep it sharp...whats the best way to go forward???????

Thanks in advance

~S~

[nick_bbb]

I can think of three things that will help:

1. Wider aperture (you may need to buy a fast lens).
2. Higher ISO.
3. Flash - may not be popular with the drivers.

[thinfourth2]

Learn to pan?

[jagdpanther]

thinfourth2 said:

Learn to pan?

I know how to pan


I like panning shots, but I prefer some high speed actions shots in the mix

[sgrimshaw]

Increase ISO, then if needs be, use something like Noise Ninja or Noiseware to bring noise levels back down.

[JackGTA]

I had to use ISO1600 when I took photos at the Wales Rally the other week, then used Neat Image to help get rid of the noise.

[jagdpanther]

JackGTA said:

I had to use ISO1600 when I took photos at the Wales Rally the other week, then used Neat Image to help get rid of the noise.

I tried installing neatimage the other day and the bloody thing didnt work

[Famous Graham]

Noise Ninja has a plugin for PS. Makes the workflow a lot easier.

[sgrimshaw]

Noiseware Community Edition is freeware, and is easy to use.

http://www.imagenomic.com/nwsa.aspx

Edited by sgrimshaw on Monday 17th December 14:21

[Whoozit]

Be selectively sharp - i.e. panning to freeze the car (or a point on the car) and blur the background.

Try also adding a bit of flash to the panning to further freeze the car, don't let the shutter speed rise too much though, you don't want the background to get too dark.

You can even add in a bit of zoom during the exposure (with the panning and the flash!) to give an image full of motion.