Shooting (Pictures) at Road America

[Soloracer]

Hey guys,

I have been viewing your forum for a while now (its great) and suddenly gotten the itch to start posting...

I recently bought a Nikon D60 and a couple of lenses and since have gone camera crazy. Im taking almost two thousand pictures a week. Unfortunately they are not great. As i've viewed this forum I have noticed that there are some excellent photographers here and was hoping for some technique help; specifically with fast moving cars. Stationary ones are not a problem. I spent alot of time at last weekends vintage race at Road America shooting my grandfather's Ferrari 275 GTS which won a Road and Track Award...

To summarize, I need a few tips on shooting cars at speed, shutter speeds and apertures that work well for producing the strong sense of speed. Also, if anyone has shot photos at RA, do share the great shooting spots.

Thanks

[RacingManiac]

Only been to Elkhart Lake once, and that was before I got a DSLR. I was at last turn's exit and Turn 3(I think thats turn 3, the left hander right after the long straight leading up to Toyota bridge.) Those 2 spots seems ok, although as I recalled Road America has quite a lot of fencing....

With regards to moving car photo, someone asked this before on racing forum and this was my reply: Canadian GP/ Camera Help

Note that though the topic was geared towards Canadian GP in terms of location, the technique applies I think universally....One thing of note though, in that thread the subject is F1 car, and shooting F1 cars at even 1/320s or 1/500s can produce decently dynamic pic, as they move so much faster relatively. The slower the subject is the slower you have to shoot it to make it look fast. As ever though the slower you shoot the more difficult it is to avoid lag, its a balancing act.

Also, bright sunny day will make over exposure an issue, if you tried to shoot at 1/160 or slower. Either you stop down a lot, or you can consider getting something like a ND 4x filter to take away some light....if it is a sunny day AF performance should not suffer...

[Wouter Melissen]

It all depends a little on your skill level and what works for you. Firstly you need to put the camera on servo focus (to make sure moving stay in focus) and set the camera to motordrive. As mentioned above around 1/320 to 1/500 is a save speed. I would strongly recommend speeding up and slowing down throughout the day, so you can get a better idea of what works for you and what doesn't. With a little practice you should get the hang of it.

[Soloracer]

Excellent. My Camera offers auto servo, single servo, continuous servo, and manual servo. Which of these should I use? What is motordrive? Does any one know where the best spots for people without press passes are?

[ScionDriver]

Motordrive is a setting that allows for as long as you hold down the shutter the camera takes pictures. Check your camera manual for which servo focus to use and how to set up motordrive.

Road America is a great track and I have shot there multiple times, my favorite corners being Canada Corner, Turn 3 (Before the Toyota Bridge), Turn 4 (Right after Toyota Bridge) and Hurry Downs.

[RacingManiac]

I am going to guess you are looking for continous servo, and motordrive is basically continous shooting in some other brand's terminology...not sure what Nikon called theirs....

[john hegg]

Soloracer,

Try these from 2008 RA KIC.

Road America KIC2008 Historics - Automotive Photographers Network

Road America KIC 2008 Retro - Automotive Photographers Network

Please post some images of your grandfather's Ferrari 275 GTS or a link to some would love to see them. Or anything from RA.
John Hegg

[Soloracer]

Originally Posted by john hegg

Soloracer,

Please post some images of your grandfather's Ferrari 275 GTS or a link to some would love to see them. Or anything from RA.
John Hegg

Sorry I got back to this so late, I took a ton of pics, many a success. Here's some pictures of his 1966 Ferrari 275GTS. It won a Road and Track Award for "The Car We'd Most Like to Drive" or something like that. Anyway, its about a 90 point car that sees alot of use, doesn't sit much, and is active in many Ferrari Club events in both Florida and Illinois.

Enjoy!

Edit: Apparently my younger brother appears to be waxing the car in preparation for the judging in the third picture lol.

[Kitdy]

Soloracer, shots 2 and 3 of the 275GTS are amazing.

[Soloracer]

Thanks, I try not to edit anything unless I have too.