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There are two focusing methods, 1 - AI servo so the camera focuses as the car moves and 2 - manual focus and prefocus on a spot on the track and click the shutter as the car reches that spot, this can be handy for creative composition, for instance when you want the car to be in focus at a spot on your focusing screen where there isn't a focus point.
The shutter speed really depends on the relative movement of the car to your camera - a car doing 40mph right past you right to left may appear much faster than a car doing 140mph coming straight towards you. Remember to start panning before you take the shot, tkae the shot, and pan with the car a bit longer before turning back to the other cars for your next pass, you should be able to shoot lots of cars per lap
What I tend to do is set up my camera for a lap's worth of cars, so I might have a shutter speed of 1/400sec for a lap, then 1/320, then 1/250, 1/125 etc down to as low as possible where I cans till keep the car sharp. This depends to a great extent on the lens you have, it is easier to keep the car sharp at 1/125 on a 200mm lens than it is to keep it sharp at 1/320 on a 600mm - so try different sgutter speeds with your lens to see how low you can go and still get a good hit rate.
on a side-on panning shot you should get good background blur at 1/320 1/250.
You can of course go for really whacky settings. I have taken shots at 1/15sec on a 600mm lens which gives a real blurry, ethereal look, not to everyone's taste but I quite liked them.
So try different settings on different laps, certainly on the first few laps of a race, if not all you will get the cars shooting past you reasonably close toghether and you then have a minute or two before they reappear to change your settings for the next lap.
Try to vary your position so you might shoot at a corner, where cars are much slower, for a while, then on a straight, then on a chicane.
Bare in mind the sun, shooting into the sun makes the cars really really contrasty, shooting with the sun behind you makes for an easier exposure, though you have to be aware of sunflare off the shiny surface of the cars & try to avoid pressing the shutter just at the point where the sun flares off the car into your lens.
Be aware of obstructions in your panning view, for instance speakers or stand supports, nothing spoils a shot like a speaker right across your car as it pans past you.
Try to find a position where you have a clear view of the track rather than shooting through the fence.
I use manual exposure which is fine for most occasions until the lighting changes with clouds over the sun, then you need to remember to adjust it accordingly. If the light is lower & the cars have their lights on this can cause your camera to underxpose the cars if not using manual exposure. You can wonder why the headlights are exposed well but you can't see the car because it's really underexposed.
vary the composition, zoom in on drivers or zoom out to include several cars, watch for cars overtaking near you & get both cars in the shot.
keep your wits about you and don't zone in on the target car in your viewfinder, you can miss crashes and spins which happen right in front of you because you are following a spoecific car not involved in the action, try opening both eyes & being aware of other activity.
Watch the cars from as far away as possible & pick out any interesting action. The leader might be on their own but further back there might be an interesting tussle for 3rd 4th or whatever which you'll miss because you're going for the more boring panning shot of the next car to appear.
take lots of shots and find the settings that work based on your position.
Last edited by Cathus; 28-08-11 at 08:00 AM.
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24-08-11, 12:18 PM
