I finally got a chance to cover ¼ Midget racing for the paper. As a long time racing fan I have been looking forward to this for a while now and was glad to final get a chance to cover it. I had a blast and cant wait to do it again soon.. Would love to hear feedback from you guys that shoot racing as this was my first time and I would like some tips if you have them.
Shoot with a Nikon D3 300 2.8 and a few are with the 70-200 2.8 VR.
You got about what is to be expected for the class you were shooting. #5 and #6 are good examples of what you should be looking for composition and exposure wise. Keep your eye out for similar opportunities with the car in a power slide or two cars side by side or up to three cars, three wide. Much more than three and you run the risk of your shot looking cluttered without a clear center of interest.
Also look around the pits for a parent child talking about race strategy or working on the car. Race fans are pretty photogenic as well. I make it a point to cover them every time I cover a race.
To me, #2 has the most interest, as it has competition without the confusion of #4, where the protective bars are hard for me to separate, car from car. #1 has snaptie's action--one tire climbing another--but the cars in the foreground pretty much block that out.
I like snaptie's suggestions, as several of these pics don't give me the feeling of speed or of competition.
I glad you got the joke... You have to love magic hour when you can see the eyes that really made for some great shots I think. I was just happy to shoot something other the "bead and butter" sports.
DannWunderlich wrote:
Ill be honest...I had no idea where this post was going when i read the title!!!
(you disappointed me a little bit)
Hahaha, my thought exactly.
Sharpness and focus are ok.
Since I don't have any experience in racing photography, I'd also like to hear from more experienced people what to look for composition wise and how to crop pics. Most racing photos are cropped with the subject in the center and I'm not sure whether that's ok.
I would have said get the faces but you obviously did that. Nice pans, too bad the tires are so small you can't really see too much wheel spin. #6 is great.
pappawheely wrote:
I would have said get the faces but you obviously did that. Nice pans, too bad the tires are so small you can't really see too much wheel spin. #6 is great.
thanks that's by far my fav. Was really cool the way he would lean out like that in the turns. I loved that with that light and the clean visor I was able to get the eyes to pop out.
