The best post on motorsports photography....

.... EVER.

Long read, totally worth it.

How to Photograph Motorsports - A Picture's Worth | PhotoShelter

[RichardTaylor]

Beaut' posting and advice.

Just three things I would like to add.

(1)If you do have a media pass then always keep a barrier between you and the track and always obey officials,
(2) and during racing never remove your eye from the view finder ("if you are not looking through the viewfinder then you can't shoot it"
(3) and this is my own personal point of view: If a driver doesn't walk away from an accident then don't publish any pics of it.

I am a hobbyst who shoots mostly road racing, sometimes with a media pass.

[Jim Bryant]

Originally Posted by RichardTaylor

Beaut' posting and advice.

Just three things I would like to add.

(1)If you do have a media pass then always keep a barrier between you and the track and always obey officials,
(2) and during racing never remove your eye from the view finder ("if you are not looking through the viewfinder then you can't shoot it"
(3) and this is my own personal point of view: If a driver doesn't walk away from an accident then don't publish any pics of it.

I am a hobbyst who shoots mostly road racing, sometimes with a media pass.

Richard, good points taken, unfortunately, a press photography has to do all three, especially the third item.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by RichardTaylor

Beaut' posting and advice.

Just three things I would like to add.

(1)If you do have a media pass then always keep a barrier between you and the track and always obey officials,
(2) and during racing never remove your eye from the view finder ("if you are not looking through the viewfinder then you can't shoot it"
(3) and this is my own personal point of view: If a driver doesn't walk away from an accident then don't publish any pics of it.

I am a hobbyst who shoots mostly road racing, sometimes with a media pass.

1 is always a good idea (I do it myself for the little motorsport I do)
2 is good, but sometimes you need to (ie when running from said car that has come over the barrier)
3 i can't agree with. Often it's those pictures that need to be published

[gazsus]

Wow, that's quite a read!

And truly worth reading

Thanks for the heads-up Mr Harvard.

Some key points

If you're shooting sports or action photography, it's the action that's in control. You're not controlling the action. For the most part, you're purely a spectator. Pick up your camera, you're a reporter. The photographers that are really good... well, they 'OWN' that camera and become fantastic story tellers.

Study the work of other photographers. Not so much the EXIF data, but the PICTURE. Look at the photo. Try to deconstruct what they actually saw and then how they "made" the actual picture you are seeing. Is the shot stronger because the point of view is lower? Is it a location that was so-so during the day, but fantastic in the morning? What is the light doing to other objects in the background or how is it affecting the colors? Only then will the EXIF mean anything.

DO NOT try to find a zoom that will take you from 28mm-300mm.. or anything that claims to be all in one. The wider the range of zoom, the more elements it will need. The more glass(elements) you shoot through, the slower the lens will get and the SOFTER the image will be. It's just math folks. I don't care what the salesman or the brochure says, they haven't reinvented physics.

And that brings up another myth. Panning is NOT necessarily about the speed of the car. It is the motion of the camera. So, the trick is controlling that motion to create the effect and get the results you want.

Keeper Rate

Forget that. If you're looking for great shots, there is no such thing as keeper rate. Sure, you're not going to be swinging for the fences when you first start out. Understandably, you'll start at a higher shutter rate. But, seriously, who cares about how many you get? The only thing that matters is the shot that makes you go WOW. Get the shot. I'd rather have one mind blowing shot at 1/15th or 1/30th of a second than 100 nice pans at 1/125th. Unless it's an historic moment in time, no one will ever remember the shots at 1/125th.

Second, photography is an art. It's about composition, exposure and sure, to a certain degree, accuracy. But this notion that burst shooting is "spray and pray" is nonsense. Burst shooting is ESSENTIAL in action photography. That's why it was created. Not just to increase your chances of getting a shot, but to create an opportunity of providing choices and choosing the best of a sequence of shots. In motorsports, if you are a panning an apex there is geometry involved. If I burst five frames and three are nice, I can choose the best... not simply accept the one I got.

Given that, the competition, professionally, as gotten greater and greater. The fact that "most" photographers can deliver a clear and in focus image increases the supply of available photography. You don't need to be an economics major to understand supply and demand. Digital has had a chilling effect on the supply side.

Or has it? Well, short answer yes. If your knocking on doors peddling mediocre images at a mediocre price, you can bet you're going to feel the pressure. And, chances are, you're going to respond to that pressure by lowering your prices.

Bad idea. If your plan of competing is to simply sell more for less, you're putting a timeline on your dismal future.

It is at this moment in time that you need to take stock in what you are doing and ask yourself, "what can I do?"

The answer is simple. Deliver a better product. Better images, better service... be better.

Anyone can ultimately beat your price. There are hundreds of photographers out there willing to take your client and deliver the goods for less money. So, if you think you'll be the last man standing in a price war, you are dreaming.

This one sounds familiar!!! AHEM!!
So, you want to improve your skills, huh? Take suggestions from other art forms.

First and foremost, stop existing in a vacuum. Expand your vision by expanding your "experience quotient." Look around. When you watch a movie, watch it frame by frame... or scene by scene. Cinematographers frame shots very much the same way photographers do. But what you can learn from them is how they move about... or how their subject moves about, within a frame or sequence of frames. As a motorsports shooter, I'll sit through the Steve McQueen movie, Le Mans, with my jaw wide open. The shot selection in that movie is endless. Sadly, some are not available to me on a live track... but the ideas and inspiration is priceless.

[Free]

All I can say is F*@k yeah! That was an awesome read, thanks for sharing.