RC photography

[Ma Noob]

My hubby races RC cars and i went over to take some photos again. I struggled a bit though because the lighting conditions were forever changing, Also my biggest lens is a 70 - 200mm lens and its too dangerous to stand too close especially on the corner that i was taking photos. I did manage to get some good corner shots but it was the jumping ones i was struggling with. I wanted to take pics of the cars jumping onto the corner i was taking pics, because some were getting some great height, but i found i was loosing the cars in the background when trying to photograph them.

here is one of the not bad pics i got but the lighting is no good.



ISO: 100
Exposure: 1/320 sec
Aperture: 5.0
Focal Length: 75mm

Im wondering what else i could have done to make the cars stand out more, or will this sort of pic not work. Im guessing with some PPing i will be able to get the car to stand out more.

Here is a link to the rest of the album Picasa Web Albums - Ma Noob - RC Photos There are alot of better shots on there

Cheers!!

[Ma Noob]

Sorry forgot to add.

If anyone has any comment of the photos from the album or and tips for photographing RC cars in general i would much appriciative.

[Murtasma]

I would increase your ISO next time around so you can use a faster shutter speed. These cars move very fast I used to race them myself as well, I would say keep you shutter at 1000th of a second or faster. As for loosing the car in the background you have two options.

1. Find a better position where the background is more uniform.
2. Purchase an fast telephoto lens that can open up to F2.8.

Focusing on these cars will also be an issue, try using AI Servo mode and focus on the car before it hits the jumps. AI Servo should maintain focus on the car, your mileage may very depending on the body you are using.

You can also attempt to prefocus as well and turn off auto focus on your camera.

[wamplers]

Originally Posted by Ma Noob

...my biggest lens is a 70 - 200mm lens and its too dangerous to stand too close especially on the corner that i was taking photos.

ISO: 100
Exposure: 1/320 sec
Aperture: 5.0
Focal Length: 75mm

For starters...zoom in to 200 mm instead of shooting at 75. I don't understand why you're complaining about your longest lens being only 200mm when you shot at 75mm?

Second, if you'd shot at ISO 400, your shutter would have been 1/1250 had your aperture not changed. This would have frozen the car better. Or, you could try panning to keep the car sharp and have the background blurred instead, by using a slower shutter speed (or perhaps the same?) than what you did.

[Ma Noob]

Originally Posted by wamplers

For starters...zoom in to 200 mm instead of shooting at 75. I don't understand why you're complaining about your longest lens being only 200mm when you shot at 75mm?

Second, if you'd shot at ISO 400, your shutter would have been 1/1250 had your aperture not changed. This would have frozen the car better. Or, you could try panning to keep the car sharp and have the background blurred instead, by using a slower shutter speed (or perhaps the same?) than what you did.

I was wanting to get a shot of them jumping and showing the height of the car over the jump, thus I was zoomed out for this particular pic. Thus shooting that particular pic at 75mm. For the other shots on the corner i was more zoomed in.

But thanks for the second bit i will give that a go next time, I was worried having a high ISO would have takien in too much light beacuse at times it was a very bright day. But i will give it a go for next time, Cheers

I will put one of the better shots up soon

[briandee]

I thought most of the rest of your photos were better than this one. Some I had to stare at for a good minute because they were interesting enough.

why not take the photo of this jump a little more from the side, not all the way from the side,. Put something for it to jump over.. like a row of RC cars sitting on the ground, or something else to show scale, milk cartons?.

[Jim Bryant]

The background is really distracting. You need to move closer and at a lower angle and focus on a spot on a jump and get the car as it goes over. The car is too small in the photo.

[Ma Noob]

Cheers for the hints, i will give that one a go next time.

I will put one of the better photos up for critique, but i was really needing some help with how to take the jumping photos better. As for background there is not over much i can do. There is a nice green tree if i took the photo from the other side that would provide a better backgroud but there is no where to safely stand especially while they are racing, i will have to tee up with someone for a play when they are not racing.

Cheers again though

[CaptainNH]

There's a electric buggy club that races near me and I've often thought about how I might go about shooting them.

You could try panning, but I think that would be pretty difficult given their size and speed.

I think the best hope would be to get in close, manual focus & prefocussed on a point just past the top of the ramp and shoot in burst mode and keep your fingers crossed that you capture one in a good position.

You might need a remote release and/or a crash helmet if you're going in close

[Ma Noob]

Originally Posted by CaptainNH

There's a electric buggy club that races near me and I've often thought about how I might go about shooting them.

You could try panning, but I think that would be pretty difficult given their size and speed.

I think the best hope would be to get in close, manual focus & prefocussed on a point just past the top of the ramp and shoot in burst mode and keep your fingers crossed that you capture one in a good position.

You might need a remote release and/or a crash helmet if you're going in close

Thanks i will give that a go too.

Yeah its a bit of fun, and the boys are all after my photos now, Anything that will show off their cars. Our RC club runs both Nitro and Electric on the same day and admittedly im more of a fan of the Nitro cause they exhaust does provide for a bit of something in the photo. Best are the Nitro Truggies, but they are really big bastards and would be quite nasty if one of those got you.

My Hubby has put me onto www.oople.com, they have stacks of photos and aparently a tutorial as well.

But stuff the crash helmet, i will take a reinforced barrier i reckon