The Business of Photography

On the occasion of the forthcoming series of car races (Petron-Miata Challenge) beginning on March 25, John wrote the following tips on how to photograph a car race. This article was first published on John’s thread on www.pinoyphotography.org/forum where you can get more information about the Petron-Miata car races (or photography).

Tips on How to Photograph a Car Race
by John K. Chua

Last Saturday, I was invited to give a lecture on car racing photography at the Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation (FPPF) photography class at Fort Santiago. A series of car races is being organized by the Miata Club, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The races will be held in Subic, under the sponsorship of Petron Philippines. The FPPF, on the other hand, will supervise the photo contest.

Here are some pointers on photographing a car race:

1. Prepare your equipment

a. Charge your battery.
b. Clear and reformat your memory cards.
c. Make sure that your sensor is clean.
d. Charge your media storage or bring extra batteries.
e. Get the right lens: wide, zoom and telephoto lenses.
f. Shoot raw, if possible.

2. Prepare yourself

a. To avoid heatstroke, dress properly – wear a long-sleeved shirt, and bring a hat.
b. Use sun block.
c. Bring drinking water and power bars.

3. Visualize

a. Read photo magazines or watch videos that feature cars and car races
b. Prepare for the unexpected.
c. Learn about the event. Inquire about the program (most of your time will be spent waiting for them to start).

4. Plan to do a photo essay so you can tell a story with your pictures, instead of just taking snap shots. Take pictures of:

a. Before and after the race
b. Preparations of drivers, cars, assistants
c. Actual race
d. Winners and losers
e. Beauty shots of car and model (fashion models sometime grace car race events)
f. Close up of parts of car with and without models
g. Crowd, and single out some spectators

5. Other tips:

a. Make friends with participants – you might get a chance to ride.
b. Make friends with fellow photographers – you might get some tips.
c. While shooting, look for possible gridlock. Expect to shoot some close fight.
d. Find out who is favored to win.
e. Seek out the most unique drivers: oldest, youngest, and prettiest…
f. If you got a good shot, get the subject’s email address or phone number. Share your photos and win some goodwill.

6. After the shoot:

a. Download your CF cards to computer but do not erase your CF images.
b. If possible, have duplicate folder on external drive.
c. View your images and edit them first before developing.
d. Save as in a different folder.
e. Do not touch (retouch) your original file.
f. From selected raw files, choose best shots.
g. After that, review your original folder for additional images that you might have overlooked.
h. Keep CF images until you are fully satisfied that you’ve saved them all and you are ready to start a new project.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 17th, 2007 at 10:42 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.