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Photographing moving vehicles By Shaun Quinlan All material and photos copyrighted and property of Shaun Quinlan Introduction. The art of photography involves many techniques and a wide range of equipment, and depending on your subject or intentions, it's down to the photographer to capture the subject in a suitable environment. A technique that instantly invokes emotion in a photograph is the addition of blur or motion. I've probably read a small forest worth of automotive magazine's in recent years, and when I do see a photo of a car that pop's out of a page, I investigate what the photographer has done to achieve this. I decided that a high percentage of these stand out photos involved photography whilst moving, or having the camera mounted in or on a car. This places the main subject, the car, in its natural environment, and creates motion and blur, giving the subject a sense of speed and direction. In this lesson I am going to cover the equipment and explain the process I used to capture the images in this article, and provide you with enough insight to get out on the road, using your camera in a new way. |
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Equipment.
My main camera is a Canon EOS 5D digital SLR, using this camera gives me the freedom to set exposure, set focus manually and operate off camera flashguns. Although I usually have a battery grip on this camera for handheld photography, it isn't necessary in this situation so I remove it, which cuts down the weight of the camera and reduces its size, creating less wind force once you're driving. I also have two flashguns, one a Canon 580EX which I operate wirelessly off the camera using an ST-E2 transmitter, my other flash is an old National unit which cost me pocket money, but has a good range and I don't mind mounting it in more compromising positions. I connect the National flashgun using a 15ft PC sync cable, most decent SLR's have a PC socket on the side or front for this. Not all of these photos need added light from a flashgun, but it is essential to try and minimize shadows on the side of the car that faces the camera. An overcast or cloudy day are the preferable condition's for taking photos of your car, as the cloudy sky acts as a great big diffuser and scatters light nice and evenly, reducing shadows and spot reflections, but the addition of a flash gun can help freeze the car and sharpen details. You can take photos in the middle of a bright sunny day, but I would recommend waiting for the sun to sink lower in the sky, you can get some nice golden reflections on the car towards the end of the day. In all cases you should have the camera positioned to face the side of the car that is receiving the most light.
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Where a wide-angle lens is frowned upon in portrait photography, it comes into its own for automotive purposes, accentuating the cars curves and features. It also allows you to capture the whole car in frame, and because you aren't at the camera looking through the viewfinder, the lens gives you a larger zone for the car to be in. My widest lens is the Canon EF 20mm f2.8, which is suitably wide on a full frame digital SLR. With the camera mounted on a tripod in the boot of the car, or on the roof, I switch to a Canon EF 50mm f1.4, which gives you a natural perspective while still being wide enough to capture blurred surroundings. When I started this style of photography, my original plan for these photos was to include a third person to drive the leading vehicle while I sat in the boot and operated the camera, moving it around to capture the following car. However I only had one assistant on hand, so we headed off into the countryside. After setting up and taking a few shots, the setup was working better than I had thought. It was just a matter of communicating with the following driver and getting him to move, closer, to the left or further away, rather than moving the camera itself. This meant I had to have a cable release or remote for the camera. I use a Canon RS-80N3 remote switch which I have modified by extending the cable to 9ft, a simple snip and solder process, this enables me to sit and drive the camera vehicle and have the camera remote at hand. Most camera manufacturers will have a similar product for your camera, however most of them are only 2-3ft long, so you either need an extension cord for this or be handy with the soldering gun. Safety is a big issue with this style of photography, and I can't overemphasize the need to rope/tape everything up before rolling off down the road. My first experience with Gaffa Tape came at an early age, and involved my brothers hair and my brothers tears, but since then Gaffa and tears have never met in the same sentence. You can use it to fix or fasten pretty much anything, and you should have a section of your camera bag dedicated to a roll of Gaffa Tape. Cable Ties and some lengths of thin but strong cord/rope are also essential. I also have a set of two-way radios, which although aren't necessary, make communication a lot easier so you don't have to stop and exit the cars to talk. A very important factor in these photographs is to have the car as clean and shiny as possible, I'm not going to cover how to clean your car, but would recommend giving it a good wash, cleaning the insides of the windows and the wheels. I can easily spend three hours cleaning my car. Hopefully the spot you have chosen to take your photos isn't too far from home, and when traveling to the site, drive a bit slower than usual and avoid puddles, dirt and birds. |
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Safety
On any road there's an element of danger, in fact many elements of danger, whether it be from other motorists, the road itself or the environment in which it passes through. Even you driving your car down the road increases the chance of an accident, regardless of your skill behind the wheel. In addition to this when taking photos on the road, you've got to watch a car behind you, the road ahead, and calculate what your camera will be seeing can make for a quick and expensive end to your photo shoot. So you need to start by choosing an appropriate piece of road, an area with minimal traffic, lots of open space where you can see clearly ahead and preferably a road you know well. Most of the roads in New Zealand are two lanes, that is one lane for each direction of traffic, so this style of photography involves crossing the centre line and driving on the wrong side of the road. It would make things a lot safer having two lanes for each direction of traffic. However, the country roads I started on, I have driven many times, I know they don't receive much traffic, and the traffic it does have doesn't travel fast. I know where I can and cannot drive on the incorrect side of the road, and so does the driver of the car in front of the camera. This is where having a set of two-way radio's can really help, having good communication and knowing what the other driver is doing helps create a smooth operation and a safe working environment. You can pick up these radio sets inexpensively at any good electrical store, the better ones having a range of 3km's, and they should last you a day on a full charged battery. Safety is common sense, I can only hope that if this article does inspire you to hit the road with camera in tow, you put safety, and most importantly, the safety of others, first. Setting Up Now that we have covered all the necessary preparation and hopefully have most of the equipment needed, its time to get set up and start shooting some photos. As you can see in the above photos, there are various ways you can set things up, depending on what shot or angle you want to capture. I use my camera in manual mode, and set the shutter speed between 1/4 and 1/8 of a second, so now you want to have a look around you and figure out the correct aperture setting to get a good exposure. Also take into consideration where you're going to be driving, if you enter into a darker area, you will need to stop and change the exposure settings to compensate for this. I have tried using "Tv" or shutter priority mode for these shots, but I find the camera's settings to be too inconsistent, and because you are using flash, you don't want the aperture changing. I also use the flash in manual mode, and I get the right setting for this using a flashmeter. You want the flash to provide _ to 1 stop more light than the ambient reading your camera is set at. If you don't have a flashmeter and are shooting digitally, get everything set up first, then fire off a few test shots with the cars in position, check the shots and adjust the flash as necessary. Once you have camera settings sorted, pick a composition you like and then start with mounting the tripod, as you are setting up, explain to the driver of the car being photographed what shot you are trying to achieve and where you want the car sitting. If you are using a suction tripod, make sure the surface is clean and relatively flat, that you can position the camera on the angle you want and that you can see through the viewfinder to compose the shot, it helps if you have the two cars roughly in position to do this. Once you have this setup you need to focus the lens. If you are shooting a composition that features mostly car, you can leave the camera to auto-focus. But if the car is going to be off centre, it pays to pre-focus at a similar distance to where the car will be, then lock the lens into manual focus. Most SLR camera's have a number of focus points that cover the viewfinder, when you auto-focus, the camera decides where the main subject is and selects an appropriate focus point, if you use and trust this, it can be suitable. Connect the remote shutter release and run the cable through to the front seat. If you are using flash then mount this next, take into consideration the angle of the flash and distance to where the following car will be. Your main concern should be the front and side of the car the camera will see. If you have the equipment to fire the flash wirelessly, make sure it can communicate with the camera from its position. If you're running a PC cable, connect this and run it to the camera. Once you have all external equipment in position, first rope it off to an anchor point as high on the car as possible, pretend that the camera/flash is going to lose its grip and fall, will the positioning of your safety rope stop it from hitting the ground? Once you have checked this, check your knots, then Gaffa Tape all loose rope and cables to the car so that nothing flaps around once you're driving, also use small pieces of Gaffa Tape to secure any cable connections. It's also a good idea to cover the back of your camera with a cloth so that it doesn't get blasted by stones and dust, gaffa this on so that you can peel one side back and view the cameras preview screen to check shots. If you are mounting the camera on a tripod in the boot, rope the tripod to a good anchor point inside the car and remove any loose items that might roll out the back. Now, double check everything and look up the word safety in the dictionary.  On the Road From now on in I will refer to the car you are taking photographs of as Car X. Now that everything is secure and turned on, fire a few test shots to make sure the camera and flashes are firing, turn on and test the two-way radios if you have them. You don't have to be driving that fast to take these photos, I prefer a speed of around 60 km/h or 32mph, this gives you good blur with a shutter speed around 1/8 of a second, while being a safe and easy speed to work at. Once you can see a clear piece of road ahead, signal to Car X using your indicators or through the radio that you are moving into position. Move across and watch in the rearview mirror as Car X speeds up a bit and slots in to the cameras zone, you need to keep an eye on the road ahead at all times, but also keep an eye on the speed of Car X. You want to get Car X traveling at the exact same speed as you, I find this easier to do by eye than to set a speed for both cars to travel at, just keep half an eye looking into the rear view mirror and take photos when you are happy that Car X is matching your speed. This is where the radios are handy as you can communicate with Car X and give instructions to move in closer or back off a few steps. With your second brain, try to imagine what the camera is seeing and take photos when you think the background would be suitable. Tall trees/buildings/objects close to the road work well as they blur quite dramatically. When you can see the road closing in or cornering ahead, signal to Car X, then pull ahead and back into your lane, remember the safety of others and don't leave this too late. Stop when a section of road ends or you're are happy you have taken a few shots, unmask the camera and preview the shots. Make sure your exposure setting is working and check for sharpness, if you have a few good shots but Car X is a bit blurry, return to that piece of road and shoot them again. If Car X is too close or too far away, explain that to the driver, show them your results and re-shoot if necessary. Once you are confident you have a series of shots, you can change the camera position and setup a different composition. Conclusion That pretty much covers the basic technique for taking these photos, you can easily change the position of the camera or change lenses for a different perspective, changing the environment you're driving through has a big effect on the mood of the picture. I would recommend trying this first on the quietest roads you can find, this ensures the safety of you and your assistant, and the safety of other road users, leaving you to concentrate more on photography. Once you have been out a few times and gained a bit of experience, you can take this technique out onto more open roads with many lanes, allowing you to setup different compositions, and drive through different environments. I find it quite enjoyable taking photos this way, your brain is kept busy the whole time, you know what sort of shots you are taking, but there's always a few surprises in the results. And the driver of Car X is having fun no doubt, driving a special car and having flashes and cameras firing away. You can also use this technique to capture motorbikes, cyclists and runners, in fact, most subjects that move. I hope you've enjoyed this article and that you have learnt a new way of using your camera, I encourage you to get out there and give it a go, keep it safe and enjoy the images you capture.     
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