I have decided to break this tutorial down into several parts as it’s too much information to digest in one go.

A lot of the tips and tricks I will highlight are also applicable to other subjects, lighting and composition for example.  Digital cameras have made it cheap and easy to experiment and that’s the key, take as many pictures as possible and try and get something unique!

Part 1 – Motorsport

One of the most exciting places to shoot cars is at a motorsport event, after all, nothing gets the pulse racing (unfortunately you’d better expect lots of this sort of humor) than a car sweeping past under full throttle!  This is where my first tip comes in.   As soon as you arrive, take your camera out of your bag/pocket so you’re ready to take photographs.  If you don’t you’ll probably get caught up in the excitement of the day and miss a lot of opportunities because you’re camera isn’t easily to hand.  Out of sight, out of mind…

Try and imagine you’re covering the event for a magazine, they’d want lots of different shots that capture the whole event and tell a story.  If you keep that in mind you’ll end up with a set of photographs that will be much more interesting for other people.  What kind of shots? Well, a magazine would typically want a wide shot that “sets the scene”, perhaps a view of a portion of the track in the foreground with something interesting in the background, such as the pit area, grandstand, or if appropriate some part of the landscape that helps place the location geographically.  It’s a good idea to get this sort of shot early, so you don’t have to worry about missing the main action.

The next set of photographs to bag would be of the teams getting ready.  Just before the race the pit area is normally a hive of action, if you’re lucky enough to have a pit pass now is the time to use it, if not, make the most of your zoom lens…  You should be able to get a lot of nice shots of the cars and drivers while they’re still clean and dent free (that’s the cars, not the drivers!) as well as some good detail shots of any interesting items or patterns that you may spot, for example tyre treads, toolboxes, pit signs etc.

Remember to leave plenty of time to get in position for the start of the race, some good spots are looking down the straight from the first corner, or from behind the grid/startline so you can get the cars and the starting lights in the shot.  This is probably one of the few opportunities you’ll have to get a lot of cars in the same frame.

Once the racing has begun try and locate the corner that offers the most opportunity for overtaking (normally at the end of a straight).  This will give you a better chance at capturing some interesting action, either a nice shot of the cars side by side, or the resulting carnage if one of the drivers gets too ambitious…  If you’re covering a rally event as opposed to a circuit race, a water splash makes for a great shot as does a crest where the car takes off.

When framing your shots, if the vehicle is moving try and leave some space ahead of it for it to “drive into”.  This may sound a little weird but the composition will work a lot better as it makes more sense to the eye.  Funky angles also work well so try tilting the camera, this generally works best if the car faces downwards as if it’s heading for the bottom left or right corner.

To freeze the action you’ll need a fast shutter speed, typically around 1/500th of a second or more so it makes sense to switch to Shutter Priority mode (if your camera has it) to make sure the shutter speeds stay where you want them.  If it’s a bright sunny day you should have no problem with that, but if it’s dull you may need to bump up your ISO to let you run the higher speeds.

While freezing the action can make for a great shot (especially if a car has a wheel off the ground) another popular technique is called a panning shot.  To pull this off you use a slower shutter speed (try 1/60th of a second to begin with but the slower the better) that would normally result in the car being blurred as it travels across the frame but you compensate for that by panning so as to try and keep the car stationary in the frame as it zooms past which means the car ends up pin sharp while the background is blurred which really gives the impression of speed.  This can be a tricky shot to pull off and trying will feel very unnatural at first, after all normally you try and hold the camera as still as possible right?  To improve your odds try switching your camera to continuous shooting mode and just hold the shutter button down as you pan.

Now, this may seem like Im just stating the obvious, but racing cars move really quickly!  Normally they’re long gone before the camera has a chance to focus, much less let you take a photo.  If possible, switch your camera to manual focus mode and focus on the spot where the cars will be, long before they actually arrive.  If you’re using a compact camera that doesn’t have manual focus just point the camera to the same spot and press the shutter release button down halfway and keep it pressed down to lock the focus.  Now when the car enters the frame press the shutter release the rest of the way and voila, you’ll capture the car.

Motor racing is not just about the cars though, don’t ignore the crowds.   A lot of motorsport fans are very passionate about their favorite driver/team/car and you’ll be able to get some great emotional shots that will help give your set of images some atmosphere.