You Want Me To Shoot What WHEN?!?!?!

Here we go, racing under nothing but the moon (and giant mercury vapor worklights)

It’s no secret that I am a self taught photographer. It’s something I am quite proud of; that every time I shoot something, I learn new technique and expand my photographic portfolio. So this past weekend, one of my favorite events came to NJMP and then I realized, I was going to shoot it again.

Get there early enough and you can get your daylight shots to be sure you "cover" the event and have photos to take home

The Devil In The Dark…

The Sports Car Club Of America (SCCA) specializes in multi-class racing in which multiple levels of automobiles take to the track at the same time. There is an overall winner, then individual winners in each class. The Devil In The Dark is a reference to the fabled Jersey Devil, who, legend has it, stalks the woods of the Jersey Pine Barrens. The 12 hour endurance race goes from twelve noon to twelve midnight, with the winner being the car that completes the most laps in that given time. Teams use a minimum of 2 drivers, but most will have more. 12 hours is a long time, let alone a long time to drive a car. And then comes the test for those capturing this spectacle photographically.

How do you shoot fast moving cars……… in the dark?

Even under poor lighting, it is possible to grab exciting passing images

Light is the key ingredient of imaging. When it is absent, the job becomes much, much harder, especially when you cannot ADD light to the scene (drivers I spoke with do not like big flash pops going off in their eyes as they are driving). The track itself is NOT lit except for the main straightaway, right near the timing towers. The cars are equipped with all manner of lighting to help identify them, including glowing number plates, strobes, and big headlights. Even though the straight is lit, the lighting equipment is industrial lights, not the best for photography. Top it off with cars travelling in excess of 100 MPH and we have ourselves a rollicking good time for the weary photographer. So what to do. In the words of the ever immortal Douglas Adams, “Don’t Panic” You can still capture the thrills and excitement of night autoracing with some help and some acceptances.

Some teams prefer to keep their communications secret. This guy was huddled in a corner of the less used timing tower steps

The crew often times are just as exciting as the on track action

Climbing the timing tower may be good exercise, but often times you will find crew and family of drivers up here too

Gotta Get The Gear:This is one of the very few times I will ever say that gear makes a HUGE difference. Normally, I am of the opinion that a good photographer can make great images with just about anything of decent quality, but when it comes to night shooting, the right gear makes your job much much easier. I was shooting with a colleague of mine, Geoff Hall from Hot Lap Action Photography, right next to me on the main straight. I was using old trusty 100-400 f/5.6 and he had his 70-200 f/2.8. After each group of cars passed that we shot, we compared images on the back screen. His were sharper than mine, simply because he had a better lens. The better light gathering ability of the 2.8 aperture and the shorter focal length gave him a higher shutter speed and better chance at panning. That 2 stop advantage (four times more light than I was getting into the sensor) allowed Geoff his choice of faster shutter speeds or lower ISO settings. That flexibilty can be a difference similar to night and day. In order for me to get that high, I would have had to have set my ISO settings to 6400, which my EOS 1D M2 cannot reach. On the flip side of the equation, My EOS50D can reach incredibly high ISO settings, like ISO 12800. This can give me similar shutter speed performance if I can settle for a grainier picture. If you have a great noise reduction program, this may be your solution if you cannot afford the 2.8 lens. I am a firm beleiver in the idea that it is not the cost of your equipment, but having the proper equipment for the job, knowing the benefits and limitations of that equipment and the talent and skill to work with and around the equipment and situation and to make it look excellent.

Shooting wider than you need to helps keep things in focus. Even blurry, this image is exciting

We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Flash: As stated above, many many drivers do NOT want a flash going off in their eyes as they drive. They have enough to worry about, and if you think the lighting is challenging for you, imagine their vantage point. Their lights may illuminate up to 50 feet, maybe a bit more in front of them. When traveling near 100 MPH, that does not give you a lot of reaction time. Some of them are wearing visors that will reflect and refract light at them. Add the windshield, and other reflective metal bits in the cockpit and you have a light funhouse for them, only they are not having fun. Also, they need to see those gauges, which are in a dark cockpit, so if their eyes adjust for your flash, they may not be able to report back vital stats to their teams. And, unless you have a big old powerful speedlight, it’s really not going to do much anyway. More of a courtesy to the drivers, don;’t use flash if you can avoid it…

With a bit of timing and luck, you can catch the cars crossing the line. Note that the midcar is sharp and front is JUST starting to blur

Out Of The Frying Pan: To capture fast moving cars at low light levels- 2.8 lens, high ISO or short focal length or not- you must be able to pan. Panning consists of following the cars at the same speed as they are moving. The amount of sharpness you get in your image will be effected by how fast your shutter speed is vs. how fast the car is vs. the focal length of your lens vs. the distance between you and your car. That’s a lot of sides vying for your attention. Remember that with lower light levels, the shutter speed will be low. The lower your shutter speed, the more important it is that you match your pivoting speed with the speed of the subject. The greater the focal length of the lens, the harder that match is to make, since the longer the lens, the greater your speed is magnified as you move. And when cars are closer to you, their relative speed across the frame is greater. If the car is further away, you don’t have to move as much as the car moves across the way. One last thing to realize is that when shooting on a straight, the cars’ speeds will vary as they move straight past you. As the car approaches and you begin to follow, the front and rear of the car are moving in two different speeds relative to your position, so the front may be sharp and the rear blurry, the middle of the car may be sharp and the front and rear blurry, or the rear  Once the car is directly in front of you, you will grab the entire car sharp. Then as the car moves away, we go back to multiple speeds issue. In general, it helps if the closest part of the car is sharp, though you may want to emphasize individual parts of the car sharper stylistically.

The Pits hold lots of action for the prepared photogrpher. It is imperative to be aware of your surroundings.

This year's event was very festival like, with a concert by Fame & Fortune

I Knew Him, Manual: I found at this event that my traditional shooting in Aperture Priority was almost (but not quite) worthless. The problem is that the lighting changes as the car passes you. Also, as the drivers pilot past at breakneck speeds, there is a LOT of dark around them, which tends to make meters over expose. The bright headlights of the cars will blast out your sensor and cause a lot of flare and ghosting. Some cameras meters also cannot adjust for the speed of the light changing as fast as the cars move. I eventually found myself picking an aperture and shutter and poking and hoping. Once you peg and exposure, it is pretty much the same for the night (provided you do not change position or situation) Also, not only is manual exposure and experience helpful, but being able to manually focus is imperative. Many cameras have issues focusing in dim light. Remember, you are shooting in the dark or in a poorly lit raceway. You will find that if you watch cars as they pass, they follow a given “line” in the track. If you are 30 feet or more from the track, you can pick your spot and pre-focus (also giving your burst mode a speed boost).

This is better than what you will see with your eye as cars approach. Better tune up those ears

Open Up Your…..Ears?: Ok, so we’ve established that the lighting for the track is not great for photographers at night. It’s pretty taxing in general to shoot under. But if you are aiming for specific cars to capture, you not only need to open your eyes, but also your ears. Shoot enough at a race and you will start to notice that each car has a different sound. If you are attempting to capture that car, you will need to pay attention to how it sounds on approach, not just as it passes you. This is because you generally won’t see the car coming. If you do see it, it will be a big ole ball of lights headed at you. The only visual cue you may (or may not) have is the arrangement of lights on the car. Some teams will add strobes or light tubes, some will have a distinct array of lights or an odd color. Remember, these lights were designed for function, not looks or photography. Plus they are shining right at your eyes as you try to shoot, so your eyes will close down and make it hard to see.  They will sometimes form crazy patterns in your image, but almost always cause some type of flare or ghosting in your image. Hoods do not generally help, since the light source appears in the image.

TRIPOD TRIPOD TRIPOD. Not my favorite shot, but interesting

Take Out The Trash:Simply put, be prepared to throw away a LOT of images. I fired off almost 1000 frames in 2 hours. I came home with 125 (and that was being generous). You will be firing and firing and firing. And fire more. You can’t capture if you don’t press the button. Have a lot of memory cards. Conversely, you cannot be hypercritical of your images. You must accept that there will be blur, there will be loss of sharpness, there will be noise. Sometimes, though, what you feel is a dud, someone else may love. I almost threw out every image from turn 5, but the one I kept because it wound up looking “out there” became the official poster for the event. Sometimes it just pays to remember your audience. They may not be photographers, they may just like cool pictures of cars.

Nothing but twilight and headlights illuminate this section of track... Tripod? YES!

Have Tripod, Will Travel: I think this one should go without saying, but a sturdy tripod and remote is essential for any night photography and allows you to get some very fun time exposures.

The Fans at these races are FUN

Remember The Titans:A dear friend and mentor of mine taught me the most valuable thing about motorsports photography without even being a photographer. He is Don Fauerbach. When I first started with the Green Flag Committee, I was focused on capturing the action on track, which is exciting and full of challenge. I would turn my pictures over to the track and they would like them, but at the end of the season, Don asked me to focus a bit more on the people at the track. Not just the drivers, but the fans, spectators and crews for the cars. The people and activities around the track tell as much, if not more, of the story OF the race. Especially at night, this is a nice fail safe as well. In the pits and paddock, if you are walking around with a large camera, lens, and flash, the fans and most crew won’t mind if you use it. Knowing the flash is working and how to use it makes crowd photography a snap. Also, the atmosphere around this race was much like a festival, featuring beer pong, trail rides, concerts, etc. These all go into telling the story of The Devil In The Dark.

Time exposure of pit road

You Got Lucky, Babe:There’s no question, with any form of photography, you just sometimes get lucky. Luck, though, favors the prepared. You got to have the right gear, the right technique, the right timing and the right awareness to bring this all together. The right access helps, along with lots of help from friends, colleagues and fans. Though I did not get to spend as much time at Devil In The Dark this year as I did last, I still had an amazing time shooting this unique event at my favorite track. The SCCA should be proud of this event; I am very proud of the images I have captured. Hopefully my tips will make you at least contemplate shooting at a night race. All of my photos from the Devil In The Dark are posted in my gallery. Stop by and take a look. To learn more about this event, see the SCCA page and the NJMP site to experience the excitement of night racing.

Yes, this was dumb luck. I happened to hear the engine and turn just in time to grab this capture. My favorite from this evening

Categories: Events, Racing, Technique Tags: Devil In The Dark, Endurance Racing, Mike Woeller, Night Photography, Night Racing, NJMP, SCCA, South Jersey Region, WindShadow Studios