Photo Pros How do I take a picture like this?

[Cashcow]

Capture something moving fast (like this race car) and blur everything else.

Or was this effect done after the picture in Photoshop???

Thanks!!!

 

[m1ckeym0use1]

I believe you accomplish that effect by panning/following the race car while you snap the picture, with a long enough shutter speed to blur the background. (a professional could probably give more specifics)

 

[boBQuincy]

Either do it in the camera (by panning with the car) or afterwards (by making a duplicate layer, adding motion blur, and masking out the car). Don't forget to add radial blur to the wheels for a finished look.

If the car is going fast enough it is not difficult to get this shot *if* your camera's focus will lock on to the car quickly. It takes practice to keep the car centered in the viewfinder but digital is great for practicing!


boB

 

[Anewman]

Yes if the car is moving at 150+ MPH and you pan with it, it would be close to impossible not to blur the background.

It would also be close to impossible to get a car moving that fast in frame without panning(from that angle).

 

[Cashcow]

So when you say panning with the car I assume you mean panning while holding the shutter open.

What shutter speed would be a good starting point?

Thanks!!!

 

[WillCAD]

That one looks like it was done in Photoshop to me. The car is too perfect - at that speed, it's almost impossible to get the camera to move along with the car so perfectly that the car would be that sharp.

 

[timkin]

This baby was probably taken with a 300+mm lens on a professional DSLR. Panning with a shutter speed of 1/1000 or above. Notice that the lettering on the tires is quite blurred also. I would also assume maybe a focus lock or manually focused shot.

 

[Magix]

To get a shot like that, choose the spot on the track where you want to capture the car. Set your camera on manual focus and pre-focus on that spot. Set-up your shot, so your lens is at the mm you'll have it when shooting (try a few dry runs as cars go by, just to see how wide you need to be). Then, look at your lens and see what mm you're set-up at. Set your camera's shutter speed to a speed that's roughly equivalent to the effective focal length of your lens (meaning, if your lens is set at 150mm, try a shutter speed around 1/150th or whatever's closest to that). When you're ready to shoot, set your feet apart at about shoulder width and face right toward where you're going to be shooting. Twist your waist and point your camera to where the cars are coming from. Look through your viewfinder and pick up the car you want to shoot (don't refocus! Let it be blurry here) and follow it as it moves toward your focus point, turning only with your waist (don't move your whole body). As the car enters your focus area, snap the shutter and KEEP MOVING YOUR WAIST, so the camera continues to move along with the car. Follow-through is extremely important in this case!! This is much like a golf swing. After your follow-through, take a look (assuming you're shooting digital) and see if you got the shot.

This is a technique that takes practice. Slower cars are easier to catch (like vintage race cars). I've tried this with Champ Cars at full speed on ovals and I'm simply not fast enough. I can sometimes do it on pit lane, but not always. But, with vintage cars, I've done literally hundreds of really nice panning shots. You'll need to shoot A LOT of photos to get a few really nice ones. Just keep trying, keep shooting, and you'll come up with something.

And that photo in the OP's message is most likely NOT a Photoshop. A good, experienced motorsport photographer who specializes in action shots can do something like that. I see it all the time.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

it seems like a combination of both panning AND post processing using Photoshop.

 

[Magix]

What's making you think there's Photoshop involved?

 

[handicap18]

Panning is actually pretty simple once you pratice it a few times. you can practice with the cars on a local road, or with kids in the back yard or birds in the air. Just like with anything else, practice, practice, practice. To get more of a blur in the background your subject (bird, car, kid, etc...) has to be moving faster or you have to be close (either with a telephoto/zoom lens or you get closer with your camera and have the background further away). You'll probably want to start with a slower shutter speed. Just be sure you keep your moving subject in the center of the view finder.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

What's making you think there's Photoshop involved?

There is something off about the picture. The image of the car itself is much too perfect. Or maybe the photographer is super perfect in his panning technique.

Also the background/foreground blurs are far too solid and saturated in colour.

Last but not least, if it is not photoshopped, the blurs should all in one direction and one angle. There are several angles of blurs. This is physically impossible.

 

[Cashcow]

Thanks for the tips everyone.

Magix thanks for the detailed instuctions. I see you are a Champ Car fan so I won't tell you that I will be trying your tricks at the IRL race in St. Petersburg next week. BTW, your racing shots are great!!!

Hopefully I'll get a couple of decent shots.

 

[Geoff_M]

I shoot at Indy each year and that photo isn't Photoshopped. It's a slow shutter speed pan. It takes some practice to do, but it's not difficult. I assume the shutter speed's probably around 30th or 60th sec. The "trick" to getting a perfect car is to pan the car through a turn so the camera to subject distance remains roughly the same during the exposure and the camera is roughly pointing perpendicular to the direction the car is travelling. Another clue that it isn't PS'ed is the heavy blurring of the "Firestone Firehawk" markings on the outside rim of the tires due to the rotation of the tires while the shutter is open.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

but the angles of blurring doesn't make sense. See the lines below the car and all the lines above the car. If it is 100% panning (with no photoshop at all, then the blurring line should be parallel to the panning motion).

 

[Anewman]

That retainer wall(if that is what it is), is closer to the camera so it produces less blur than the stands which are much farther away. The little blur that it does show is parallel to the motion, IMO.

I think if anything the car was not going full speed, maybe a warm up lap or caution(I dont know racing).

 

[Geoff_M]

The lines below the car on the track are due to banding in the asphalt. The surface is not uniform. Also the horizontal lines in the SAFER barrier against the wall and the Armco in the forward will follow their own angles and not the angle of the pan. If you take a white canvas, draw black lines on it at a 45 degree angle and take a stright horizontal pan shot of it, the lines on the canvas won't look horizontal in the panned photo. I've seen this photo taken lots of times.

Here's a photo of the same car taken by a shooter I know. LAT doesn't PS their racing news images. Note the banding in the asphalt and the general clarity of the car:

 

[MICKEY88]

but the angles of blurring doesn't make sense. See the lines below the car and all the lines above the car. If it is 100% panning (with no photoshop at all, then the blurring line should be parallel to the panning motion).

I think the irregular blurring in the crowd is because of the varying colors people are wearing..with the walls the color is consistant, but with the crowd as you pan you go from one color to another, the blut=r may appear to go diagonally if various people are wearing the same color but in different rows, let's say white....guy in row 1 seat 1, guy in row 2 seat 2, row 3 seat 3....etc....as you pan keeping camera level white would appear to rise in the pic...

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Geoff now that I know what the lines are (the bands) then the picture makes a whole lot more sense.

PS: I still think it's photoshopped but no longer for bluriness but for level and contrast and sharpness (maybe; anything that small will look sharp) .

 

[MICKEY88]

Geoff now that I know what the lines are (the bands) then the picture makes a whole lot more sense.

PS: I still think it's photoshopped but no longer for bluriness but for level and contrast and sharpness (maybe; anything that small will look sharp) .

I've done similar pics of cars at the drag strip and with good panning techinique the car will be fairly sharp..