Photography Adventure - Rally Race

The 100 Acre Woods / Trespassers Wil Rally Race was held in Salem, Missouri today (and yesterday but I only made it out there today. What a blast. In this race street legal rally cars race over gravel roads through the woods. I think this is my 4th year attending.

I've told you I'm primarily a wildlife photographer, so you may be wondering what my interest is in the rally race. Besides that it is a heck of a lot of fun, it is a fast action event. High speed photography is used in both rally races and wildlife photography. This is my first year using a 20D at the race, with an extreme high speed CF card.

First, you probably guessed you need to set a high shutter speed to freeze the action. Depending on your camera, you may also be able to set it to continuous rapid fire mode and tracking focus (AI Servo). If you are lucky and your camera has the runner icon on it, you can set all the high speed functions your camera is capable of simply by turning your mode wheel to the runner.

With all the functions set consider which lens you would like to use. I shot with the18-55, and took a few at 100mm with the 100-400 lens. My son Ben shot the 10D with the 28-135 lens. Note that the 18-55 lens will not fit the 10D. The 10D mirror doesn't allow enough room for the deep rear of the 18-55 lens. It is great on the 20D though. And really a wide angle is fine for most situations with cars, they are a large subject as opposed to birds. But in some rare cases the spectators can't get close enough to the cars for a short lens to give you the tight shots you might desire. Of course bringing a variety of lenses will serve you best in any situation.

Since these cars are driving incredibly fast on gravel roads: TIP: bring something to cover your equipment after each car passes to protect it from the shower of dust that follows the cars. Warranties don't cover sand and it can grind lens functions to a stand still, penetrate every nook and cranny, and in general ruin a camera. Tip: Use a polarizing filter. A polarizing filter reduces glare on water and glass. This enables you to see the drivers faces in the cars.

The cars in this race go by at speeds near 100 miles an hour, about a minute apart. They come out of the starting gate one minute apart and are timed for each stage. A program provides directions to each spectator area. Part of the fun is finding the spectator areas that are sometimes deep into the woods. One of today's was 4 miles deep into the woods on a small one lane gravel road. Tip: Drive a 4 wheel drive vehicle to the race. A short wheelbase will make it easier to turn around in the woods also.

We were lucky enough to get to watch them come out of the shoot, and catch them at three spectator sites. One of the sites had a turn that was a tight V. It was great watching them navigate that one.

A word about media card speed. When I was shooting with the 10D I didn't see much difference between the regular speed cards and my 12X card. Perhaps that was because the 10D wrote at the same speed for both. Today I saw a huge difference using the 20D with the Extreme (10 megabites a second read/9 mbs write) and the 12 X card. The Extreme card was incredibly fast with no noticeable lag whatsoever for reading or writing. When that card was full and I switched to my old 12X card, whoaaa nelly everything slowed down. With the Extreme card I could get 9 shots of a car going through a turn and then some. With the 12 x card I was lucky to get two shots. In all fairness though, I also swiched to the slower lens about the same time so that also affected the camera's shooting speed. I'll have to try this experiment again with the same lens.

A few notes on composition. Some of my favorite shots are the ones that get some expression on someone's face. Sure the cars are fun to, but a face or a thumbs up makes a shot. In this race spectators have the luxury of getting to talk to the drivers and navigators prior to their turn at the starting line. I took advantage of this and walked up to a few cars and asked the navigator to give us a thumbs up out of the gate. Those made for much better shots than the person looking down at maps or controls. Think ahead and you can create better shots with a bit of effort. Don't be afraid to talk to people. Most of them are cooperative and appreciate the attention. Especially people who are not afraid to get involved in a public display event.

When you are shooting the cars in action try to give them someplace to go, and leave room for the spray of gravel behind the car when feasible. That's why a wide angle from fairly close range is great. For those of you who haven't heard of the rule of thirds, it basically favors placing subjects in more interesting places than the center. Mentally place a tic tac toe board on the view, then place the subject at any cross point. For moving subjects I try to place them on a cross point to the left of center if they are moving to the right and vice versa. Of course at very high speeds what you try for and what you get aren't always the same thing.

Here are a few shots for your viewing pleasure.

Keep gettin' out there and having fun,
geopic