Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“Some older people want their final days to kick back and relax, and God bless them. Me? I will die at the drag strip. I know it’s already in the books, and as far as I’m concerned it’s a good way to end my movie.” – John Force
There’s an old racer’s expression that says, “there’s no substitute for cubic inches.” Translating that into advice for photographing drag racing action it becomes There’s no substitute for millimeters of focal length. My guess is that some of your best action images will be captured with zoom lenses that have a 200-300mm maximum focal length and maybe sticking a 1.4 extender in your pocket isn’t such a bad idea.
The above image was photographed at Denver’s Bandimere Speedway. Camera was my old workhorse Canon EOS 1D Mark II N and an EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens with an exposure of 1/250 sec at f/11 and ISO 200. But there’s more to drag racing than burnouts. Unlike other forms of motorsports, you can sometimes get close enough to the action to photograph it using a wide-angle lens. For images in the pits bring a wide-angle zoom; I use the EF16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM. Both of these lenses have been discontinued but are available used at places like KEH and Used Photo Pro at fair prices plus both companies legendary customer service.
The essence of drag racing is head to head competition between two cars going full tilt down a straight smooth track.
Tip: Photographing any sport requires a rudimentary knowledge of the rules so you’ll know what’s going on and in what sequence to be able to capture the peak of action.
You can photograph drag racing without knowing the difference between a “Christmas tree” and a Hanukkah bush but you’ll get better pictures if you do a little research about the sport before trying to make any images. Visit the National Hot Rod Association’s website for information about the sport and read their publication National Dragster. The website has a link to locations where you can buy a copy.
For action shots at the Christmas tree, I usually shoot a short burst of images using the camera’s continuous mode. Exposure is critical because there’s no time for bracketing so right before a race I to shoot several test shots and then make exposure adjustments all day long by looking at captured image’s histogram. OK, we can call what it is—chimping.
Just a reminder: Podcast #3 is live now on my YouTube channel, Joe Farace’s Videos, featuring a look at the Leica Z2X and my experiences shooting 22-year old Agfa color film in a 40-year old Canon SLR, plus some information on where I get my ideas for blog posts!