Porsche & BMW Track Day 

"Noah - Now with more boost." (antriebverliebt) 06/12/2017 at 12:31 • Filed to: Porsche, Photography

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AKA my first attempt at racetrack photography. Critiques encouraged. These were taken with a telephoto on a Canon Rebel XSI. It was a clear day so I had to crank the exposure way down. The motion blur shots were done at 1/30 shutter speed and the rest were at 1/2500. Zero post processing.

This was Porsche Club of America event, but if you’re a member you can bring whatever you want to the track, hence the BMWs. This was held at Palmer Motorsports Park in western MA. It’s only in its 3rd season, so there are no official grandstands or vendors. The on track shots were all taken from a dirt parking lot overlooking the main straight. The white 911 is my friend’s car, it has a built motor and puts down around 240 WHP. That thing sounds GREAT.

The vast majority of the cars were much newer. Lots of GT3s, Turbos, and Caymans.

Most shots were slightly off center like this one. These were all taken at the end of the straight, so keeping the cars in focus and in the center was a challenge. I didn’t use autofocus, but did end up tracking the cars with the center AF point to try keeping them in the middle of the frame.

Okay I admit it - this isn’t actually on track! Pit lane speeds made zooming in and keeping this 911 in the center much easier.

A shot from the turn at the end of the front straight. There was a tiny gap in the barriers you could sneak a shot through. It didn’t result in the best backgrounds though, as you can see from the odd angle of the barrier and the massive tire wall lump in the middle. Nevertheless, I wanted to post this one because it was one of my better attempts at keeping the cars in the middle and in focus.

That’s the end of the motion blur photos. I didn’t have my camera with me for most of the day because I was intent on taking it all in instead of worrying about photos. Beyond experimenting with track photography, I took a handful of stills, and that was it:

There were TONS of 944 turbos. This was my favorite.

As you’d expect at a German car event, most vehicles were black or silver. That made this Cayman stand out, the burnt orange paint was a nice choice.

This is where that 1/2500 shutter speed came in handy. At 1/30 the cars were a blur if you didn’t follow them with the camera.

Lining up for a session. Amusingly, the red Exige belongs to one of the event organizers. When I asked him about it later, he said that he had driven so many different Porsches on track that he got bored of them. What a problem to have!

I can see how people get addicted to track days. The noise, the track prepped cars, and the atmosphere were all pretty epic. I also sat in on one of the 30 minute classes, which was fascinating. Hopefully I’ll find myself behind the wheel at an event like this sometime soon.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > Noah - Now with more boost. 06/12/2017 at 13:29

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Great shots! Really love how you got the motion blur in some of the pictures.

When I do any trackside photography, I generally use quite slow shutter speeds(1/30-1/100 I think), combined with quite a deep view of field (around f10-12 works fine on my 18-55). The I put the focus manually on the racing line. Doesn’t always work perfectly, and I definitely need more practise, but maybe this insight is of any help for you :) Examples of the above method:

(Relatively heavily processed, but only to bring out the colours better)

Noah - Now with more boost. > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer 06/12/2017 at 13:53

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Yep I also just kept the focus manually on the same line! It was hard to find places where there was no fence, so there was really just that one spot for motion blur stuff.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > Noah - Now with more boost. 06/12/2017 at 14:06

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Great to hear I’m not the only one using that method! I know that problem, had a similar experience at the Nürburgring last summer, luckily we found a high ground at Breidscheid (second photo in my post) so we could kinda shoot over the fence. Later we found the spot between Pflatzgarten and Brünchen in which the final two shots were taken, there was only a very low (about 1.60 m) fence there, making it way easier. Also I learned that sometimes a fence can help with the effect of the shot, as in the first shot I posted.

Noah - Now with more boost. > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer 06/12/2017 at 14:35

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Yeah man I was surprised by how consistent the manual focus on the racing line was! My long lens steadying skills though... not so much lol.