Newbie Night Shot Questions

[TristateViP]

I have a question, I will be taking motion night shots of cars tonight and wanted to know what settings I should use. I have a Canon 350d with the kits lens and a Tamron 70-200. Which lens should I use and what settings? Im stumped since its going to be motion shots.

[another view]

Depends on the results that you want. At night, you'll probably have a hard time stopping all motion but that doesn't usually lead to the most interesting photographs either (IMO). Do you have a tripod?

It's really a lot of expermentation, but if you want the cars to be relatively sharp and the background blurred, put the camera on a tripod and "pan", which is to follow the motion with the camera while pressing the shutter release. At night I'd probably start with a fairly high ISO like 800 and a relatively wide aperture, depending on what the options are with the lens you have. Let the camera determine the shutter speed, review the results and adjust from there.

[TristateViP]

Yeah I have a tripod but I'll be a passenger in one of the cars taking the shots..I would like the car to come out and the background blurred. The cars are exotics so I want to make sure they come out good.

[another view]

Well, of course that rules out a tripod... I think I'd plan on using the widest aperture and hope for a 1/60 shutter speed. Adjust ISO speed until you can get that but try 1/30 too so you can get by with a lower ISO for less digital noise. Again, experiment a lot. With digital you'll be able to tell if what you're doing is working.

And, if you're in one of the cars you might want a wider lens - just a thought.

[TristateViP]

Thanks, I guess I'll have to use the 18-55 kit lens then.

[Grandpaw]

I have a question, I will be taking motion night shots of cars tonight and wanted to know what settings I should use. I have a Canon 350d with the kits lens and a Tamron 70-200. Which lens should I use and what settings? Im stumped since its going to be motion shots.

Can you explain a little further what you will be doing? Will the car you are taking a picture of and the car you are riding in BOTH be moving and if so will it be at the same speed and same direction? How fast will you be moving and how far apart will you be? Jeff

[TristateViP]

Can you explain a little further what you will be doing? Will the car you are taking a picture of and the car you are riding in BOTH be moving and if so will it be at the same speed and same direction? How fast will you be moving and how far apart will you be? Jeff

Hi Jeff,
From what I understand it will be a 3 lane highway and all cars will be going at it pretty much like a cannonball run type thing. I should be within a few feet of the cars from the passenger seat. All cars will be going close to the same speed and in the same direction

[SmartWombat]

Jeff, I hope your camera car can keep up with the others while they're going at it

Very difficult then, a slow enough shutter speed to blur the background will also mean that as your car goes over bumps, the camera shake will blur the other car.

You can get blur as fast as 1/250 second if the cars are doing about 50mph, as the speed goes up, so does the shutter speed you can use.

If it's at night, then you're in a really hard situation.
You will have to use the widest aperture you can, and the highest ISO that gives a quality image, to get a shutter speed that stands a chance of avoiding a blurred car.

I can't give you an exact setting, but you'll want to experiment with shutter speeds. Put the camera into Tv mode (time variable, shutter priority) and let the camera pick the aperture.
Vary shutter speeds at all steps from 1/250 up to 1/640 and take LOTS of shots, you're going to go through 1G memory cards like they're going out of fashion !
But you're going to have to try as many options as possible.

Don't even bother looking at the screen on the camera, it's not big enough to see shake or mis-focussing, just keep shooting. Try to take 3 or 4 attempts at each picture, like a group of people trying to catch the all not blinking, it's difficult to get it just right.

How many other cameras do you have?
I've had great success with Minolta A1 and A2 P&S cameras mounted on the car using Culmann sucker mounts (on panels) or clamps (on the convertible roof frame) with mini ball-heads for positioning, and remote release cables. Even auto-timer Interval mode taking one image every 30 seconds has randomly got me some good shots.
The more cameras you have in action, the more chance you'll have of getting shots, plus you can mount a P&S in positions impossible to use with your DSLR - like low angle from the side of your car, or high angle up on the roof if it's a truck.


I suppose you have no choice of car? For this I'd use a Citroen BX because of the fully hydro-pneumatic suspension. I think the CX only has hydro-pneumatic rear so it's not so stable.

[Grandpaw]

Hi Jeff,
From what I understand it will be a 3 lane highway and all cars will be going at it pretty much like a cannonball run type thing. I should be within a few feet of the cars from the passenger seat. All cars will be going close to the same speed and in the same direction

Then the 18 to 55 will be the right lens in my opinion. The 70 to 200 would be of no use. You could take it along in case the situation changes but I don't think it will be needed. What is stopping you from using a flash at that distance? You would be able to use a smaller F stop and the depth of field would be greater. The background would not be blurred but you should get a good shot of the car, Jeff

I would think that if you and the car you are taking a picture of are going the same speed in the same direction that just about make the car just as if you were both standing still or like you were panning the shot as earlier suggested. Myself I would think 1/60 or faster would work.

Around here we have Cruisin the Coast each year and when they ride like that they usually drive relatively slow to show off their cars. Most of the time they hold up traffic due to the speed they drive, maybe it is different where you are!

[TristateViP]

Thanks guys, I guess its like I thought a big trial and error with this situation. All cars average around 500hp so keeping up with each other shouldnt be a problem, just hoping the shutter can is a different story , I'll post my shots tomorrow , hopefully it works out.