How to get a shot like this one.....an explanation.

[klippe]

I've had a lot of people ask me how I got the shot below. (I get asked about this one quite a lot).

http://www.neutraldensity.co.nz/external/images/parallax/parallax_shot.jpg

Many have asked me if I photoshopped the shot at all. The answer is no. What you see is what came off the camera. Some of the comments I have had back have been along the lines of;

"I'd love to be able to get a shot like that. I see them all time time in racing magazines and I have always wondered how to do it"

Well, it's dead easy. In fact the Laws of Physics do most of the work for you with a shot like this.

Given that I have been asked so often, I thought I'd go through the actual set up of this shot, and also why it works the way it does.

The shot is in fact a standard panning shot, taken at close range to maximise a phenomenon known as "Parallax Effect". "Para-what?" I hear you say......

In layman's terms, essentially the shot looks the way it does because some parts of the car are travelling faster (in relation to my camera lense) than others are. Rather than trying to explain it in words, I've drawn a diagram below to explain how it works. For the purposes of this explanation, I want you to imagine the camera is not panning, but fixed on a tripod. This will help you understand how the parallax effect works, without throwing in the complication of considering the panning action too (trust me, it will make sense!).

OK, here's the situation with the car in its start position.

http://www.neutraldensity.co.nz/external/images/parallax/parallax_shutopen.jpg

OK, we open the shutter with the car in the above position. Note the three coloured lines (Ra, Ma, Fa). Each of those lines represents the distance each part of the car is from our lense.

Now, after the car moves 1 metre, we close the shutter - as shown below.

http://www.neutraldensity.co.nz/external/images/parallax/parallax_shutclose.jpg

We have three new lines illustrating where the parts of the car are in relation to our lense.

OK, now if we look at a comparision of the "shutter open" lines, and "shutter close" lines, we can see pretty clearly what's happening with the shot.

http://www.neutraldensity.co.nz/external/images/parallax/parallax_comparison.jpg

To get the image at the top of this post, I also added a flash into the mix and set it to second curtain sync, it adds to the effect.

Also, you'll get better results with a shot like this if you can get close. I was less than one metre away from the car above when I took the shot.

I hope that you find this post useful. And if you already knew all this, feel free to ignore me.

Cliff
P.S. Shots like this work way better with a wide angle lense, the distortion in a wide lense adds to the effect.

[TKRFAN]

Hi Cliff

Thanks heaps for that explanation, makes sense to me now :)

[Moppie]

Nice explanatione Cliffe, verye easye toe understande.

[FlyingPhotog]

Brilliant explanation.

Great Shot as a result!

[michael_]

great explanation, what was your shutter speed?

[dicktay]

Thanks very much for the info.

[klippe]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

To answer your question CIDER, the shot was taken at 1/30th of a second.

Cliff

[dgcorner]

hmm, i learned something tonight.. now I can sleep!

[qtaran111]

Nice explanatione Cliffe, verye easye toe understande.

Cheeky ;)

Cliff: great photo, explanation and diagrams!

[krissanthosh]

Thanks for the explanation. And the diagrams make it easy and simple to understand.

[alexclc]

Thanks for the explanation! Approximately how fast was the car traveling?

Alex

[TATER64]

Great Cliff,well explained and excellent diagrams,this is one of the reasons that make these forums well worth visiting
Thank you

[Zilly]

quite possibly one of the best explanations of parallax shift ever

well written

[Stosh]

Thank you for the very clean explanation. And the diagrams always improve understanding.

I second the question of " how fast was the car going?"

I have found panning smoothly and actually capturing what I want, to be a skill I have yet to master, (or for that matter even be a promising novice at)

Your explanation definately filled in some blanks for me.

[stuman16]

Thanks for the explanation, I'll have to try that sometime :)

[Borbor]

Thanks for the explanation! Approximately how fast was the car traveling?

Alex

An A1 GP car travelling in the pits can go no faster than 60km/h

So at best, it was doing 60 :)

[klippe]

Cliff: great photo, explanation and diagrams!

Thanks for the explanation. And the diagrams make it easy and simple to understand.

Thanks for commenting. I'm glad it was a worthwhile exercise for me.

Great Cliff,well explained and excellent diagrams,this is one of the reasons that make these forums well worth visiting
Thank you

Thanks, that's a very nice thing to say indeed.

quite possibly one of the best explanations of parallax shift ever

well written

Hehe, thanks. Not sure I'd take it that far!

Thanks for the explanation! Approximately how fast was the car traveling?

Thank you for the very clean explanation. And the diagrams always improve understanding.

I second the question of " how fast was the car going?"

The car is actually slowing up to stop in its pit bay. If you have a look at the front wheel, there is very little motion blur of the wheel spokes - which is a bit of a giveaway that the car wasn't moving fast. I couldn't have got as close as I needed to if it was travelling quickly - would have been too unsafe. The beauty of slow shutter speed work is that you can get a great panning shot with slow moving cars.

Thanks for the explanation, I'll have to try that sometime :)

I'd like to see the results if you care to post them when you've had a crack at it.

Cliff

[Zilly]

Hehe, thanks. Not sure I'd take it that far!

Its something i try to explain quite often and never really get it into a easy mannor for newbies and often end up with black looks, gunna point them in the direction of this next time i get asked :D

[jlozano180]

Great info, also great pic

[Paul C-J]

Brilliant dude , cheers for taking the time out to explain that

[acorean]

Great explanation. I'm an engineer and your explanation and diagrams were extremely helpful.

[Charles Richards]

wow, great explanation! Thanks for sharing! :D

[crayfish13]

perfect explanation and a good sense of humour

[klippe]

Thanks once more for the kind comments everyone. I had hoped the post would come in handy - and it's great for me to see that it has. Makes it worth while.

Cliff

[S.Horton]

Kewl! Truly useful!

[300Daz]

I did wonder how those shots were taken. Thanks for a nice-easy-to-understand explanation. Great shot too Cliff.

Darren

[JSJR4]

Great explanation and diagrams

[freebird]

Yes very good read, thanks for sharing it with us:D

Chuck

[rcg]

I liked it so much I linked to it in my blog. Excellent explanation.

[klippe]

Kewl! Truly useful!

I did wonder how those shots were taken. Thanks for a nice-easy-to-understand explanation. Great shot too Cliff.

Darren

Great explanation and diagrams

Yes very good read, thanks for sharing it with us:D

Chuck

I liked it so much I linked to it in my blog. Excellent explanation.

Thanks once again for the thanks everyone. Really happy you all found it useful.

Hopefully some who read this will give the technique a go and add another shot style to their skill set. It's all about sharing the love afterall!

Cliff

[NordieBoy]

I'll have to get me a flash one day.

[Z_Ghost]

I will have to give that a try the next time I am at the track.
Thanks for the info.

[Picturesports]

Remember that the rear end of a single seater is often wider than the front. I waiting for Cliff to get his toes flattened one day :-)

[Angdvl089]

You don't even need to read, the diagrams are easy enough to understand. Thanks for the info though.

[CanonPhotographer]

dang! im one of those people who always wanted to do that. thanks so much man!

[klippe]

Remember that the rear end of a single seater is often wider than the front. I waiting for Cliff to get his toes flattened one day :-)

Funny you say that, cause for at least one of the shots taken that weekend, Chris started to make moves to grab me out of the way as he thought I was going to be bowled over as the car pulled out of the garage. I was actually clipped by a car - at least it hit my gear bag hanging off my hip. But I didn't tell you guys that. Hehe.

You don't even need to read, the diagrams are easy enough to understand. Thanks for the info though.

Cool. Thanks.

dang! im one of those people who always wanted to do that. thanks so much man!

No problems, hopefully there aren't too many out there who are angry with me for "giving away a trick of the trade" - but frankly it's easy to do and simple enough to figure out.

Cliff

[ChadAndreo]

Amazing.

[TMCCaptured]

Cliff, you are the man I have been trying to hunt down for the past coupke of Months...Love the shot I will PM when I return home in the next few days.


Something I remember from my childhood...Nice One Stu (Cliff)

[John Thawley]

I've had a lot of people ask me how I got the shot below. (I get asked about this one quite a lot).

http://www.neutraldensity.co.nz/external/images/parallax/parallax_shot.jpg

Many have asked me if I photoshopped the shot at all. The answer is no. What you see is what came off the camera. Some of the comments I have had back have been along the lines of;

"I'd love to be able to get a shot like that. I see them all time time in racing magazines and I have always wondered how to do it"

Well, it's dead easy. In fact the Laws of Physics do most of the work for you with a shot like this.

Given that I have been asked so often, I thought I'd go through the actual set up of this shot, and also why it works the way it does.

The shot is in fact a standard panning shot, taken at close range to maximise a phenomenon known as "Parallax Effect". "Para-what?" I hear you say......

In layman's terms, essentially the shot looks the way it does because some parts of the car are travelling faster (in relation to my camera lense) than others are. Rather than trying to explain it in words, I've drawn a diagram below to explain how it works. For the purposes of this explanation, I want you to imagine the camera is not panning, but fixed on a tripod. This will help you understand how the parallax effect works, without throwing in the complication of considering the panning action too (trust me, it will make sense!).

OK, here's the situation with the car in its start position.

http://www.neutraldensity.co.nz/external/images/parallax/parallax_shutopen.jpg

OK, we open the shutter with the car in the above position. Note the three coloured lines (Ra, Ma, Fa). Each of those lines represents the distance each part of the car is from our lense.

Now, after the car moves 1 metre, we close the shutter - as shown below.

http://www.neutraldensity.co.nz/external/images/parallax/parallax_shutclose.jpg

We have three new lines illustrating where the parts of the car are in relation to our lense.

OK, now if we look at a comparision of the "shutter open" lines, and "shutter close" lines, we can see pretty clearly what's happening with the shot.

http://www.neutraldensity.co.nz/external/images/parallax/parallax_comparison.jpg

To get the image at the top of this post, I also added a flash into the mix and set it to second curtain sync, it adds to the effect.

Also, you'll get better results with a shot like this if you can get close. I was less than one metre away from the car above when I took the shot.

I hope that you find this post useful. And if you already knew all this, feel free to ignore me.

Cliff
P.S. Shots like this work way better with a wide angle lense, the distortion in a wide lense adds to the effect.


I'm curious how in that distance, the tires didn't seem to rotate?

[klippe]

I'm curious how in that distance, the tires didn't seem to rotate?

Your reaction makes me laugh. But I'm not going to take it as any kind of insult. :)

It's actually very simple to explain. The driver has locked the front tyre as he's come to a stop. He's only doing just over walking pace at the time I took the shot, I am basically crouching in the front right tyre changer's position - about 80cm from the right front wheel at the time the shot was taken. He's slowed right down to hit his pit spot and locked the front tyre as he's come to a stop.

It was one of those practice stops where the driver comes into the pits, stops momentarily, hits the gas peddle and moves the car forward a few feet, then stops to have the crew push him back into the garage. Hence the reason I knew I could be right there without fear of being pushed out of the way by a crew member.

I am surprised you didn't mention that the blurs appear to be heading in different directions too (which they are if you have a good look). I have been asked about 400 times if I messed with the shot.

Cliff

[paddymcgrath]

I've been trying to explain this to people for years but could never find the words. Great write up will be sending others here to read it !

[klippe]

Cliff, you are the man I have been trying to hunt down for the past coupke of Months...

You have? Should I be worried? :)

Amazing.

Thank you.

I've been trying to explain this to people for years but could never find the words. Great write up will be sending others here to read it !

Thanks. Glad you found it useful.

Cliff

[Picturesports]

I stand their and watch you take these images - I still think you are knuts or suicidal - either way you would have a blurred 2nd curtain pan of the tyre that runs over you

[John Thawley]

Your reaction makes me laugh. But I'm not going to take it as any kind of insult. :)

It's actually very simple to explain. The driver has locked the front tyre as he's come to a stop. He's only doing just over walking pace at the time I took the shot, I am basically crouching in the front right tyre changer's position - about 80cm from the right front wheel at the time the shot was taken. He's slowed right down to hit his pit spot and locked the front tyre as he's come to a stop.

It was one of those practice stops where the driver comes into the pits, stops momentarily, hits the gas peddle and moves the car forward a few feet, then stops to have the crew push him back into the garage. Hence the reason I knew I could be right there without fear of being pushed out of the way by a crew member.

I am surprised you didn't mention that the blurs appear to be heading in different directions too (which they are if you have a good look). I have been asked about 400 times if I messed with the shot.

Cliff
Wasn't meant as an insult. To be honest, I thought it was a trackside shot. Now that you've clarified it's simply a pit stop, it makes a lot more sense.

Typically, I like this shot done at a the apex of a hairpin.

Either way, nice explaination...

[Moppie]

Typically, I like this shot done at a the apex of a hairpin.



If you ever got that close to an A1GP car on the apex of a corner, you would be dead. :cool:

[John Thawley]

If you ever got that close to an A1GP car on the apex of a corner, you would be dead. :cool:

Kind of a silly statement.

However, unless I missed it, I didn't notice a mention of focal length. No doubt this was shot close to the car. But without knowing the focal length YOU have no idea of what's close and what isn't.

Here are two shots. One shot at the apex of a hairpin using a 12mm lens. I ASSURE YOU.. I could have touched the car with my hand.

The second, while it appears closer, was shot hand held, panning with a 500mm f/4. I'm probably 30 feet away. So... you're point isn't very well taken.

No one is question the validity or whether or not this is a cool shot. I missed the post where it was stated this was done entering the pit stall. Plain and simple. My question was neither insulting or combative. It was merely a question.

Nice shot... nice explanation.

[Cadwell]

Kind of a silly statement.

However, unless I missed it, I didn't notice a mention of focal length. No doubt this was shot close to the car. But without knowing the focal length YOU have no idea of what's close and what isn't.

Not really, he probably paid attention to the labelled lines in the diagram. They give the distances to each part of the car in meters.

[John Thawley]

Not really, he probably paid attention to the labelled lines in the diagram. They give the distances to each part of the car in meters.

That's fine.... I'll do the math. LOL However, my point was, standing in the apex that close to a car, won't leave you dead. :(

Then again, ignorance is bliss. :)

[Moppie]

Kind of a silly statement.




Not at all, but I have inside information, in that I was shooting the same event with Cliff and saw how he did it. ;)
Getting that close on the race track, at race speed would be fatal.

In your first shot it is clear how close you were (And I bet there
was still a layer of concrete between you and the car) by the wide angle distortion.
Your second shot (which is fantastic by the way) is clearly shot with a longer focal length. :cool:

[Robinson Crusoe]

Cool, thanks.

[S.Horton]

Excellent post/thread.

Thx for taking the time to do it.

[klippe]

Cool, thanks.

Excellent post/thread.

Thx for taking the time to do it.

Thank you, you are most welcome.

Cliff