Pressure Washer Engines not just for washing.

[BlueDevil08]

Hi all, I am a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers where I attend college and we participate in a Collegiate Design Series that is sponsored by SAE. We design and build off road race cars that run on a 10HP briggs. Anyways, every year we host a race that is under the lights so its the only time that I ever do any kind of HORRIBLE lighting action photography. This past year I used a Canon 50d with a 50mm f1.8 and ISO 800 for the race and got some decent shots, but a lot of the shots with cars in the air came out blurry. How should I change either settings or gear to get more in focus shots? Oh, and this year I will be using a 7d.

http://ksb.smugmug.com/Sports/SAE-Baja/Samples/MG0109/763608540_TTVSL-XL.jpg
http://ksb.smugmug.com/Sports/SAE-Baja/Samples/MG9905/763629856_z2efY-XL.jpg
http://ksb.smugmug.com/Sports/SAE-Baja/Samples/MG9979/763631401_Uy7Tp-XL.jpg
And I think this one is just funny. Our ride height is normally 10 inches. Due to the weight of mud, after the race is just a little over 3 inches.
http://ksb.smugmug.com/Sports/SAE-Baja/Samples/IMG0326/763634236_F5jvE-M.jpg

[h0rde]

The shots aren't out of focus, they have motion blur. What shutter speeds are you using? There's no EXIF in your images. You'll either need faster shutter speeds or do some panning.

[BlueDevil08]

I was using a 1/60 sec. shutter speed. So should I increase the ISO in order to get faster shutter speeds?

[carr0t]

yes you can increase the shutter speed and up the iso at the same time. i would think that 1/60 would be way too slow for most of that fast action.
if you are close to the action you can use flash for fill to freeze the action in the frame as well.

[lauderdalems]

Ditto - up your ISO as to 3200 and this will give you a much better ss

[sweeney208]

so do you start with a nice clean camera and leave with a brick of mud in your hands?

[Roy Mathers]

A couple of those shots look as though they suffer from camera shake.