Night Racing American LeMans Series

From Laguna Seca this weekend. It is hard to get photos at night when the subject is a fast moving car. All taken with 70-200 2.8L IS, 800-1600 IS0 with flash

The new Porsche GTP car

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I came close to going to this race. I may do this next year. No glowing brake rotors? Man, you gotta get glowing brake rotors!

IMO shot 1 is too bright. 2&3 are good. You have a UV on the 70-200?

OK Glowing rotor... And I agree the first shot is way over processed. Here is a better version

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Much better! I should see if my webmaster needs any shots on my website...

I like #2 and the last one ,Good job , Im terrible at shooting at night.

Mike, they are beautiful captures of some of the most beautiful modern racing cars around.

Excellent shots... amazing captures. As far as flash is concerned, are all these taken with your 580EX? If so, I am totally shocked at the depth of the flash!! I am a 580 owner, so please tell me that the 580 was the only flash you were using for these!

The 580 was the only flash I was using. However, if you look at the picture of the Porsche coming off the top of the hill you will see pavement illumination from some tall halogen arrays. They lit up the top of the hill pretty well, but things plunge into darkness as you go downwhill.

Here is a shot before the sun was completely down of a Porsche going a little wide down the corkscrew

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I was at the same race, I even have shots from the same corner (corkscrew -- who wouldn't!) just not at night. I was so cold I put my gear away by night fall. Plus I'd been shooting since 9:30am that day at the TC qualifing laps. I was tired of standing and watching

But, I've been able to get about the same illumination from the same distance at Rolex races in the past at other venues...

Folks would really be surprised at just how well even a 420EX will hit at ISO800 or even ISO400.

But I do like your shots...:p

Wow! Terrific shots.

They look pretty clean for ISO 800-1600. Did you use software to cleanup the noise? I would also love to know what shutter speeds and aperture settings you were using if you don't mind.

Thanks,

Pretty good stuff. I would like to make a suggestion though for night shooting next time.

Dont use the flash as your main source of light. Try to use more of the available light at your disposal and use just enough flash to highlight the car.

By doing this you will get more of the speed feeling and the cars will not look quite as static. This happens because the flash duration is so short that it freezes everything and makes the cars look posed and sitting still. By using a slower shutter speed and some available light, you will get the wheel and background blur needed to show some speed.

Here is an example. The first shot was done when someone elses flash firing too powerfully hit the car at the same time I was shooting. The very next image was the very next shot in a burst (so only an eighth of a second later on my MkII) and you can see how my flash was set. Just enough to highlight the reflective graphics and not enough to freeze the car like the first shot.

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Geesh, were you standing next to me??? Oh, you had 1 and I had 2...

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That is the coolest racing still I have seen in a long time.