Wheels Wednesday: Photographing Racing at Laguna Seca

One of Ansel Adams most famous quotes was that he believed that the secret of making great photographs was simply “knowing where to point the camera.” That’s something that is harder tp do than it sounds, especially after schlepping a nine-pound Canon EF 500 f/4.0L IS USM lens, monopod, and camera body around California’s Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca all day. Let me tell you a secret, I don’t own this expensive lens. At the track, I borrowed it from the incredibly talented Regis Lefebure.

What’s It All About?

Many photographers think sports photography and especially motorsports photography is all about using big ticket, fast lenses and expensive cameras and that’s partially true, especially for the $9899 lens I used for this shot. Sure, the Canon EF 500 f/4.0L IS USM lens costs almost ten thousand bucks, so (I hear you saying it now) “It ought’a take good pictures.” Well, it doesn’t always work that way.

This (uncropped) shot was created using a entry-level DSLR, the Canon EOS 20D that sold for $1499 when it was introduced in 2006. That’s about $2,377 in today’s dollars. That’s close to the price of a Canon EOS R6 Mark II with 24-105mm f/4-7.1kit  lens, which shows what a deal an R6 is today. This image of this American LeMans Series race car was made at dusk with a Tv exposure of 1/320 sec at f/9 and ISO 800 with a minus two-thirds stop exposure compensation that I probably shouldn’t have used.  Any underexposure was corrected in Photoshop with a technique I often use for underexposed portraits that’s explained here.

As dusk begins to fall, I gradually began inching up my ISO setting from it’s daytime starting point of 200 at the start of the race to finally 800 as darkness descended over the track. I followed the cars, panning with the motion and instead of firing off multi-frame bursts in continuous mode. I kept squeezing the shutter in rapid succession off short bursts with fewer and, I think, better images.

You don;t have to buy expensive lenses like the EF 500mm f/4L IS USM; you can always can rent them. Where I live, this lens rents for about $50 a day. Is it worth it? You bet it is. And don’t even think about making racing photographs with any big lens without using a monopod. The Canon EOS 20D that I used to make this image was a less than perfect counterbalance to this beast; my EOS 1D Mark II N would have been a better fit but where was it? It was safely tucked away in my equipment closet back in Colorado (and now has been sold.)

The First Step…

…in making any kind of racing photograph on a road course like Laguna Seca is knowing where to stand. If you’ve never been to a track before, talk to some of the other photographers who have been there but also walk around the the track’s infield during practice and decide where you want to be and what lens you might want to use.

At Laguna Seca, downhill from a turn called “The Corkscrew” is a good place to shoot and was where this image was made. The cars break hard for a sharp left turn then go through a series of twisty bits gradually picking up speed as they do. The Corkscrew has strategically placed protective barriers with large holes where you can poke your lens through, so your final choice of location may be limited. Since only two or maybe three (friendly) photographers can fit into a particular hole, don’t hog the space. Let others get some shots too.

Tip: Don’t forget your earplugs. No matter how many Janice Joplin concerts you attended as a flower child, nothing prepares you for the unmuffled sound of a flock of full bore race cars. Earplugs are cheap, so keep a couple of sets in each camera bag; that way you can make a friend by lending a pair to somebody who forgot theirs.