How to capture the car drifting?

[DeltaOmega]

Personally I find the most interesting part to experiment with the shutter speed and try it out and see the different effects. In my feeble experience it takes a lot of practice and trial-and-error to get the panning effect right.

Some hints that I picked up is to stand straight with the feet parallel and only move the hips in a swivel motion. Keep the feet, arms head etc still and just rotate the hips...

You'll look rediculous, but hey..... Have fun, that's the most important thing...

I have had successful shots without using a tripod, so I don't think it's strictly necessary but I'm sure it helps.

 

[r32]

This was one of my first attempts at panning cars:

To:

And then:

The EXIF info is all stored in the files. A tripod is not crucial to panning. If you choose to use a tripod you must set it up (align it) correctly to follow your panning movement correctly. Most of my pans are done without tripod, it is not crucial for a pan shot.. You can use any focal length of lens to do panning, the effects come out differently. Wide-angle pans can be very interesting when they streak the background highlights as well.

 

[sORe-EyEz]

d rule of thumb is 2 pan way b4 d shutter is depressed.

 

[lsisaxon]

d rule of thumb is 2 pan way b4 d shutter is depressed.

Let me add to that..

Do a panning shot only on the straights where the movement is predictable. Pan along and when you are confident that you are following release the shutter while still panning and follow through the exposure.

 

[photoboy]

Joey91,

Sound very difficult lah.

I think you must be on a boat to follow the current, otherwise it might disappear pretty fast.

Regards,

 

[sORe-EyEz]

Let me add to that..

Do a panning shot only on the straights where the movement is predictable. Pan along and when you are confident that you are following release the shutter while still panning and follow through the exposure.

:thumbsup:

 

[joey91]

waoh!! so many bros teach me!! thx!! will try later at the motor fest...hehe...!!

 

[HeWolf]

To all the people (except Wai):

The starter is asking about drifting cars, not moving cars. Hence the panning approach might not work.

Take a look at Wai's post. When the car first came into the scene, the rear wheels were moving horizontally. That's drifting.


Reference material: Initial-D (cartoon) :bsmilie:


Wai, wonderful shots that make me watch over and over again. :bigeyes: Wow!
However, it would be even better if you could capture a few more frames prior to the car negiotiating the corners.

 

[tim]

Basically the car is drifting 30 - 35 degree side-way on the straight road or track. Yeah just like 'Initial D', the back wheel is moving along side of the front wheel (e.g. 30 degree)

 

[lsisaxon]

Wai, wonderful shots that make me watch over and over again. :bigeyes: Wow!
However, it would be even better if you could capture a few more frames prior to the car negiotiating the corners.

Buffer full liao lah.. I guess..

 

[Witness]

good af basically hahaha

 

[LazerLordz]

it also helps if you know when the car will drift or correct itself too.

listen to the rev, and if you've watched for a while, you can get the timing..quite important if you want to catch it doing donuts too.