Motocross Photography Tips – Let’s talk more about motocross photography, and this time let’s get down to the technical aspect of photographing this great sport. Don’t worry, you don’t need a lot of expensive equipment to get decent photos, especially if you’re shooting at the local track.
My last article, “Tips on How to Photograph Motocross,” addressed the types of images you want to capture on the track, but this article is about the technical aspects of shooting motocross. What tech article would be complete without talking about gear? So let’s get the gear part out of the way first. You don’t need any fancy equipment to get started, but some more expensive gear will make things easier and make your photos look better. Any DSLR or mirrorless camera that allows you to take control of the shutter speed will work. Since the speeds of motocross can be quite fast at times, it is essential to have a camera body that allows you to control the shutter speed so that you can capture all the action. Cell phones simply won’t be enough for many actions. I’ll talk about the typical shutter speeds you need a little later in the article.
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If you’re sticking with a camera body, a body capable of continuous shooting is a plus, but not required. When I was little, I shot numerous races with a Minolt KSG-1 without a motor drive. It was a one shot action for me. So if for some reason your camera doesn’t have a continuous shooting mode, don’t worry, you don’t have to. If your camera has a continuous shooting mode of 3 to 6 frames per second, that’s fine too. I’m currently shooting with a D500 which gives me 10fps, and I find myself dropping it to maybe 7fps more often. Why? Because at the end of a full day of shooting an event, I don’t want to look at 4,000 shots to pick the 50 I owe my editor. Yes, there are times when I crank it up to 10fps, like at the beginning and end. So don’t worry if you don’t have continuous shooting or a very high frame rate. Nice to have, but by no means necessary.
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Lenses are more important than the camera body, and the lens you choose will determine the look you get and the ease of shooting. If you’re shooting at your local amateur track, a long lens like 300mm or more isn’t necessary. 200 mm is not required. I shot many local tracks with the 24-70mm. 70mm gives you enough reach so you don’t have to be right next to the track, making it a little safer for you and the riders. I like the 24mm to get those wide angle shots that capture several riders at the same time or to get those eco-friendly shots of the course. If you have the money, the next lens I would recommend is something that goes out to about 200mm. At this range you can zoom in on drivers and get great, tight shots without getting too close to the track. I prefer to keep a distance between myself and the driver. If you have one, then something like 300mm is great, but that 300mm, especially f/2.8, can get heavy quickly. Although I know it’s not exactly the same, I decided to use the D500 crop sensor with the 70-200mm f/2.8. I get very similar results, and it’s much easier on my body. Another lens I like to use sparingly is my 10mm fisheye. I only use it a few times during the race to give it a different look. Most of the time I don’t use photos, but every once in a while, I will. Notice I didn’t mention lens speed too much. I shoot with f/2.8 lenses, but it’s optional. f/4 or f/5.6 lenses are also great, but the faster f/2.8 will help isolate the driver from background clutter by providing a nice blur.
That’s it for gear. Nothing special to start with, and if you want, you can quickly add to your gear as you go. A flash can come in handy for those shots in the pit or on the podium, and yet it doesn’t have to be anything special.
Now, let’s go to the camera settings and start with the shutter speed because I mentioned it earlier. This is probably the most important setting you need to control. To get lovely, sharp photos, you’ll need a shutter speed in the neighborhood of 1/1000s, even for those slow turns, as both rider and bike bounce around. One thing to consider about faster shutter speeds is that you will also freeze the rotation of the wheels. This tends to give the photo a very static look, almost as if the bike and rider are not moving. So again, a shutter speed of around 1/1000s can give you a bit of wheel blur, and going even lower will help the wheels. Or go very slow, like 1/20s, and grab a panning shot. Remember, some part of the rider must be sharp; you can’t have a completely blurry shot and call it panning.
Aperture settings are not that critical, so a less expensive lens that has a small aperture of f/4, f/5.6 or even f/6.3 can be used for daytime racing. Go into the evening or under lights and a smaller aperture will be needed. As I mentioned earlier, a smaller aperture will give you a beautiful bokeh background. Just because you have an aperture of f/2.8 doesn’t mean you should always shoot at f/2.8. Seeing the fans behind the drivers with their signs and flags can provide a great backdrop to help tell the story.
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I’m shooting raw, so white balance isn’t a concern of mine as I’ll be adjusting it in post. But, if you prefer to shoot JPEGs, I’d recommend using the cloudy day setting to give your photos some warmth. Of course, this really comes down to personal choice.
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Doug Turney is a photographer from Connecticut who specializes in off-the-ball sports photography such as motocross, sailing and cycling. But that doesn’t stop him from taking other types of photos. Doug believes a photo is a photo and doesn’t like to be typecast. Doug loves to travel and often shoots when he travels. I like to photograph action sports such as surfing, skateboarding, cycling, MTB and of course motocross and supercross. Motocross and its cousin Supercross are great sports to photograph and it’s easy for fans with cameras to get close to the action. Read this first article in a three-article series to get some tips on how to make your first date or your hundredth a little more worthwhile.
My love for motocross photography started when I was about 12 years old when all my friends and I had dirt bikes and a long summer ahead of us. It didn’t hurt that my father was kind enough, or maybe stupid enough, to let me take his Minolta KSG-1 out into a dusty, dirty field to photograph my friends. Those photos are long gone thanks to my mother’s spring cleaning while I was in college. But the memories didn’t, and it was those memories that brought me back to motocross photography and eventually to professional photography of both motocross and supercross. For those new to these sports let me explain what they are and how they differ. The first motocross is where riders ride their off-road bikes – motorcycles – on a dirt track that follows the contours of the area. Imagine a large farm with a dirt track running around the fields. Supercross, on the other hand, is contested in professional football and baseball stadiums where 500 truckloads of dirt are brought in to build the track for a single day of racing.
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Let’s get to the reason we’re here: to discuss the photography aspect of these two unique sports. Let’s start with motocross because this is more accessible to most people to photograph. There are amateur tracks all over the US, Europe, South America and other parts of the world where you can go to photograph riders. Usually these tracks won’t charge you anything if it’s just an open practice. If it’s race day, I can charge a few bucks. You will find that the riders are very