How to Shoot like a Pro
Fancy shooting bike race pics like a professional? Double Red’s Photographic Trackside Training Day shows you how...
WATCH ANY RACING coverage on TV and you’ll see race photographers in fluoro bibs wandering about in the paddock, pitlane or trackside, with lenses like telescopes. We can all think of the iconic images they’ve captured over the years, of racing superstars forever frozen in moments of triumph, drama or tragedy. For years, theirs was a mysterious world of transparencies and processing, but
the digital revolution has opened the aperture and now anyone can afford a camera and lens capable of quality race-action photographs. But gaining the technical know-how and the skills to do it is a different matter.
Which is where James Wright, owner of and lead photographer with Double Red, official photographers of the British Superbike series, comes in. Double Red’s Photographic Trackside Training Days were set up by James
earlier this year, to pass on some of the knowledge he’s gathered shooting race meetings since 1989. RIDE has joined him at Mallory Park, alongside a Jamie Whitham track-training day.
The day starts with introductions, a runthrough of track safety — which side of the Armco to stand — and a run-down of our gear and experience, and what each of us hopes to get from the day. For me, 25 years of awe watching photographers work has resulted in a small amount of technical knowledge but zero practical experience. So I want to put into practice what little theory I know.
We move trackside and start shooting; the first lesson is side panning – James explains the balance of aperture, shutter speed and ISO (sensitivity to light) – with changing light levels and a strong breeze, it’s important to adjust manually to compensate without having to think about it or look. My shots are terrible with an awful hit rate; I’m wondering if this is all about practice and more practice. But James explains how to stand in the right position, how to pan smoothly, how to set up my camera to auto-focus more effectively and even how to grip the lens – it matters.
Back in the classroom we download our work to see how we’ve got on – we’ve spent so long shooting we have hundreds of shots already and it takes time to sift through them
(a blessing and a curse of digital – you can shoot a lot of rubbish, but it’s not then clear if the single amazing shot was intentional or just luck). The result is not much time to analyse what we’ve done before lunch, then we’re back out again, trying different angles and some of James’ pro Canon gear, including his 500mm lens. It’s a massive thing; too much for me to cope with. I feel like it’s the camera taking the pics, not me. I switch to something more manageable.
We move further round the circuit – there’s not a lot of variation at Mallory, but we can get relatively close to the track. This is important because we all have different levels of equipment. Before moving back to the classroom for a final download, we end up at the hairpin but by now, the light has completely gone and it’s starting to rain.
At the end of the day, James’ training has primarily served to show me how little I know and how far off my technique is; it’s like teaching a novice rider how to race. But I’ve had some basics I kinda knew but didn’t really understand drummed into me, and the pro tips I’ve picked up and the experience of actually getting on the other side of the fence to shoot bikes close-up is something we can’t normally get on a trackday. And it’s certainly re-inspired me. First thing I do when I get back home is check the price of upgrading my gear.