On the Pipe | Mark Dzikowski

Motorcycle Photography Like a Pro

Growing up and learning photography in the film era, shooting fast moving objects on film was always tricky. With the digital revolution of the 2000s to the present, this part of sport photography changed forever. Sadly, in my opinion it took some skill away from the art as people could simply ‘spray and pray’ by holding the shutter button down on high-powered DSLR bodies and hoping one of the frames would be in focus and well composed. On the positive side, photography became more appealing to the masses and the technology evolved quickly as manufacturers faced fierce competition leading to accelerated innovation in the field.

While you can get away with taking landscape, pet and kids pictures with the excellent phone cameras these days, fast moving subjects like motorcycles still require the more powerful DSLRs or mirrorless bodies. In order to shoot professional quality, high resolution images, one needs a good body and decent glass (lenses) but one does not need to spend tens of thousands of dollars to do it. With an entry level DSLR and two or three consumer grade lenses, excellent results can be obtained.

Here are a few tips to get you started on the journey to award-winning photography assuming you already own a DSLR or mirrorless body and some lenses.

Location, location, location – before you even press the shutter button, key to professional, original and captivating images is finding that special spot to shoot. Whenever I ride and don’t have a camera with me, I always keep an eye for photogenic vistas and interesting riding features to come back to in the future with a camera and a fellow rider. When shooting during a race, walking the course or track is essential to pick out your spot of choice. I usually go for the shaded spots, water crossings, interesting corners or extreme sections to show the usual carnage. For static shots, scenic vistas make for a great backdrop and sun location (time of day) is an important consideration.

Dial down the speed passes (if you can) – If you are shooting in a controlled environment, telling your rider to slow down will result in a lot more “keepers” than if they are going Mach 10 in front of or towards you. This will allow the auto focus to track the target easier and will give you more time to compose the shot more accurately. Tell your subject to assume attack position and appear to be going fast and you’ll soon have those crisp shots that you often see on magazine covers. Of course, if you are shooting a race or a track day you will not have that luxury and you will have to practice tracking the very fast and unpredictable subjects as they fly by. Scouting lines that the riders are taking can give you a hint into other riders coming after, so you can predict their location ahead of time.

Shutter Speed and Aperture – Every situation will be different when shooting motorcycles but starting with a fast shutter speed between 1/1000 second 1/2000 second is a good start for fast moving action. This will allow you to get a sharp image and will freeze the motion of the wheels if that is the desired effect. Showing the wheels blurred indicating motion will require a lower shutter speed but also a more accurate tracking and a slight panning technique discussed later. As for aperture, for moving objects I usually keep it at f5-6. While you might be tempted to drop it to your lowest setting, say 2.8, especially on telephoto lenses, the depth of field will not give a lot of leeway on getting the whole subject in focus. But sometimes that could be the desired look like in the case of the photo to the right. Advanced techniques:

Panning – Panning a subject can produce some fantastic images portraying speed and most iconic when paired with razor sharp focus giving an impression of a 3D image. To achieve good panning shots, one requires a steady hand, lots of practice and experimentation. This is where a fast continuous mode can come in handy but not necessary. Pre-focusing on a spot where the subject will be (requires multiple runs to dial it in) and then shooting a single shot while panning is a pro technique that was used extensively in the old days using film. Recommended settings to start with: f7.0 to f10 aperture and 1/100 second to 1/200 second shutterspeed.

Flash Photography – getting an off-camera flash setup can yield some fantastic shots in bright sunshine as a fill-light addition to make sure the subject doesn’t get overpowered by the ambient light. Also, using flash in darker settings like a forest can allow capturing sharp and sometimes surreal conditions where the low light doesn’t allow fast shutter speeds and low ISO at the same time.

I could write another two pages and only scratch the surface on this subject but I believe these quick tips can really elevate those motorcycle memories from amateur quality to hang-on-the-main-living-roomwall centrepieces. Happy shooting. IM