Photography: taking rolling shots

**rayray086** · 16-02-2008, 09:09 PM

Something I found from another forum, written by the guy who took the pics below:

Optimal Conditions

Your best bet is to get on a somewhat vacant, double laned stretch of road with a speed limit of 55 or above so you can do at least 65-70 mph..

It really helps if the camera car and the subject car are moving at the same speed. So a camera car that has Cruise Control is a big help, becuase then the driver of the subject car simply has to match the constant speed.

Also, try and shoot the car about an hour or 2 before the sun sets, and make sure the direction you are going on the road, has the sun lighting up the front 3/4 side of the car so you don't get any funky shadows.. although if its an overcast day, this is not as much of an issue.

keep in mind.. what I have described above are the "optimal" conditions under which to shoot rolling shots, but we all know that everything doesn't work out perfectly every time, so make due with what you can

Camera Settings

Everybody has a differnet preference, but I prefer to shoot rolling shots in Shutter priority mode. This way, I can set my shutter speed exactly where I want it to produce the motion blurred background that is desired when trying to capture a motion shot.

Once the camera is in Shutter priority mode (Tv), you can use your aperature button (on most canon's, I dunno about nikon) to set the camera to automatically over or underexpose the shots by holding it down and scrolling the setting wheel. We all know that the internal light meter on most cameras doesn't always expose things perfectly when set dead middle, so use your best judgement on this. Generally, if i'm shooing in bright sunlight, I set it to underexpose a click or two. But on grey days (overcast) I usually leave the exposure spot on, if not a click above.

When shooting rolling shots, the idea is to shoot at the lowest shutter speed possible, while still capturing a crisp image of the subject car. That is why its very helpful if both cars are moving at the exact same speed, because you will produce more quality shots. I usually start with a 1/10 shutter speed. I try to remain as steady as possible, and shoot between bumps in the road so my arms and camera aren't being jarred as I push the shutter button down. I shoot somewhere between 25-50 shots at 1/10th depending on how smooth the road is and how good the conditions are. If you can get a crisp shot at this speed, the results are usually quite awesome. I then click up to 1/13th and fire off another round, then work my way up doing the same until I've reached 1/25th. I usually don't shoot any higher than 1/25 for rolling shots, so that I'm sure to capture the motion well, but for those of you who just can't seem to get it, you can try moving up to 1/40 even 1/60 and you'll still get some good blur. Also, the faster the cars are going, the better chance you have of getting motion blur at higher shutter speeds.

These are all the technical aspects of shooting rolling shots that I can think of. Everything else beyond that is your own creativity. Angles, Composition, Lighting, Location... ect. And most of that stuff is a matter of opinion and interperatation.

Thought I'd share since I know some of you guys are wanting to invest in DSLRs

**rayray086** · 16-02-2008, 09:14 PM

Disclaimer: don't go through too much trouble though!

**Jarred** · 16-02-2008, 09:20 PM

this will come in handy for the road trip to nats I have a feeling!!

nice find.

**MattyT** · 17-02-2008, 04:00 PM

I more or less figured out the above stuff when I first did rolling shots for my biker mates. GREAT fun but can be challenging. Wasnt danging off a ute tho haha.