Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Digital Cameras & Shooting Techniques => Topic started by: asugrad1988 on December 22, 2010, 06:13:16 pm

Title: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: asugrad1988 on December 22, 2010, 06:13:16 pm
Hello:
I'm very new to photography. I just recently bought a Nikon D5000, and it seems quite overwhelming. Anyway here is my question:
I will be taking a trip and there is a barn along the way that I would like to shoot. However, since it is about 200 yards off of the interstate and we won't be able to stop, I was wondering what settings would I need to make on the camera to allow for our car driving about 75mph. We will be leaving in the morning, and lets just hope that it will be a sunny day.
thanks
Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: degrub on December 22, 2010, 06:47:43 pm
1/500th sec maybe ?
Why not take a test spin on the road ?

i assume you are not the driver. ;D

Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: Craig Murphy on December 24, 2010, 10:38:43 am
There is also a beginners questions section on LL.
Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: Rob C on January 01, 2011, 05:41:04 am
You don't need the Beginner's Section: Top Gear did a definitive take on drive-by shooting, and the sub-machine gun won highest points.

Poor old Stig; so much venom, so many holes.

Rob C
Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: LesPalenik on January 01, 2011, 05:17:37 pm
If you are shooting sideways from a moving vehicle, you should use minimum 1/2000 s.
If you can shoot it head-on, you can get away with a slightly slower shutter speed.

 
Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: Ari-FLM on January 02, 2011, 09:04:34 pm
As you get closer to the barn, put your hazards on, slow down (isn't 75mph illegal anyway?), and let the motor drive rip.
As someone said, use about 1/2000th.
Repeat until you get the shot.
Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: Dick Roadnight on January 03, 2011, 07:39:14 am
1/500th sec maybe ?
Why not take a test spin on the road ?

i assume you are not the driver. ;D


I think that it might be a 20 mile trip to get back to the shooting point, so the normal "suck it and see" digital technique will not work as well as usual.

Convince the driver you have a flat tyre, and take the shot while (s)he checks it out.
Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: Rob C on January 03, 2011, 11:38:05 am
Hello:
I'm very new to photography. I just recently bought a Nikon D5000, and it seems quite overwhelming. Anyway here is my question:
I will be taking a trip and there is a barn along the way that I would like to shoot. However, since it is about 200 yards off of the interstate and we won't be able to stop, I was wondering what settings would I need to make on the camera to allow for our car driving about 75mph. We will be leaving in the morning, and lets just hope that it will be a sunny day.
thanks



When did the States' drivers enter the real world? I thought they were condemned to a max. 55mph?

Rob C
Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: degrub on January 03, 2011, 10:51:21 pm
80 mph here in parts of Texas. 70 most places.
Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: George Montgomery on January 11, 2011, 09:01:23 pm
If I may, I'd like to show a barn shot I took on the PA turnpike. I was the passenger. ;D
barn on pa turnpike (http://s1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc519/Gmontjr/)
f/10 at 1/2500 ISO-800 D90

GeorgeM
Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: stever on January 12, 2011, 12:34:45 am
yep, that's pretty much the same poor composition with usual powerlines that i get shooting from a car -- but i still keep hoping for success
Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: Rand47 on February 18, 2011, 11:25:59 am
Sometimes you get lucky.  This is the full frame, no cropping at all. Not a great photo, but qualifies in my book as fun & interesting.  70-200 @ 200, stabilized, at about 80 mph through the side window!  I use a both-eyes-open approach to be able to anticipate the composition.  CA Highway 101 near Paso Robles.  Gray stormy / rainy day.

Beats the heck out of just "watching" the world go by.   ;D

(http://rsadams.smugmug.com/photos/1180687958_VzfGa-D.jpg)
Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: OnlyNorth on February 19, 2011, 02:34:51 am
Hi,
The onlooker might know the shot is from the moving car and from the driver chair.Below You see one I did last Fall 1/100,1600ASA.
Thank You
Radu
Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: carloalberto on February 21, 2011, 11:49:24 am
Rand47

I think it's a great shot. Impressive chiaroscuro (for want of a better word) which lends depth to the sky and the tree on the right foreground ancho rs the shot. Well done.
Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on February 21, 2011, 01:08:32 pm
Rand47

I think it's a great shot. Impressive chiaroscuro (for want of a better word) which lends depth to the sky and the tree on the right foreground ancho rs the shot. Well done.
I think I've wandered into a parallel universe.

Jeremy
Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: Rob C on February 21, 2011, 02:11:36 pm
I think I've wandered into a parallel universe.

Jeremy


I have a similar fear too, Jeremy.

In Spain, they'll nick you for using a mobile (cellphone) when you drive, and I think them right. And that only confuses your voice and ears!

Rob C
Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: Craig Lamson on February 22, 2011, 11:52:33 am
I shot a project for the company that leased the Indiana toll road a few years back.  For some of the shots I set up a camera in my truck and shot some 'moving" shots.  Some were quite interesting.  BTW, I did this via a remote release and a mounted camera...no eyes to the viewfinder :)


Here are a few:

Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: Rand47 on February 22, 2011, 10:44:21 pm
Rand47

I think it's a great shot. Impressive chiaroscuro (for want of a better word) which lends depth to the sky and the tree on the right foreground ancho rs the shot. Well done.

Thanks for the kind comment.  "Playing" is fun and sometimes yields something that doesn't end up in the trash. This dramatic "chiaroscuro" sky was what had me playing.
Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: qwz on February 27, 2011, 10:33:50 am
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5086/5344993949_c517a24a93_z.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/qwz/5344993949/)
field (http://www.flickr.com/photos/qwz/5344993949/) by qwz (http://www.flickr.com/people/qwz/), on Flickr

1/1600
F5.6
ISO 320

about 60 km/H

i think 1/1000 at least needed
Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: fike on February 28, 2011, 03:20:29 pm
I would also say that you should shoot at least 1/1000th shutter speed, but even at that speed, don't expect to have excellent critical focus.  By extension don't expect to be enlarging your photos to 13" x 19" or to crop aggressively.  

With that said, I wouldn't hesitate to take shots out the window...particularly if you can use the movement to your advantage with creative blur affects like Craig showed above.  Work to the strengths of your platform...in this case a fast-moving car.

I would avoid bracing your arms or elbows against the window frame when moving.  Allow your body to buffer the vibrations of the engine and the road.

If you are going to shoot from a stop, turn the engine off and brace on the window-frame. 
Title: Re: Shooting while riding in a car
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on March 06, 2011, 09:26:20 pm
I think I've wandered into a parallel universe.

Jeremy
Inspired by the posts in this thread, I decided to try my hand at a related form of photography, and I share my first experiments below.

Not feeling quite ready to sacrifice myself to the World of Art just yet, I decided to cheat a little. I took some shots from a side window of a bus, while somebody else was driving the bus (my apologies to OnlyNorth). The bus was traveling somewhere around 65 or 70 mph, and we were passing forests with a heavy layer of snow on the ground. My camera for this experiment was the Canon G10.

One of these is titled "Driving Through Snowy Woods on a Winter Afternoon", and the other is titled "The Triumph of Good Over Evil," but I forget which is which. Perhaps a better title for one (or both) might be "A Parallel Universe."

Eric