Lighting for an indoor R/C Event

ckaspar

A track I work with a lot in So Cal has been given the honor of hosting one of the biggest races around. The race is going to take place in January so I have some time to prep.

I currently use a Rebel XSi or T1i with a combo of a 50mm 1.8, 70-200mm 2.8 and a 18-50mm 2.8. I am able to take decent shots with what I have but since this is going to be a BIG race I thought I would try to take the photos to the next level. The lighting the place just flat out sucks!! I just shot a race last weekend and of about 1000 shots I took only kept 235. I lost a few do to having to run a slow shutter speed. I also suffer from a White Balance problem due to the differing colors of things I am shooting.

I would like to stay away from a camera mounted flash if at all possible, I have heard complaints from drivers before, and am racking my brain trying to find a good solution that will give me more keepers.

Any ideas?

I posted a few photos from last weekend below to try to give an idea of what the conditions are like. Basically flourescent lighting hung 15 feet above the track. Dark Clay, Grey Cinder Block Walls and a multitude of colored cars from white to black and everything in between.

JSPhotography

Trucks are the best from my experiance, lots of body roll. Sounds like the ceiling might be kinda low. Can you rent some Alien Bees and bounce them off the ceiling with a remote? The drivers should not mind that. Then you can shoot back at them also. You might be able to do that with flashes, if the area is not that large. Come on, you can get lower than #1. Lets see one coming right at you cresting a hill, a little air under the tires, a little crossed up maybe.

ckaspar

JSPhotography wrote: »

Trucks are the best from my experiance, lots of body roll. Sounds like the ceiling might be kinda low. Can you rent some Alien Bees and bounce them off the ceiling with a remote? The drivers should not mind that. Then you can shoot back at them also. You might be able to do that with flashes, if the area is not that large. Come on, you can get lower than #1. Lets see one coming right at you cresting a hill, a little air under the tires, a little crossed up maybe.

Sorry for the delay and thanks for the reply. The ceiling is part steel beams and part aluminum foil type of thingy. Pretty reflective I think. I wonder if it wouldn't make sense to rent a few AB and hang them from the ceiling and just shoot down at key points of the the track. I have never worked with lighting before and don't wanna piss off any of the drivers. This is going to be an event with big international names in attendance.

Maybe I will see if the track owner will rent some Bees and we can play on a club race night.

mercphoto

Flourescent lights will cause you white balance headaches no matter what you do. If you're not shooting shutters of 1/30, 1/60 or 1/125 you're toast in getting consistent color in-camera. Its in the nature of how those bulbs work.

You mentioned a slow shutter. What shutter speed were you using? What mode did you have the camera in?

ckaspar

Canon XSi, Shutter speeds between 1/125 and 1/200. If I slap on the 1.8 and shoot wide open then I can usually go up to 1/300 but will suffer from a DoF issue. It just depends on what class I am shooting. Faster classes may get the 1.8 treatment. I shoot in Manual because neither Av or Tv really work for me at the speeds the cars are going.

Outdoors I can shoot Av but indoors I am stuck making Manual adjustments.