Street Photography - Indianapolis 500 Style

Sitting on the sidewalk watching the crowd walk by

Another after dark street photoshoot.  This time I went out the night before the 2012 Indianapolis 500 along Georgetown Road.  I knew from previous year’s shoots this setting was going to be street photographer friendly.  Lots of alcohol loosened people, mixed lighting, loads of people in every stage of dress.  You guessed it, another perfect shooting opportunity.  Also from previous years I knew it was best to go light weight.  For this reason I simply took my Nikon D300s camera and my AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8mm lens.  I also took a Nikon SB-600 speedlight, but never broke it out.

All shots were done in Aperture priority.  I set my ISO to 1600 and f/stop between f/1.8 through f/5.6.  I tried to keep my aperture as tight as possible to get reasonable depth of field.  Shutter speed normally ended up around 1/50, but whenever it got slower than 1/50 I cranked the ISO up to 3200.  I wasn’t too worried about noise due to the high ISO because I was going to convert all images to B&W.

Way too much to drink !! Unable to get up

This setup was solid for street photography.  It was low profile and pretty speedy.  The only challenge was that on occasions I had problems focusing due to the extreme darkness in some areas.  No problems I just switched to manual focus.  

So with my camera kit all ready to go I arrived around 10pm, but the area was HOPPING!  I simply joined the crowd of people walking up and down Georgetown Road.  Occasionally I would walk over to the sidewalk and stop to shoot as people walked by.  It was a great photographic environment as everyone appeared to be having a great time.  

Loads of people enjoying the after dark atmosphere

After action report:

·         If you are going to shoot in an environment like this pack light. I’d learned from previous shoots that too much kit was just going to sit on my back.  Way too many people for a tripod also.

·         Bring your fastest lens.  I took my 35mm, but probably should have also brought along my AF-S 50mm F/1.4G.  Even though this would take tighter shots of the crowd the additional aperture stop would have been supremo in this lighting situation.

·         As I’ve said previously, don’t be afraid to go up and ask people if you can shoot their picture.  In a night like this, it’s really no problem.

·         Balance your shutter speed with your ISO.  Keep your shutter speed up above 1/50 if at all possible which means sacrificing ISO if you want to keep your aperture as high as possible to maximize your DOF.  I sacrificed ISO on this shoot to keep my aperture at F/5.6 and my shutter speed at 1/50 or higher.

B2 Bomber Flyover

Ok, so this isn't a typical blog / Flickr quality photo that I would normally post, but this one's for fun.  Last weekend was the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500.  I live just north of town, and it happens my house is directly on the flight path of aircraft that participate in the opening ceremonies of all events at the 500.  I was outside my house on Memorial Day and happened to hear something strange.  I looked up, and guess what, a B2 Bomber was bearing down on my house.  You'll note the corner of the image is the corner of my roof.

I stepped inside and picked up my trusty Nikon and shot about 25 shots while it passing by lazily.  I swear it was so low you could see the markings.  Man, that thing was super quiet and coming straight on almost impossible to see.  Very cool.

Lesson for the day.  Keep you camera on P mode between shoots, so it's ready to rock and roll.  Not every photo needs to be of uber quality if all you're trying to do is capture the moment.

Night Shoot at the Indianapolis 500

Last night a few local photographers and I went to the Indianapolis Speedway to shoot some of the late evening activities the night before the Indianapolis 500.  Traditionally a fusion of alcohol, bodies, smells, colors, and sounds.  In other words, a photo rich environment.  

With my after dark photo experience I figured this couldn’t be too challenging.  I was wrong. 

First, I brought too much kit.  I really didn’t need to bring my Tokina SD 12-24mm f/4 DX lens and my tripod.  I also brought extra batteries for my Nikon SB-600 flash which was just added weight.  Secondly, the lighting was really crazy.  It was pitch black outside, but the location had all types of mixed lighting from the streetlights, lights at the track, lights from the vendor’s booths, etc.  Everything was mixed lighting and it was different every 5-10 yards.

The tripod was really not needed because there were so many people a tripod was not practical.  Also with all the people moving around any long exposure work would have been a motion-blur-a-rama.  I stuck to my Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 and my Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lenses because I needed the wide aperture.  That’s why I didn’t use the Tokina lens.  Too slow for most of the shots.

What I did was set my camera to aperture priority, f/stop between the maximum lens aperture and up to f/8 to get good DOF.  And I hate to admit it, but I used auto-ISO.  Please don’t hate me.  I tried to keep the ISO as low as possible at first, but really didn’t have much luck.  I also used my flash for about ½ the shoot when shooting up close.  The problem with flash photography in a setting like last night is there are always people that just don’t want to be photographed.  Go figure! And combine that with alcohol, and, well you know how that can turn out.  No flash equals more incognito.  

Anyway, it was a good time hanging with a few local photographers.  I ended up focusing more on capturing the moment versus getting crazy good images.  A good decision.