The Story Behind the Photo
June 2024: Member’s Choice
Jude Restis
Dragster
Tech Details:
Lens: Canon EF70-200mm f/2.8
Focal Length: 140mm
Shutter Speed: 1/200 at f/5.6
ISO: 200
Camera: Canon EOS 7D
Story:
Every July, the “Good Guys” car club has a huge car show at the Puyallup fairgrounds. On the Friday evening of that weekend, they hold drag-racing at Pacific Raceways where older street and dedicated older race cars compete. I waited all year for the Friday drags to get some racing shots.
Challenges:
I wanted to get the timing right in regard to lighting. The drag strip faces west and I waited until about an hour prior to sunset to get good natural lighting on the cars, and most importantly on the drivers (golden hour). Earlier in the afternoon it would be too bright with less interesting pics, and later in the evening it would be darker as you cannot use a flash as it would be distracting to the drivers as they launch.
Shutter speed was they biggest challenge. I used a slower shutter speed (1/200) to capture the speed and movement as opposed to getting a static picture with a fast shutter speed. I focused on the driver’s eyes and panned the camera to capture his burnout. His eyes show the concentration required to pilot a high-speed racecar.
They first do a burnout to warm their tires which gives them lots of sticky traction. The smoke adds to the feel of speed, in my opinion.
The only post editing was a bit of cropping in Lightroom.
Original Good Guys drag pictures: https://juderestis.smugmug.com/Cars/Good-Guys-Drags-2016