Speed – rapidity in moving, going, traveling, proceeding, or performing; swiftness; optimum rate of motion
The Formula 1 race I attended last weekend in Valencia provided a good photographic challenge for me. The F1 race is all about speed, and when you are there you can easily see it and feel it as the noise vibrates through you. But in a photograph speed can be hard to capture. With the right lens and good camera you can pretty easily stop the motion of a speeding F1 car. The picture is sharp, but it falls flat as the car might as well be parked on the track. The challenge is really how to convey motion; very, very fast motion in your photograph.
I had lots of chances to experiment as I attended the time trials and race for the weekend. I can’t lie, I am no pro so in this situation practice (i.e. lots and lots of shots) makes perfect. In fact – there were many frames with no cars in them as I missed the cars completely! But with enough tries, I was able to put together my speediest shots from the weekend.
To get a real idea of the speed – here’s a video of the final turn into the straight away:
Disclosure: My trip to Valencia and surrounding areas was provided by Tour Spain and Valencia Tourism. However, all of the opinions expressed here though are my own – as you know how I love to speak my mind!
Sherry Ott is a refugee from corporate IT who is now a long term traveler, blogger, and photographer. She’s a co-founder of Briefcasetobackpack.com, a website offering career break travel inspiration and advice.
Additionally, she runs an around the world travel blog writing about her travel and expat adventures at Ottsworld.com.com.
