Roadside Photography
Roadside photography is not easy, however, for me is my most enjoyable style of photography. When I am on that road scouting for shots, I feel at peace and within my element. Whenever I visit somewhere new, I always take a day out, jump in the car and spend a whole day from sunrise to sunset and capturing anything I see. It is more special when I can have someone do the driving so I can just focus on the outside rather than the driving and outside. I set myself a rule, only take pictures from within the car, it may sound easy, trust me it is not.
As most of the shots are taken whilst the car is moving, you have to be observant of your surroundings and work fast. If you have to wait for a shot, do, but my advice is to keep driving and wait for the shot to come to you.
Below are my tips on roadside photography:
1. Plan your trip
It is very important to plan your trip beforehand, know where you want to go and choose interesting locations on your way. If you don’t know the area this is a must, go on the internet or even better you can look at Google Earth street view.
2. Safety comes first
This is the most important, safety come first at all times. If you are driving and being the photographer, do not attempt to take pictures whilst driving; this is a big no no!! Adhere to the driving code at all times.
3. Driver
If you have a driver make sure you get an experienced one and someone who knows the area. I also find it helpful to plan the journey with them beforehand than tell them where to go as you are on the roadtrip. This allows you to solely focus on the photography side.
On my trip I have the windows down to get a cleaner shot, this makes the car noisy, therefore, with the driver I would agree a few hand signals such as slow down, pull over, left and right. Don’t have one for stop, the last thing you want for the driver to do is listen, not check his rear view mirror and get hit from behind.
Listen to your driver, if he says it is too dangerous to drive through a street, take their advice. Once I ignored this and drove down a street with no exit points, it was scary.
4. Shoot Fast and keep the camera stable
As the car is moving you will need a fast shutter speed to avoid camera shake. One thing I sometimes do if the car is moving fast is to move the camera in movement of the landscape.
5. Exposure Triangle
Firstly, I would use automatic focus, as you do not have time to do it manually.
Depending on the brightness of the day, three things to think about here, ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed.
a) ISO - I would try and have the ISO low. You can’t go at 100 ISO but maybe between 400 to 800 ISO, this is because the shutter speed has to be fast.
b) Shutter speed – I recommend the shutter speed to be minimal 1/400th of a second to stop motion blur.
c) Aperture – With your ISO and Shutter Speed set, the last out of the Exposure Triangle is the Aperture. Make sure you get this correct to get the right exposure.
6. Car Window
It may be tempting to sit at the front, if you do, be aware of the angle of the glass, which can distort your image. Surprisingly, my advice is to sit at the back and have either side of the car windows open. This will allow you to capture clear shots on both sides. If you have them closed be aware of the reflections coming off the glass and if they are tinted you have to adjust the exposure triangle accordingly. One way to void reflection is to put the lens close to the glass as possible.
Before the journey make sure you clean all car windows, inside and out. Also take window cleaning equipment with you, believe me, there will be a few flies or bird poop ending up on your windows.
7. Tripod
As you will not be using a tripod do not rest your camera on the car whilst it is moving; you will feel the vibrations that it gives off. Also it may be tempting to stick your camera out of the window, my advice is to not do it, if you do, have a strap, last thing you want is to drop the camera.
8. Foreground / Background
As the car is moving, the foreground moves quicker than the background. Depending on the shutter speed, if you focus on the background and have the foreground in shot, the foreground may be blurred. In some shots this may look nice, if you don’t want this, just be aware of it.
9. Lens
I would advise having a standard zoom lens; it is important to be able to take wide and close up shots. Do not choose a lens that is too heavy as you want to minimize camera shake. When choosing a lens, it is also important to have a vibration reduction system built in. I use a Nikon lens which has one built in and the initial to look for is ‘VR’, I believe on a Canon it is ‘IS’.
10. Road signs
On your journey, make it a habit to take pictures of road signs as you pass through places so you can track where you took the picture.
11. Fuel
Always start the journey with a full tank and make sure you keep an eye on the fuel gauge, the last thing you want is to run out of fuel in the middle of nowhere.
12. Refreshments
Be sure to pack refreshments, especially in a hot climate.
13. Respect the People
If it looks like a person does not want their picture taken, don’t take it. I once took a picture of a local with a machete, he was not pleased and started chasing the car, a lucky escape.
14. Look back
You will always be looking forward or sideways to take the pictures, however. do not forget to look back. What you see forward always look different looking backwards.
Remember, have fun, experiment but most importantly have your seat belt on at all times…
Below are some examples to get your creative juices flowing:
