What the heck is this a photo of? Some sort of Photoshop digital montage? Actually, no, it’s a straight image I shot out my car window one morning last week! Ever consider keeping your camera at the ready on the front seat of your car? Read on to learn more about drive-by shooting!

What are the compositional elements of this photograph?

I made this image out the side window of my car while waiting for a light to change. The horizontal legs are part of a stationary statue, and these occupy the upper third of the frame. This helps us meet our compositional goal of the “Rule of Thirds.” The ladder truck and pedestrians helped balance the composition by placing themselves in the lower two-thirds of the frame! I happen to like the way the more distant pedestrian is slightly blurred—this gives a bit of depth to the image. Was there luck involved here? Of course. But you have to be well-practiced in the art of drive-by photography in order to take advantage of such situations.

What kind of camera do I need?

A fast one. Digitally, this means a DSLR rather than a point-and-shoot. The latter has too slow of a start-up and its shutter lag will cause you to miss many a shot. DSLRs are for the most part instant-on and have imperceptible shutter lag. I used a Canon Rebel XT DSLR with a Canon 28-135mm lens.

How about a long lens?

Well, yes, you’re doing candid photography so you want to be able to zoom in a bit. But be respectful of people. Privacy is not something that should be abused. See how the image above appears to be compressed? As if the objects in the scene are sandwiched on top of one another with little space between? This effect becomes more pronounced the longer the zoom. For drive-by shooting, you probably want something like a 80-200mm lens.

Shooting through glass

Auto focus is great when you need to shoot in a hurry (continuous auto focus is potentially better as it tracks the subject to keep it in focus as the camera or subject moves). However, auto focus systems will generally lock on to the object that’s closest to the camera. If you catch your car’s door frame in the viewfinder, that’s what will be in focus. If your windshield is dirty, it’ll focus on the dirt! One solution is to shoot out an open window. Another is to place your camera into “Mountain” mode, which is the sort of permanent landscape mode. This keeps the most distant objects in focus.

Safety First!

Don’t jeopardize the safety of your passenger(s), yourself, or anyone outside your vehicle. That said, you can always just shoot while waiting for a light or while pulled over to the side of the road.

What camera settings should I use?

Few cameras have a “Drive-By” choice as one of their automatic exposure settings. So what to use? I’ll typically use the highest ISO I can (given the amount of ambient light) so I can use a relatively fast shutter speed. If you shoot while driving, you probably want a shutter speed of at least 1/250 second. Subjects ahead of or behind you (moving in your direction) are easier to capture than subjects crossing in front of your camera. Note in the image above that the pedestrian moving away from the camera is more in focus than the one moving across my path. They may have been moving at the same speed, but their direction is key to freezing the action. I was shooting at a relatively slow shutter speed, as it wasn’t very bright out. My ISO was 1600, with the image-stabilized 28-135mm zoom fully extended.

Composing a Scene

They come at you fast and furious. Not only do you have to keep your camera set for the shot and within reach, but you have to be on the lookout for interesting subjects to photograph. Honestly, I shoot while I’m driving. Yeah, I know it’s unsafe, but great art comes from great pain, you know? I shot this at about 30 mph out a closed side window of my car, as I was driving over a bridge.

Practice!

You’ll shoot hundreds of images before you become adept at drive-by shooting. But you must practice with a familiar camera so that when a photo opportunity presents itself, you’re able to capture it!