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[vdeane]

What would be a safe way to take pictures while driving.  I've read about "dashboard mounts" but what is the process for making one?  I don't want to spend a lot of money but it would be really handy to not have to be a passenger to be able to take sign photos.  I have a Kodak C653 if that affects anything.

[Chris]

I just take pics while driving... no big deal. I drive stick by the way, so city traffic is harder.

Keep in mind the one rule; your life and that of others is more important than a picture! Only do it when you consider it save to do so.

[mightyace]

I'd also welcome any suggestions on how to take pictures safely while driving.

[corco]

Just do it on your own- start on slower roads until you get the hang of it and work your way up to faster ones. The key is not to look through the viewfinder and try to line-up the picture, just hold the camera up and shoot. If the picture comes out bad, you can always turn around and do it again.

The practice is important for getting the timing down. I always feel like I'm waiting until too late to take the picture, and that's when it comes out the best. Try to take from too great a distance and the picture comes out like crap.

Once you have the timing and the hang of it down, you can do it while weaving through traffic and driving a stick with no problem at all, but as Chris said- realize that there are more important things than the picture. I've gotten to the point where the picture taking is almost a subconscious process (sometimes I don't even remember seeing the sign or taking the picture)- but that took practice. The first several times I did it- it was scary as hell

[florida]

Hope you have a camera with a image stabilization.

I use the video screen to line up the picture and snap it when the time is right (it's a feeling, heh). Usually driving in the right lane, if on multi-lane roadways, but I'll take a split-second glance to make sure everything is lined up just before taking it.

It's easier to have a set zoom on the camera instead of having to fidget with it while driving.

[Chris]

I zoom the camera about 3 - 4 times, so I don't get the interior on it. It makes it prone to blurry pics when there isn't enough light though, so I avoid taking pics during dusk or dawn.

I usually point and shoot. I have the display on, but I don't look through the viewfinder (my Canon A2000 doesn't even have one). I think it's best to start on a quiet freeway, and then move up to busier freeways or non-freeways. It helps if you don't have to shift gears manually (I guess that wouldn't be a problem for most Americans, since almost all American cars are automatic, as opposed to Europe). I would try to avoid taking pics in dense traffic or near-congestion situations with a lot of weaving traffic, so avoid rushhours.

For videos: I have a secondary digital camera (Canon A530) for videos, and I have taped a bit of velcro to the bottom, and also some on my dashboard, so I have a steady filming position and it won't fall off if you brake or steer. If you want to make sped up videos, a stable position is a must. Nothing kills a video like shaking. Most non-roadgeek road videos found on youtube are often very shaky.

[Chris]

Some other tips;

Choose the time of the day. Driving into the sun will guarantee bad pics. Taking pics while it rains too, ofcourse. Also, bugs on the windshield can be a problem, and there's not much you can do to avoid it, just regularly stop on long trips to clean the windshield. Wiper blades are usually not sufficient to remove the dead bugs.

Also, if you're further to the north, taking pics from october to march isn't really a good option, because of the less sunlight, and the sunlight that does exist is at a lower angle, so it's usually only possible to make good pics during a few hours of the day, when the sun is the highest on the horizon.

Take pics westbound in the morning, and eastbound in the evening. Northbound pics usually come out best, and you can take those nearly all day. Southbound pics are usually worse during most of the day, but often doable when it's cloudy, but not dark (summer)

[Truvelo]

I have to agree 100% with Chris's last post. Direction and sunlight is critical. One thing I can add is when the sun is low in the sky taking pictures of signs with the sun directly behind you often results in them becoming overexposed.

Driving towards the sun is often a no no, especially with signs as they end up being a silhouette, but sometimes I've had no option and the pictures have come out surprisingly well.

One thing to avoid is taking pictures when a car is a directly beside, in front or behind you. I've had horns blowing and rude gestures from people who think I should be holding the wheel instead of a camera. If there's something interesting up ahead I want to get a picture of then I will slow down to let the cars nearby go away so I can take the pictures without harassment.

[vdeane]

Thanks for the replies!  It's easier than I thought.  Thankfully I've already had three years experience taking signs as a passenger so I just had to adapt to driving at the same time (which included not using the optical zoom).  Not much traffic when I was out.  Here's the second one I took: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/EDa53zusxEUO94Neum6QRg?feat=directlink

[Truvelo]

That's pretty good. The white balance is fairly neutral without the usual aqua coloured tint that affects many pictures taken through the windshield.

I hope you don't mind but I've edited your picture to show what I do to mine before posting them. Firstly I rotate it, then crop it to remove the dashboard and other irrelevant things like trees which simply make the file size bigger.

Once you get used to taking pictures it helps if you can get the camera closer to the windshield. Not only will it mean less dashboard in the picture but it also cuts down on reflections.

[Chris]

I hope you don't mind but I've edited your picture to show what I do to mine before posting them. Firstly I rotate it, then crop it to remove the dashboard and other irrelevant things like trees which simply make the file size bigger.

Hmm, do you also customize every individual pic when you get home from a roadtrip totalling a few thousand pics? Seems like a hell lot of work.

[Truvelo]

Hmm, do you also customize every individual pic when you get home from a roadtrip totalling a few thousand pics? Seems like a hell lot of work.

No, I only correct the pictures before I post them on a website. The pictures on my hard drive are exactly as they came from the camera. For the sake of spending <5 mins in Photshop correcting the rotation, cropping, white balance, brightness etc it makes the picture come out a whole lot better. As you can imagine, if I did that to every picture I took it would take forever but the majority of the pictures are never used as I burn them all to CD but never use them again but it's nice to have them to look back at in the future, especially if they show something that's changed since the picture was taken.

[Alps]

I hope you don't mind but I've edited your picture to show what I do to mine before posting them. Firstly I rotate it, then crop it to remove the dashboard and other irrelevant things like trees which simply make the file size bigger.

Hmm, do you also customize every individual pic when you get home from a roadtrip totalling a few thousand pics? Seems like a hell lot of work.

I do.  That's how I get behind...

[Bryant5493]

Y'all have pretty much covered everything. I agree with it all.


Be well,

Bryant

[WillWeaverRVA]

I prefer to use my DSLRs for other purposes, so generally, if I'm only going somewhere to take photos, I don't drive; usually I do this when going somewhere with my mom or with some friends (I'm trying not to drive my car so much until I can get a punctured tire fixed; I don't know how much longer the plug will hold out and I can't afford to replace it at the moment). Before, though, I used my compacts in program or aperture mode while driving and just varied the ISO according to how much light there was.

[Chris]

Yeah, big cameras are usually not suited for the photographing-while-driving business. I think good compacts are the way to go.

[J N Winkler]

I was riding in the back seat when I took this one:



Zoom works if it is sunny and your timing is good.  If I had shot this picture at the default (mild wide-angle) zoom setting of this camera, I would have caught the windshield frame, part of the driver, part of the front seat passenger, and the gauge cluster.

For sustained in-car shooting, I suggest investigating a suction mount and also a remote shutter release cable so that you can have the trigger near the other car controls instead of having to reach out to trip the shutter.  But first you need to check that your camera has a port for a remote shutter release--this used to be standard provision on manual SLRs but I think it has become uncommon on digital compacts.

I have always been a great advocate of stopping the car for the shot, but this is partly because I try to do most of my travelling on rural two-lane state highways (and roads of equivalent type in other countries).  I like reading the construction plans for freeways, but I rarely enjoy driving on them.  In-car shooting works well for guide signs on freeways (both overhead and ground-mounted), but not for the roadside signs (often done to extremely unusual designs) which you typically encounter on conventional roads.  The reason for this is that freeway signs are much larger (16" UC/12" LC lettering) than guide signs even on conventional roads which have the same speed limits as freeways (usually 6" UC, with the option to go down to 4 1/2" UC for certain legends).

The points others have made about avoiding windshield reflections and insect splatter are good ones.  For the latter I suggest a handheld squeegee with spray bottle in the handle, especially when travelling in places or countries (such as Britain) where squeegees and washer fluid are not routinely provided at refueling stops.

[Chris]

I have also noticed you can compress the pics to 90% without a visible loss of quality. This means an 800px picture is about 80 - 110 kb. This reduces loading times and traffic significantly. I know some forums where people post 90 pics @ 800 KB/picture, which takes forever to load... 

[Truvelo]

I decided to try something different today. Instead of my usual placing the camera next to the windshield, I sat back in the seat to take the picture and used a wide angle lens instead of the 50mm prime. The only problem with this is the camera doesn't know whether to focus on the dashboard or the road ahead as proved by these two pictures. And of course, further away from the glass makes dead bugs visible in the picture.

You may need to view the full size to see clearly.